Proposal: Part 5 of 8 - Involving the Staff
This is the sketch of how I was going to place the staff on the hill
Click image to enlarge
Lisa had a deputation trip planned Sunday, March 9-17 and then vacation after that until the 24th. I was going to fly out to be with her on the 18th and spend Easter with her family and to also meet many of her supporters. On March 11th, 2008 was the day I went to Wausau to buy the ring or bust. I shopped at two other stores. I then went to my bank with my $500 savings bond from my great Aunt Else and cashed it in. The teller came to me and said, “Oh my, this is an old one!” I said, “Yes, could you please hurry, I’m about to buy a ring.” It took what seemed forever before she came back and said, “did you know that it is worth a lot?” I said, “Yes, hence why I would like to cash it in for THE RING!” She then quickly deposited it for me and asked where I was going to get the ring from? I told her I was going to go out that door and sit in my truck and pray and figure that very question out. Well it was a good thing I didn’t leave right away because she came running out of the bank and said, “In all the excitement I forgot to have you sign the back of the bond! I’m glad I caught you or this would not be valid.” Thank you Jesus 
. I went literally across the road to Kryshak Jewelers and purchased the ring - But they had to resize it. They put a rush on it and I was back out the door two hours later (2:37 PM to be exact.)
Later that night I began to figure out how many people it would take to actually pull proposal idea off. At first I was thinking that the staff were going to lay down on the snow and the letters would either be 2 or 3 people high. Well if we did the whole phrase with 3 people high I figured I would roughly need 130 people. I then had a pit in my stomach - there is now way this is going to work! I had to settle for two words two people high “MARRY ME” On Friday 14th, I was able to gather roughly 25 staff to assemble on the ski hill to do a practice of these letters after prayer meeting. I was in the dining hall with a radio and Ira Beasterfield had a radio and was my point man to give instructions in shaping the letters. We had enough people for M. A. R. R. and then there was Ira all by himself. He simply lifted his arms in the air to form a “Y” and, as the Lord would have it, from my perspective at the window Ira was as tall as all the others laying down. I then said, “Can we try this a completely different way?” They all agreed and began forming letters only one person high and standing. It was amazing! It was so much clearer and easier to pull off. So I went back to the drawing board that night a found out that we could do the whole phrase with the extras (like families with little kids) could simply lay down and underline the whole phrase. That is also when I began drawing up this “Dear oh wonderful staff” elaborate map to then distribute to all the staff on the 15th.
Please feel free to comment on each of these blogs - they certainly are an encouragement to Lisa and I. 
