The Great Maid Caper

The youth ministries of Springfield and Archdale Friends Meetings occupied 15 rooms at the Gold Key Inn in Orlando during our Floridays 1990 trip.  Most of the rooms had four occupants; we were able to cram five students into a couple of the rooms.  One of the rooms of girls housed Laurie Rees (at left, at Springfield on their senior night I believe), Cecily Livengood (center), Kristin Thomas (right) and Alysha Naples (not pictured).  Laurie and Cecily were veterans of the previous summer's Myrtle Beach trip, and were famous for having stated that they "would miss this Betsy B place- forever- because there is no Betsy B in Florida, and these are our childhood memories."  Kristin was Laurie's cousin (another of Max Rees' grandchildren) who lived in Raleigh, but she and her dad Robin had joined us on the trip.  Alysha was a friend of Laurie's from school who had become active in TNT.  These were four fun, intelligent and beautiful young women, who were about to experience a big OOPS!

We were leaving the motel fairly early one morning to make our way to Walt Disney World for the day.  If you have ever been part of a trip with teenagers, you know how difficult it is for a room full of girls to get ready on time.  There is never enough shower time, sink time, mirror time or hairdryer time to go around.  For our four heroes, this was one of those days.  Most of us were outside at our vehicles, waiting on the stragglers.  The following is what I remember from what I was later told.  As Laurie and her friends were leaving the room, a maid approached them and asked if they could come in and clean since the girls were leaving.  In a hurry, the girls said yes and left the door open for the maid.  Unfortunately, this maid was not a maid at all, but a professional thief who targeted tourists.  When we returned to the motel, the girls discovered they had been robbed.  They reported the theft to the front desk and learned that this scam was commonplace in the area.  I don't remember what all was taker; I do remember some cash was involved. Since Laurie's mother Judy and Kristin's dad Robin were both on the trip, I didn't get as involved as I otherwise would have.

It is adventures like this one that teach life lessons on youth trips.  I always had students be in charge of their own money so they could learn to take care of it.  I always tried to get them out of their comfort zones when it came to meals and events.  And I always sought to help them connect everything we did to their relationship with Jesus.  It didn't always work.  But I can look back at it all now and say "WOW!  What a ride!"

Because of Jesus,