Originally appeared in APeX Attack #1 (February
1998)
Gene’s Journal
By Gene Monterastelli
01/31/97 "...we did our first post Orlando [NCCYM] show
[or third show ever]. We had a group of junior high kids in Maryland.
I feel like we were raked across hot coals...I can't image being
a teacher or a parent of a child that age, keeping them so they
are still exploring the world and still keeping them under control…"
02/02/97 "...After doing our two shows at Busch Gardens
[Tampa FL] we rode some of the rides. After getting off a coaster
the kid behind me said 'That was better than a freeze brain'..."
03/07/97"... eight shows in sixteen days and the firm
has me working 10 to 12 hours a day. In all of it I have gotten
sick and lost twenty to twenty five pounds. If I could bottle
this I would make millions..."
05/2197 "...I was looking at some old shows on video
today. If we were half as good now as we thought we were then
life would be great..."
06/14/97 "...the whole idea of significance keeps coming
up and why do I exist. Saciamuni would be very dissapointed for
these are 'the wrong questions to ask.' It is amazing though
that I can have this very blessed ministry growing around me,
with grace at every turn, and I still struggle if this is where
I am suppose to be. How can I still feel so lost?..."
07/25/97 "...a few days ago we received a call from a
DRE who said we came highly recommended from the Holy Spirit.
He said, ‘I was out praying a rosary and the Holy Spirit
interrupted me like he often does and told me that I needed to
open my year with you guys.’ Now if we could only get that
in writing..."
09/23/97 "...I was talking to a friend from high school
today who joined the firm (Andersen Consulting) in Portland and
realized that today is my one year anniversary working here.
To think I first wanted to leave at 18 months to do the ministry
full time. Then I thought I could leave after seven. One day
in month five I almost quit on the spot. Now I am leaving in
a week and a half. I should stop planning and just let the Lord
lead me..."
10/24/97 ".. just performed at home [Wyoming] and was
so nice to be working with the kids at home. It is also great
to be doing it as my livelihood. It almost gives the ministry,
or at least my commitment to it, a little more legitimacy because
I am not doing it on the side..."
12/09/97 "...it is a year after Orlando and we can see
the fruits of our labor and how amazingly God has blessed our
lives. I can't say it has worked out how I dreamed it would be,
but I guess it has. I just didn't know how I would react to it
or how I would be changed by it all..." |