Young at Heart Mystery Luncheon- July 10, 2012

Well, everyone finally discovered what the mystery was all about. We had our own “Snakes Alive” Show. This month we had a program by Rick Teepen who is a Herpetologist with a ministry that uses live non-venomous snakes and other reptiles to demonstrate God’s love for us, His existence, and presence in our world. Rick has combined his experience with reptiles, and his passion for spreading the good news about Jesus, into a unique, fascinating program that connects his audience with the wonders of God, through live reptiles, and biblical facts.

Before we brought Rick up with his friends, our grand-daughter, Elizabeth Koerber, played the piano for our prelude Early Bird entertainment as we had time to fellowship with each other and check on old friends. Elizabeth is 16 years old and is taught by her parents in a Home School environment along with her siblings. She is also an accomplished artist and is active in 4H with Art, Chickens and Rabbits.

Rick takes his program all over Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and West Virginia. He regularly does his programs at the Creation Museum and can be found there most weekends. That is where I discovered him.

Initially, we figured people would be reluctant to come to a “Snake Program”. So, that is the reason that I used it as a Mystery Luncheon. I will be planning other Mystery Luncheons as well as Trips but I promise not to do it quite like this one or for the same reason. Anyway, my idea worked pretty well because we had a very good turnout and most of the people admitted they would not  have come if they knew it was going to be something like this. However, they then readily admitted that they enjoyed the program. I knew it would be kind of like children who don’t like something only because they’ve never tried it before! But, even I was surprised by some of the people who asked to hold the snakes and get their photo taken with one. One of our ladies even stated that she will use the photo for her Christmas Cards! One of the gals from the retirement homes also plans to suggest this program for use at their location!

Rick and his wife were happy to share their knowledge of reptiles with us. We also had one of our own ladies’ husband (Stan Vandiver) assist Rick. Stan works at the Creation Museum and regularly assists Rick down there.

Yup, that is me with the “Snake-lace” around my neck. The next photo is proof that even Esther Tan enjoyed wearing one. And on the right Rick has a Gecko on his shoulder. I guess he wasn’t selling insurance at that moment!

This is a friendly Python but I was watching him look at my girth. I think he had something like a big “bear-hug” on his mind. This guy was big and HEAVY. But, it wasn’t just the guys who were anxious to hold this snake. Look below!

Remember: You can double click any image to see a larger version!

Many of our people were anxious to get photos taken with the Python but even Irene was excited about the whole thing.

Lou Caldwell (many of you know him as one of our Luncheon Drivers) is on the left. The other three are our grandchildren from Blanchester, Ohio. Abegael is 9, Nathanael is 13 and you’ve already met Elizabeth who is 16. They all have plenty of experience with animals and were anxious to join us for this event. Several of you asked me about bringing your grandchildren for something like this. I have been thinking about doing this and will announce an opportunity to do so in the future.

I want to give a very special thank you to Rick Teepen for an excellent program.

Next month, we will have another old friend of YAH with us. Gary Lare will join us to present his Ventriloquist friends! This is a change from our original plans to have Dave Darkow speak with us. He traded positions on our schedule with Gary and will do his program and hopefully tell us what to expect from ObamaCare at our October meeting!

We have some other very exciting plans for Young at Heart in the future. Be sure to watch for our upcoming plans in the Young at Heart Newsletter.