The "Trap" was a success!

I warned you there would be an update soon so here it is!!! But fair warning, if you are not in the mood or you don't have time to read a long story then you should probably exit from the page now! I would like to share with you all the full story of "The Mouse Trap" and the whole process we went on to make it happen! So here you go! Last school year (senior year) in the winter, I applied to YWAM's MAD DTS in Brisbane Australia in the hopes that I would be accepted and able to prepare for a long, difficult, and fun journey! I remember the very day I read the email that told me I had been accepted! I was in the gymnasium working on my senior thesis. When I read it, I burst into tears and I ran and interrupted my mothers class so that I could tell her the news! :) It was amazing! After finding out I got accepted however, there came the time when I needed to begin preparing to leave financially. I had no idea how I was going to raise the money to go. I didn't have a job, I didn't have time to get a job, and I never have any money as it is! SO! Fundraisers were my best option. So i did a few yard sales and made decent amount from those. But it was shortly after this that my mother and I came up with a brilliant idea. With my passion for acting and with my mother's directorial and artistic skills, putting on a play seemed like a fun way to earn a little cash to help with my YWAM payments. For a couple weeks or so we went back and forth over the logistics of how it would work. What play would we do, where would we have it, who would be in it, when would we do it, could we even make it happen? Long process short...my mom came to me one day and said "I know which play we are going to do!!! I have always wanted to do this play and it would be different and so much fun! We are going to do Agatha Christie's 'A Mouse Trap!'" My first thought was "no" because I wanted to do a musical originally but then my mother had me read the book that the play was based off of; "Three blind Mice by Agatha Christie". After reading the book and reading the twist ending, i wanted to do this play! I knew it would be so fun! So we bought the rights to play and the journey began! First thing was first. We needed a cast. Thankfully it was a small cast. Only 8 players were needed and my mother and I decided we wanted to had pick our actors based on the talented people we already knew. So at the end of the school year while my mother was getting permission from Mr. Maestri and the Church to use the trinity stage a gym, and while she was booking the dates for out play in the school and church office, I was out asking my wonderfully talented friends if they would be willing to do a play with me to help me raise money for Australia. Claire Eliason (Mrs.Boyle) and Sarah Blount (Miss Casewell) were not only willing but they were excited to be a part of it! And anxious! Garrett Smith (Mr.Paravacini)hesitated only for a moment and then consented to helping "only because it's for you". Michael Zavala (Christopher Wren) was not sure at first but he said he would do it because he really wanted to help me out in some way. Then I had to ask someone whom I KNEW had the talent but who had never acted before and it didn't seem like he ever would. I asked Micah Jimison (Sergeant Trotter) if he would be in a play to help me raise money. And surprisingly enough, he immediately said yes. Carlos Chavez (Giles Ralston) didn't think twice about it. He has always been sweet to me and he would always do anything for me. Then we had one other person who was going to play Major Metcalf, but once summer started they wound up leaving town and could no longer be in the production. So, we turned to a man who has always been gifted in acting and who has always been one of my biggest inspirations to do my acting; My father. And so it was that Dan White became Majot Metcalf. When rehearsals first began in the summer we had no where to practice so we decided to practice at the PV Library on their outside stage. Not only would we be able to set up a few "props" to lay out the stage set up, but doing it outside made it so that we absolutely HAD to project because one thing we knew we were not going to use for this play were microphones. So for a couple of weeks we would rehearse outside in the evenings at the library, but it became very apparent that this was not going to work any longer because not only was it becoming monsoon season, but the mosquitoes were eating us alive every night. It was awful! We had no idea where to go when Sarah Blount told us that her parents said we would be able to use their downstairs in their house whenever we needed it for rehearsals. They were so gracious and helpful to us. All of us are still extremely grateful! So out rehearsals were held in the Blounts basement from then on. This play was extremely difficult to memorize because there was NOTHING but dialogue non-stop. We needed a prompter to help us as we began to go off script so we asked Zach Jimison if he would come prompt for us whenever we needed "lines". However, pretty quickly, Zach's job was no longer prompter. He quickly became the understudy for just about everyone. Whenever someone had to miss a rehearsal, Zach stepped in and became them. The people he wound up playing the most wese Paravacini and Wren because both of them were very busy over the summer and couldn't always make it. So Zach became the understudy and eventually became Christopher Wren for out second showing because he deserved to actually be in the play after all the work he put into helping us. However, then we were STILL in need of a prompter. So we asked Olivia Chavez if she would be willing to help us. And she did! And we would never have learned our lines if it was not for her help. Practices and lines all started to get easier and started to run smoother. But then, school started back up again and our rehearsal times needed to change to match all the actor's schedules. Eventually we got into our new routine but it was never really the same from then on. We always to decide on our "next practice" after every rehearsal. It was difficult. We needed more rehearsals especially since the play was creeping up very quickly. Then, the weekend before the play was upon us and it was finally time to build the sets. So we gathered all the props we could and we built the sets in one weekend. Then, the week of the play was here. This was the most difficult week of my life because when we booked the gym for our play, the only days we were able to have the gym were that Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. We didn't really have much time to rehearse on our actual stage with our actual sets. So we had one rehearsal before getting on our stage one last time at Sarah's house on Wednesday. And during this rehearsal, my mother's car got totaled by someone. It was a hit and run accident. We couldn't drive our car home and we were down to one car with a house of three drivers all who had things that needed to be done that week. So Thursday morning I my dad took my mom and I to Trinity so he my mom could go to work and so he could go to work. And while I was at Trinity I would be painting our sets that had to go up that night after we set the stage up after school. Then we found out cross country had a practice run after school so we were going to lose 2 of our 8 cast members so we had to set the stage up the last 2 periods of the day so they could help. Once the stage was up we put the walls of our "Monskwell Manor Guest House" up. All of this took the entire night though so we lost a day of rehearsing to setting up the stage. The next day was dress rehearsal and we planned to run through the play once, get dressed and ready, and then have the dress rehearsal that way we could have two rehearsals before the play and so that Michael and Zach would each be able to rehearse their parts as Christopher before they had to perform. Our first rehearsal was not able to happen however, because Trinity's High School volleyball team needed to have a practice before their big game Monday and Cross Country had to have a practice before their meet the next morning. So While Cross Country practiced, the volleyball team took half of the gym for their practice. Thankfully everyone was able to get done what they needed to have done. But we still needed a rehearsal before our production the next day. So we had dress rehearsal. And this rehearsal was the very first time any of us had used costumes, had used the set, or had used all props. It was difficult. Not only that, but through this rehearsal Michael and Zach had to take turns being on stage after every scene. That way they could both have a feel for acting on the stage. Dress rehearsal was rough. We panicked and forgot lots of lines but it was overall, we knew we would be fine the next day! So then, it was Saturday! The day of the play! That morning at 4:00am both Micah and Garrett had to go to PHX early and run for their cross country meet so they could be back for the play by 12:30pm. Praise the Lord though! They both did amazing! Garrett got 4th place and Micah got 6th! As a team they got 2nd! Trinity sports teams are amazing!!! So Micah and Garrett got to the school, everyone got dressed and ready for the first performance and at 12:30 we did The Mouse Trap for the first time with everyone in their right places. It went so well! And it was a blast! After all the chaos of not having rehearsals on the stage, the play was amazing! Then! afterwards we all got lunch and then prepared for our second performance that night at 6:30! And THAT performance was even better!!! No one messed up or forgot lines and it was incredible!!! God was with us through the entire play! When we first had the idea to do a play, I didn't expect it to pay for much of my YWAM payment. I thought if I was lucky I would make about $800. Which in and of itself would have been a tremendous help!!! But because of my incredible support group through acquaintances, Trinity, friends, and family...because of my God and how amazing He is, because of His provision and love for me!!! Because of all of YOU who helped me with with play, who donated, who acted, who bought tickets, who talked about it....because of YOU, I wad blessed with $2,424! I raised enough to pay for all my training in Australia and the only payment I have left to pay is my outreach payment!!!! I cannot even believe how incredible my God is and how much He has provided for me! I am blown away at how much support and love i have from people. I truly have the most amazing people in my life and I couldn't thank you all enough for everything you have done to help me! Yes, i still have more to pay for and yes, only with God's help will I receive it but for now, I am just overwhelmingly blessed by you. Thank you for your help! My departure is only 29 days away and I cannot wait to share with you all the journey. Please keep me in your prayers and email me anytime with anything! Always stay updated on my blog and friend me on FaceBook. I love you all so much! I will post play pictures soon! With many many blessings, (Mollie Ralston) Christianna Marie White <3

Random Post :D

Hello Everyone! In all honesty, I really don't have anything new to tell you all about or any new updates other than the fact that I am working on getting my student visa. I really just wanted to take a minute to thank all of you who have supported me so far and who have been keeping me in your prayers! In the last week God has really shown an abundant about of love and He has blessed me in numerous ways that I am so thankful for! One way in which he has blessed me has truly been through all of you who have taken the time to talk to me and ask me about my new adventure which is creeping up and is now only 48 days away! The questions you all ask and the amount of moral support and encouragement is what keeps me going. It helps get me more and more excited and now I am ready to just get out there and experience God in a way I have never done before! As of right now I truly just want to ask all of you to continue to pray for me! Specifically please pray for my visa process. It is really confusing and it is nerve wracking! I ask for your prayers in that I get the visa on time and am actually able to enter Australia! And again, keep in mind that "The Mouse Trap", my fundraiser play is just 2 weeks away! Tickets are $20 and there are two performances on the day of September 7th! One at 12:30pm and one at 6:30pm in the Trinity Christian School gymnasium! Come and enjoy a night of mystery, murder, and a very twist ending! But keep in mind, when you leave the performance, you CANNOT tell anyone who the killer was! It is top secret for the rest of the world who has never seen it before ;D Thank you all again for your help and prayers! I love you all! With love, Christianna White P.S. I have heard that some people have tried to email me in the past, however, I have not received any messages. My email is chrissy.white1994@gmail.com. I hope your messages start coming through! If you think I am not receiving your messages just call my cell phone (928-420-4820) or FaceBook message me and I will figure it out! Thank you!

Donation Information

If you would like to donate, please just press the button. You will then be directed to another page where you can submit the amount you would like to donate. Thank you again for your continued prayers and support. Christianna

The Mouse Trap Play!

"'The Mouse Trap is a murder mystery play by Agatha Christie. The Mousetrap opened in the West End of London in 1952, and has been running continuously since then. It has the longest initial run of any play in history, with its 25,000th performance taking place on 18 November 2012. It is the longest running show (of any type) of the modern era. The play is also known for its twist ending, which the audience are traditionally asked not to reveal after leaving the theatre"' We are putting on this play at Trinity Christian School as a benefit fundraiser to help send me (Christianna) to my Music, Art, and Dance (MAD) Youth With A Mission (YWAM) Discipleship Training School (DTS) in Brisbane Australia. All the ticket proceeds and donations will go directly into my YWAM account to help me pay for the school as well as our outreach. In YWAM we are taught how to live off of support from people all around us to help us best learn to trust in the ultimate provisions of God. God's provision is amazing and I have no doubt in my mind that He will continue to provide for me through this production and in my every day life as I share my mission with people around me. Please come support me by buying tickets to see this play. Tickets are $20. However, having been in this position myself, I realize some people cannot afford this. That is why we have set up a system for those who want to help and donate but cannot make it to the production. If you are out of town or know someone out of town who would like to donate to the mission God has for me, then you can purchase however many tickets you would like and we will take those tickets you bought but can't use and give them to someone who wants to come see the play but cannot afford it. There will be two production for this day. One Matinee and one evening show. If you want to buy a ticket or know someone who does, just message me through facebook or send me an email at chrissy.white1994@gmail.com. Thank you all so much for your support and please keep me in your daily prayers. I appreciate it all so much! Blessings, Christianna White

Tickets!!!

Thank you to everyone who has been keeping me in your prayers and for those who have been supporting me! I have some exciting news!!!! As of today my ticket to Brisbane Australia has officially been purchased! I leave from the Phoenix airport on October 8th and will arrive in Brisbane on October 10th! The fact that this journey is only 2 months away and the fact that I now officially have my ticket to get there is completely surreal to me. I am so beyond excited as well as nervous. I cannot even fathom the kinds of adventures God and I will experience together on this journey. I am going to miss everyone very much but no worries, I will have ways of keeping in touch with everyone properly. Also, everyone can send me letters. The mailing address is on the back of my support card which I will be happy to send to you if you want one. Just email me your mailing address if you would indeed like one of my support cards. Please continue to keep me in your prayers. Also, we have now figured out how to add the option of supporting me financially through my blog. Just go to the bottom and click "donate" and you have the option to donate as much as you feel lead to do. Thank you all SO much! The journey has only just begun!!! :D -Christianna Marie

Rapunzel

Hello Everyone!!! I have been asked recently to play Rapunzel for a little princess's birthday party. I have played Rapunzel (from Tangled) before and it is something I absolutely love to do for little girls. My mother is hand making my costume and I would love to be able to do this for other young girls if they so desire for a party or special event. I love doing this job very much and I don't want to charge anyone for this service. If you want to donate money for this job, all proceeds will be going in to my savings for YWAM otherwise it is just a fun part I love to play. If you know anyone or would like to contact me about being Rapunzel for an event, you can email me for details. Thank you to everyone who is praying for me as I prepare for my new journey! It is such a blessing to me! Many blessings to you, Christianna

God's Provision

GOD IS CRAZY! If you didn't already know this, I pray you get to experience something like I did so that you can learn this fact for yourself! Today is June 14th and something amazing happened to me on the 11th and 12th that I want to share with you! On the 11th of this last week, I was preparing to officially mail in my letter of acceptance and my first payment to YWAM, however due to the need of funds earlier in the week, I came up short and couldn't pay y first payment. I called my mom and she told me to take $80 out my dad's cash which is something I did not want to do. It made me feel guilty and pretty much like a failure because I couldn't afford my first payment. I told her I didn't want to take the money, but she had me do it anyway. So I did. I took the money to the bank and I got everything settled and ready to turn in to YWAM (which I did). I still was uneasy about having to take my dad's money though when I get a text from my friend Meghan. She told me she needed to meet up with me pronto because she had been holding a card for me from Graduation for a while and she wanted me to have it finally. So we met up and she gave me the card. Once she had left I opened the card and found $100!!! Not only was I now able to pay my dad back in full, but I was able to give him $20 extra as well! It felt amazing and I couldn't believe I had just witnessed God's provision for me like that! Little did I know, He wasn't done though. The next day, my sister, Anna, came over and told me she had something she needed to give me back at her house. We went to her house and she hands me this envelope and told me someone told her to make sure I got this but to also make sure they didn't tell me who they were. So I open the envelope and inside was almost exactly $900! Not only was I now able to pay my first YWAM payment, but now my second payment is almost half way paid for too!!!! America likes us to believe that money is probably the single most important thing you need in life to be happy, but God has truly shown me this week that faith in Him and His provision makes your far more joyful and a whole lot less stressed! The cost for my DTS is around $5000 before I start paying for the outreach too. That is more money than I have ever seen in my life and yet I have been shown that for God, that is nothing. If it is in His will, I will get to Australia for YWAM and there is nothing I need to worry about! Praise the Lord for His provision! I hope you all are encouraged by this story and this part of my journey! I pray for all of you and I ask that you continue to pray for me! Thank you all so much! God bless! :)