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Well to start, this week has been incredible! The experience of a Summer Trip is one of the most amazing experiences that I’ve ever felt. The friendships that accumulate over the week are too awesome to explain in words. Watching the freshman begin their new youth group lives as part of the High School ministry is truly a sight to see. On the Summer Trip, every class bonds together. It isn’t like a normal high school experience where teens only hang out with friends from their selective classes most of the time. I’ve seen graduates and freshman on this trip sharing bonds that most people would never believe possible. Last year the theme of the trip was Community, meaning everyone working and being together. As I see it, that theme carried over to this year’s trip. The bonds shared between the kids this year are the strongest I’ve ever seen. As we were riding here in the buses, it was easy to see that a few of the kids were a little shy, but by the time we started our work projects on Monday morning everyone was excited and involved. Amy officially declared today as Friendsday Wednesday, or as I like to call it Mackenzday Friendsday Wednesday Awesome Day. The idea of this theme is to get kids to spread out and meet people outside of their normal groups. We started off the morning with each of the upper classmen choosing a lower classmen to have breakfast with. This really helped the younger students meet some of the older kids who before might have seemed intimidating. Breakfast was an extreme success in that everyone met many new friends. So as you can see everyone has met many new people and is getting involved in group activities and conversations. The main goal of the Summer Trip is to help out in the surrounding community. The many small groups that we have on this trip have split up to serve God in different parts of San Diego. A few groups have been at the food bank, a few across the street from the church working on buildings, and the remainder fixing up nearby churches. My group is working at a Baptist church a little ways away helping the people of the church repair their campus. The first day we sanded many poles and railings which took the entire work period to complete. On the second day at our work project our group painted over all the railings and began painting the classrooms and offices of the church. It is really neat because there are five groups working at that church and one of them is my younger sister’s group. It is a good experience getting to do community service with her on this trip seeing that next year will be our last year on Summer Trip together. This morning we continued painting the rooms on the church campus and the railings outside. We have a lot of fun at the work site while getting a lot of work done at the same time.
Every night we have some intense and amazing worship experiences together. We begin by going to small groups after we all shower (which by the way is fantastic because for the first time ever the showers are on the campus we’re staying at…HOW COOL!!). At small groups, we discuss our morning devotionals, which our completed the moment we wake up from Pastor’s singing (Screeching, if I may). It is really neat to get to share our views on the lessons together. The lessons so far have been about Jonah, the sinful woman who washed Jesus’ feet, Saul/Paul, and the men next to Jesus on the cross. The relation between all of these stories is the word REVOLUTION. Revolution is the theme for the week, and it means change. Every night we relate the changes of the people from the lessons to changes in our own lives. It’s amazing to get to hear everyone’s story from your small group and to get to share yours with them. After small groups we all meet in the fellowship hall to worship and hear Neil speak. Worship this week has been by far the best out of all my Summer Trips. To be able to zone out of everything and connect with Jesus through singing has been incredible. Also, Neil’s preaching has been the best in a long time. Everyone can tell that what he is saying truly comes from his heart, and listening to him speak is a great experience. When he connects the lessons with modern day terms and occurrences everyone understands much better. Also, he looks ripped on the stage when he preaches haha. So today, after or work projects, we all took a trip to the beach. The cool San Diego breeze that hits you in the face is one of the best feelings ever. This, accompanied by the intense waves and soft sand, made the beach an experience to remember. It is so fun to dive in to the cool water and catch a massive wave that carries you back to shore. And let me tell you the waves are massive. Then to come back to the beach and take a short cat nap to reenergize is an amazing feeling. A lot of kids played Ultimate Frisbee, jump roped, took short walks, or just played in the water with their friends. And that is where we are now, just back from the beach and everyone is waiting to take showers.
Tonight will most likely be an amazing worship experience that will never be forgotten. This week is too amazing to explain with words and I can’t wait to be able to see what is waiting for us in these next few days. I’d just like to say hi to my parents as I know they always read this to just let them know that Kristyn and I are safe and having a blast (So hi Mom and Dad). To close I’d just like to ask all of you blog readers to keep us in your prayers for the remainder of the week. To ask God to just keep us safe for the rest of the week and on our return trip home. And also that we keep the close relationships with God and our friends throughout the rest of the year and our lives. Thank you and have a fantastic day!!! Steven Zonsius
The morning started when Pastor Garman woke us with banging pots and pans together, which was very delightful! At breakfast, we found out that today is Friends-Day Wednesday so I enjoyed meeting many new kids that are here. Then we were off to work; painting various rooms in the church. To my luck, I got the children’s room. This was extremely memorable for me. As a career choice for when I am older, I want to work with children, so I felt touched knowing they would be able to enjoy such a nice room. After work, we came back to the church, where I met some more new people. I think that Friends-Day Wednesday is a great idea because it’s impacting to many kids on the trip because it helps them meet and create new friends. Our event for today was going to the beach, again, which I loved. Our time at the beach was very relaxing. There were very many things to do there. Some girls walked down the beach and went to the peer to get ice cream, some of the boys dugs holes in the sand and made little pools. My friend Shaye and I walked back with Tim, one of the leaders, and we got first in line for the showers, which is a big accomplishment for us. Later tonight everyone is getting into our small groups, and may I say mine is definitely the best! We are going to eat dinner now so someone will write to you tomorrow! Kristyn Zonsius *****************************************************
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