I went to City on the Hill last year and was so motivated after leaving I graduated from high school a whole year early. This year I had plans to rock City on the Hill so hard that I didn't expect what happened to actually happen. Here's my City on the Hill story:
It really started the night before, I was packing for this amazing life changing week, I had worked all day that day at my internship, so I was feeling tired yet stoked beyond belief. Though that next afternoon felt at a distance, it managed to come very quickly. The next morning I woke up to a business call and the thought after hanging up was, "Am I not on vacation?" From there, I got up and got ready for the day, it was a start of an amazing week. It felt like nothing in the world could stop me because I was on top of the world.
The festivities started with dinner, ice breakers, and bowling. Then worship and small groups. We got to know each other and bonded pretty quickly. Heading to bed that night in the William Jessup University's apartments was the last thing I did that night. I didn't sleep much that night. It was a mixture of excitement and soreness. The ice breakers were really intense that night. The alarm could not have gone off any earlier the next morning. The excitement overpowered the exhaustion. I was ready to take on City on the Hill. Nothing was going to stop me.
Take a look at Tuesday night's Newscast:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xq5twM_6aKg
The first day consisted of serious politicing and elections. It was the start of the week and I was seriously starting to get in the game. Following side my Party Leader Assembly woman Lucy LeFever. It felt as if I were on top of the world. The day consisted of a lot of caucusing and a lot of political drama. It was like that until worship that night, where it seemed that we all put it aside to worship our one true God. Then in small groups where we literally poured our hearts out to each other, forgetting about what party we were on, the plans we were making with each other and privately to ourselves.
Take a look at Wednesday's Newscast:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZNXWEiEyM0
Thursday took a turn for me physically, mentally, and even emotionally. We headed to the California State Capitol for the first of two visits. I woke up with a bit of a headache that morning. I took some Excedrin and headed down to breakfast. It went away until half way through our visit to the Capitol. Then pulling Governor Karen England aside and telling her what was wrong, she then turned to the staff and my small group leader gave me some Advil and then I sat in the back of the committee room and tried to get the headache to go away. It was ruining my plans at City because I can only play cool for so long before things got too out of hand for me. My small group leader happened to work at the Capitol so she put me on the couch in her boss' office. I heard people walking and talking. It was too much for me. Then I walked out to the executive director of Capitol Resource Institute (or rather Governor Karen England) saying, "I'll take her back to William Jessup." So I walked to her car with her, kicked my shoes off, and put sunglasses and Karen's suit jacket over my face. Getting back to William Jessup to taking a nap turned into an interesting night. I woke up from the nap feeling like a huge truck hit my face. Dinner was brought up to me in the apartment by my small group leader. Then trying to come down to session didn't necessarily turn out in my favor. I was met by the Governor not even halfway out of the apartment complex. "What are you doing?" her question was to me. "I thought you wanted me out for session." my answer was to her. "No, you need to sleep. I am going to give you a Tylenol PM and you should go to bed." Walking back up to my apartment with her I was starting to feel like a loser and a failure. That night I slept for a good 11 hours.
Watch the Thursday night newscast:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dT8DsaYyHI
The next day when the alarm went off I was wide awake, but my head wasn't feeling any better. Yet I told everyone I was feeling a little better, so City people you now know the truth. It was another interesting day. I woke up not knowing anything that happened the night before and no one would tell me what happened. All I got was, "How are you feeling?" At breakfast that morning, I got two sisters talking to me. One said, "Halie, whatever you do, don't sign the petition." and the other one said, "Halie, whatever you do, sign that petition." I was now feeling like a complete and total loser and failure. I had no clue what to do. My plans to take over were crushed. The petition was to call an emergency floor session to call our speaker of the house, Assemblyman Kyle Sasai out of the seat. So I ended up signing it. Then they day just got worse like my head. During the emergency floor session, I asked Karen if I could step outside for a minute. After getting her okay, I stepped outside and my head hurt so bad I was crying. Well I was out there for literally 60 seconds then I made the mistake of going back inside crying. When Karen saw tears coming down my face she was immediately at my side. Then after I told her it was just my head, she gave me an ultimatum. "You have two options. You can either call your mom and go home or you can take something and go take a nap." I went with the second choice, mainly because I am stubborn. So I went up to miss committee and take a nap and as I was laying in bed with a pillow over my face, I thought, "My mom payed over $400 dollars for me to be here and I am missing half of it. So then I got up hoping to go down to committee and it's like Karen was at the bottom of the elevator waiting for me. "You're feeling better?" she asked. "No, but I want to present my bill on the floor tomorrow." "You'll be able too, but in order for that to happen you need to rest. Sleep until dinner and then enjoy the talent show tonight." I finally gave in, she's a mom, so I guess she knew what was best for me. I went in and took the nap as she requested. I got up from the nap and my head felt slushy. I couldn't think straight at all. I went down to eat because I needed to outweigh the medication I had taken with food. So I went down and ate. Then headed to the lecture hall for the nights activites. I was fine until Karen brought up the rules for the chamber floors the next day. "Is there any questions?" she asked everyone. My hand went up and over my head, "Was that a half risen hand Halie?" she asked me. "I can talk to you in private." "Okay then..." Then worhip started and she came to me and asked what was wrong. "How is my bill going to be presented tomorrow?" I asked her. "As if it was passed in committee." "Oh great," I thought to myself, "special treatment." "Oh okay." I said to her, but my voice was shaky, so she followed that up with, "Is something wrong?" Then I told her, "This week did not turn out the way I planned it to be. I feel like a, a..." "A what Halie?" "Like a failure." "You're not a failure. You had a headache. It's not your fault." She hugged me and then put me in front of Clara LeFever who had massaged my head, back, and shoulders twice that day already and she did it willingly again. Before the talent show Clara took me into the bathroom to try and do something and I told her how I was feeling and she hugged me and we stepped outside of the bathroom and she said, "Halie, I was thinking after small group the other night of how much more outgoing you are this year and how you act like an alum. You are not a failure..." We headed back in for the talent show and then we headed to bed because the next morning was coming early.
A breaking newscast that came about on Friday:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJPdEh_kAls
Saturday came and it was the pinnacle the frosting on the cake of the week, we headed down to the chamber floors of the state capitol. We all had 3 bills all week long, 2 to oppose and 1 to support. The first bill I opposed was a bill that I was not necessarily ready for. I got up there and totally winged it. Then afterwards I looked at Karen and said, "See? This is why I should've been at committee." She said, "Halie... you had a headache." I never felt more like a failure in my life. The day went on, I manged to be a pro temp speaker of the house with a huge headache. Heading back to William Jessup that afternoon to take a nap because I knew a long night was ahead of me. Waking up for the banquet that evening with a headache that I could manage for the first time since it started. I was sad to see the week end. I needed it to go on another week, I wanted my plans to go into effect. I was planning on making speaker and causing just as much drama as Kyle did. It seemed like fun, the parts I was in were fun too, I just wish that my head didn't have to hurt so bad.
My bill got signed even under the circumstances. Even when I felt like a failure the night before while writing it. I kept thinking to myself, "What's the use? It's going to fail on the floor. I am going to embarrass myself in front of everyone!!! I am such a loser. I am such a failure." Then after the banquet we all headed out to a candle light ceremony, where a lot of us told how the week impacted us. Then the night really began, tshirt signing, and then in bed by 2am? Then I was awoken up three hours later by a lot of the last year alums to watch the sunrise with them.
That was my week. Sorry that it was so long...again! haha! A special thanks goes out to Karen England and Clara LeFever, even though you both say I don't owe you anything, I really do. Karen, you took care of me last week and Clara you willing massaged my head, back, and shoulders even when I didn't ask you too. I am forever indebted to you both! I love you both sooo sooo very much! I wouldn't have made it through the week with out you guys!!
This week God showed me many things. Like relaxing is not a bad thing. And when someone gives you an ultimatum, you should listen to them, they obviously care enough to give you the ultimatum. I hung out with my amazing City friends and made new ones. And soooo much more! However this is another long blog post, so I might break it down in other blog entries. Until next time, I am signing off!
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Monday, July 5, 2010
The Oasis Urban School of Evangelism - My mission's trip to Hollywood.
So on June 19, 2010 I embarked on a journey that forever changed my life. I met five other people at my church and we all headed to the Oasis of Hollywood for my first missions trip ever. Here's a little download from each day:
June 19th - Road trip! The six of us got into a Ford Expedition and headed on a 7.5 hour journey. We left around 8:15ish and got there around 5ish. We settled in, made a trip to CVS for two cases of water, and a tooth brush for me. Then headed out to dinner at an "outdoor" Chinese food place and then headed back to the Oasis building, played a few rounds of pool, practiced a skit, and then called it a night.
June 20th - Father's Day - Knott's Berry Farm! Joining our team of six was my daddy. I haven't spent a single Father's day with him in about 4 years, so I am very glad I got to spend this one with him. It's exactly what I needed for this long yet eventful week. We had dinner at Knott's Berry Farm and then headed back to the Oasis building for a youth group service and to meet the other team of 16 that was also there from Wilson, North Carolina. Yup, they traveled all the way across the country for the missions trip and made our missions trip just 100x better. That night there was orientation and then we all called it a night. A long week was ahead of us.
June 21st - First real day of missions trip! Got up that morning and hiked to the nearest Starbucks and then was back for breakfast. Then every morning we had our quite time following our quite time was Praise and Worship and class. We learned the first day on the ABC's of Evangelism. Basically three basic steps to ministering to someone. Following that was lunch and then following lunch was a scavenger hunt. We were in the city of Los Angeles. Talking with people, sloving riddles, and putting into practice of what we learned that morning. We made it back just in time for dinner, then after dinner we got a tour of the Hollywood/Beverly Hills area. We were dropped off in West Hollywood where we were told to pray over that particular part of the city. Then we were picked back up were shown the Beverly Hills part of town and then were dropped off on Hollywood Blvd for time to minister to people. The North Carolina group had two human video skits that they did on Hollywood Blvd. What guts that must have took! Then we headed back to the Oasis building for debreif and then bed. What a first day it was. I thought it was a start to a very long week.
June 22nd - Getting the hang of things! The second day I was finally getting the hang of things. I just had to get out of the confined box I was in. The box of "no one's going to like me because of who I represent." I was pulled out of that box all week long and my youth leader kept having to remind me, that I was never going to see these people again. So who cares if they think I'm crazy. Let them. It's their loss not yours. So we all were headed to Vience and Santa Monica beach that day. I tried to out of that box but every time I did, I got rejected. So I pretty much gave up. I was with one of the ladies that went with us and I felt what we kept calling "the nudge" to go talk to this one girl at Vience beach. She was watching a bunch of guys skateboard at the skate park there and she was messing with her phone, so I smoothly go over there kinda sit down and ask her what kind of phone she had, and her response in an awkward voice, "It's a Blackberry." Now I'm thinking, "How am I going to keep this conversation going? What service? Every service has a Blackberry of some kind. Now we're thinking Halie." "So with what service?" I asked her. "Umm AT&T." I could see the awkwardness in her body language and her shaky voice. "So I know this werid," I told her "but let me tell you why I am here." "Okay.." she said very awkwardly. "I am from Sacramento and I am here on a missions trip with 23 other people." She started to understand now. We talked for a few more minutes, then I was joined by my ministry partner Kelly. Then thankfully for Kelly she kept the conversation alive. Then we prayed with this girl and went on our way. We met with the rest of our group and headed to Santa Monica Peir for dinner and then Third Street Promenade for some more ministry oppertunity. Well I just wasn't feeling it, I felt as if every time I talked to someone they would just reject me and I hadn't brought God into the conversation at all. Well Kelly and I were still minister partners and well my feet were killing me. (Apparently they aren't walking shoes what I was wearing and the box said that they were smart shoes. Not smart at all.) So I am going to sit down and this guy was too. It was like a race to get to out chairs. That "race" ened with a 40-45 minute interesting conversation. You could tell this guy was anger. Kelly did all the talking because I was not going to lash out in anger with this guy. All I did was pray for Kelly, that she had the right words to say. She put up a killer arguement with this guy I must say. After that interesting and long conversation we met back up with the group and headed back to the Oasis for debreif and bed. The next day was going to be longer than the day before.
June 23rd - My eyes were opened and my heart was touched at Skidrow! How many homeless people are in the city of Los Angeles? The correct answer: 90,000. Just in the city of Los Angeles. Skidrow is where the government is trying to push them too. Well me and both teams headed that way to feed and minister to them. About 2,000 hamburgers were cooked and wrapped and WOW Jam was there doing their outreach. Well after wrapping a lot of hamburgers, we were out on the streets of Skidrow ministering to people. Well at one point during the outreach there was this pushup competition between like 5 or so dads and then after the competition, the main speaker guy was like, "A lot of dad's get the horrible sterotype of things get bad and they just leave." The guy said some more things but this blog post is already getting pretty lengthy and I still have more to cover. Anyway, it went into a serious ministering time on the streets of Skidrow. It was amazing to see all these people give their lives to Christ. It was a rough day, however when we left the day wasn't over yet. We still were going to go out to Hollywood Blvd again and to some outreach and this is where an amazing twist of God's mercy and love took place. That night I was on the streets of Hollywood Blvd and I almost went into a complete panic attack because a little thought that started Saturday morning became a big thought by Wednesday night. That thought was, "You can go and try and lead other people to Christ that you don't even know, but you can't even lead your own father to Christ?" I sat on the steps of the subway on Hollywood Blvd and ended up going back early after pounding my fist into a subway information sign. Two people took me back and Kelly was one of them when we got up to the dorm room and she was like, "Ok what's wrong? You can talk to me." So I told her that thought and then she proceeded to convince me for the next 40 minutes that I need to call my dad and talk to him. So finally what convinced me? Well remember earlier in the post where I said that we went to Knott's Berry Farm? Well Kelly is like deathly afraid of roller coasters with a huge drop (I am too) so she said this, "If there was a ten minute wait in that line, I wouldn've chicked out, but I got on that ride and didn't think about it until it was too late. The same concept goes for you, you've got 30 seconds. 30 seconds to be scared and then he's going to pick up and then you have no choice, but to talk to him." Well it was almost 11pm and as I picked up that phone to call him I literally was praying, "Let me get his voicemail, let me get his voicemail." Well he picked up and I talked to him and after that cried into Kelly's chest and then told a few people what happened and then went to bed. Kelly still tells me how proud she is of me.
June 24th - A lighter day! Well during Praise and Worship the next day, the lady preaching had us pray over one another because of the drained day at Skidrow the day before. Then she ministered then there was lunch and then we were split up into three different groups. The Sactown group however was split up into two groups. The three groups were, Kidz Klub, Pershing Square, and Union Station. Two of the Sactown people went to Kidz Klub and the rest of us were up at Pershing Square. I was now paired up with Bruno, who he and I passed out tracks pretty much the whole time. Then after dinner at Echo Park we headed into an amazing church service at Angelus Temple which is accociated with the Dream Center in Los Angeles. Then after the service we all went back to the Oasis building and the North Carolina group went out to Hollywood Blvd to minister while the Sactown group stayed behind and practiced our skit for the following night. Then we called it a night, a much lighter last two days.
June 25th - Last day of ministry with the Oasis Urban School of Evangelism! So not much planned for the day. We got to sleep in! Which was a total plus. We had brunch and then quiet time at the obserbetory of the Hollywood sign. There was where God worked on my heart and got me ready for that night at Club Zion. So after that we headed back to the Oasis building for a snack and then our last outreach on Hollywood Blvd. Which we were singing Worship songs on Hollywood Blvd. Which shortly after that we were shut down and asked to leave. So some of us were in the mall trying to find that oppertunity to minister one last time on the streets of Los Angeles. Then Kelly and I went sovenior shopping for our family back home. Then headed back to the Oasis building to get ready for Club Zion which is a teen club that they do every Friday night. Club Zion was the end of our ministring in Hollywood. We did a skit for it and it was funny and powerful. Apparently 80 teens and 3 groups of ministers were there to see it. It really got me outside of my comfort zone. Club Zion ended at 11pm and I was already not wanting to say goodbye to the North Carolina folks. It was probably one of my hardest goodbyes ever, they barely knew me and they pretty much new my story. I opened up to some of them and really shared my heart. We did however share our good shares of laughs packing that night. A girl who is a bit OCD neatly packed my bag. It was a bitter sweet night.
June 26th - The real missions trip starts! Headed home! That morning as I got ready to go, I embraced myself for a bitter sweet goodbye. We all knew we were going to keep in touch via facebook. However we shared some precious memories together. One's that I'd never forget. The hardest thing for was, I had to say the first goodbye. I was headed to breakfast with my daddy. Which was pretty important. So I said goodbye to them, while some tears shed from my eyes. Had breakfast with my daddy that morning though. It was the first time that I actually saw true happiness from within him. After breakfast I sat and watched the rest of my team eat and then we headed back to Sactown.
As you can see by the long post, it was a life changing week. If you made it this far, thank you. Sorry for the length of the post, but I wanted to break it down for you a little, so you can feel what I felt. There is so much more. Maybe in the next few posts I can break it down for you a little more, just not quite as long as this one. (:
June 19th - Road trip! The six of us got into a Ford Expedition and headed on a 7.5 hour journey. We left around 8:15ish and got there around 5ish. We settled in, made a trip to CVS for two cases of water, and a tooth brush for me. Then headed out to dinner at an "outdoor" Chinese food place and then headed back to the Oasis building, played a few rounds of pool, practiced a skit, and then called it a night.
June 20th - Father's Day - Knott's Berry Farm! Joining our team of six was my daddy. I haven't spent a single Father's day with him in about 4 years, so I am very glad I got to spend this one with him. It's exactly what I needed for this long yet eventful week. We had dinner at Knott's Berry Farm and then headed back to the Oasis building for a youth group service and to meet the other team of 16 that was also there from Wilson, North Carolina. Yup, they traveled all the way across the country for the missions trip and made our missions trip just 100x better. That night there was orientation and then we all called it a night. A long week was ahead of us.
June 21st - First real day of missions trip! Got up that morning and hiked to the nearest Starbucks and then was back for breakfast. Then every morning we had our quite time following our quite time was Praise and Worship and class. We learned the first day on the ABC's of Evangelism. Basically three basic steps to ministering to someone. Following that was lunch and then following lunch was a scavenger hunt. We were in the city of Los Angeles. Talking with people, sloving riddles, and putting into practice of what we learned that morning. We made it back just in time for dinner, then after dinner we got a tour of the Hollywood/Beverly Hills area. We were dropped off in West Hollywood where we were told to pray over that particular part of the city. Then we were picked back up were shown the Beverly Hills part of town and then were dropped off on Hollywood Blvd for time to minister to people. The North Carolina group had two human video skits that they did on Hollywood Blvd. What guts that must have took! Then we headed back to the Oasis building for debreif and then bed. What a first day it was. I thought it was a start to a very long week.
June 22nd - Getting the hang of things! The second day I was finally getting the hang of things. I just had to get out of the confined box I was in. The box of "no one's going to like me because of who I represent." I was pulled out of that box all week long and my youth leader kept having to remind me, that I was never going to see these people again. So who cares if they think I'm crazy. Let them. It's their loss not yours. So we all were headed to Vience and Santa Monica beach that day. I tried to out of that box but every time I did, I got rejected. So I pretty much gave up. I was with one of the ladies that went with us and I felt what we kept calling "the nudge" to go talk to this one girl at Vience beach. She was watching a bunch of guys skateboard at the skate park there and she was messing with her phone, so I smoothly go over there kinda sit down and ask her what kind of phone she had, and her response in an awkward voice, "It's a Blackberry." Now I'm thinking, "How am I going to keep this conversation going? What service? Every service has a Blackberry of some kind. Now we're thinking Halie." "So with what service?" I asked her. "Umm AT&T." I could see the awkwardness in her body language and her shaky voice. "So I know this werid," I told her "but let me tell you why I am here." "Okay.." she said very awkwardly. "I am from Sacramento and I am here on a missions trip with 23 other people." She started to understand now. We talked for a few more minutes, then I was joined by my ministry partner Kelly. Then thankfully for Kelly she kept the conversation alive. Then we prayed with this girl and went on our way. We met with the rest of our group and headed to Santa Monica Peir for dinner and then Third Street Promenade for some more ministry oppertunity. Well I just wasn't feeling it, I felt as if every time I talked to someone they would just reject me and I hadn't brought God into the conversation at all. Well Kelly and I were still minister partners and well my feet were killing me. (Apparently they aren't walking shoes what I was wearing and the box said that they were smart shoes. Not smart at all.) So I am going to sit down and this guy was too. It was like a race to get to out chairs. That "race" ened with a 40-45 minute interesting conversation. You could tell this guy was anger. Kelly did all the talking because I was not going to lash out in anger with this guy. All I did was pray for Kelly, that she had the right words to say. She put up a killer arguement with this guy I must say. After that interesting and long conversation we met back up with the group and headed back to the Oasis for debreif and bed. The next day was going to be longer than the day before.
June 23rd - My eyes were opened and my heart was touched at Skidrow! How many homeless people are in the city of Los Angeles? The correct answer: 90,000. Just in the city of Los Angeles. Skidrow is where the government is trying to push them too. Well me and both teams headed that way to feed and minister to them. About 2,000 hamburgers were cooked and wrapped and WOW Jam was there doing their outreach. Well after wrapping a lot of hamburgers, we were out on the streets of Skidrow ministering to people. Well at one point during the outreach there was this pushup competition between like 5 or so dads and then after the competition, the main speaker guy was like, "A lot of dad's get the horrible sterotype of things get bad and they just leave." The guy said some more things but this blog post is already getting pretty lengthy and I still have more to cover. Anyway, it went into a serious ministering time on the streets of Skidrow. It was amazing to see all these people give their lives to Christ. It was a rough day, however when we left the day wasn't over yet. We still were going to go out to Hollywood Blvd again and to some outreach and this is where an amazing twist of God's mercy and love took place. That night I was on the streets of Hollywood Blvd and I almost went into a complete panic attack because a little thought that started Saturday morning became a big thought by Wednesday night. That thought was, "You can go and try and lead other people to Christ that you don't even know, but you can't even lead your own father to Christ?" I sat on the steps of the subway on Hollywood Blvd and ended up going back early after pounding my fist into a subway information sign. Two people took me back and Kelly was one of them when we got up to the dorm room and she was like, "Ok what's wrong? You can talk to me." So I told her that thought and then she proceeded to convince me for the next 40 minutes that I need to call my dad and talk to him. So finally what convinced me? Well remember earlier in the post where I said that we went to Knott's Berry Farm? Well Kelly is like deathly afraid of roller coasters with a huge drop (I am too) so she said this, "If there was a ten minute wait in that line, I wouldn've chicked out, but I got on that ride and didn't think about it until it was too late. The same concept goes for you, you've got 30 seconds. 30 seconds to be scared and then he's going to pick up and then you have no choice, but to talk to him." Well it was almost 11pm and as I picked up that phone to call him I literally was praying, "Let me get his voicemail, let me get his voicemail." Well he picked up and I talked to him and after that cried into Kelly's chest and then told a few people what happened and then went to bed. Kelly still tells me how proud she is of me.
June 24th - A lighter day! Well during Praise and Worship the next day, the lady preaching had us pray over one another because of the drained day at Skidrow the day before. Then she ministered then there was lunch and then we were split up into three different groups. The Sactown group however was split up into two groups. The three groups were, Kidz Klub, Pershing Square, and Union Station. Two of the Sactown people went to Kidz Klub and the rest of us were up at Pershing Square. I was now paired up with Bruno, who he and I passed out tracks pretty much the whole time. Then after dinner at Echo Park we headed into an amazing church service at Angelus Temple which is accociated with the Dream Center in Los Angeles. Then after the service we all went back to the Oasis building and the North Carolina group went out to Hollywood Blvd to minister while the Sactown group stayed behind and practiced our skit for the following night. Then we called it a night, a much lighter last two days.
June 25th - Last day of ministry with the Oasis Urban School of Evangelism! So not much planned for the day. We got to sleep in! Which was a total plus. We had brunch and then quiet time at the obserbetory of the Hollywood sign. There was where God worked on my heart and got me ready for that night at Club Zion. So after that we headed back to the Oasis building for a snack and then our last outreach on Hollywood Blvd. Which we were singing Worship songs on Hollywood Blvd. Which shortly after that we were shut down and asked to leave. So some of us were in the mall trying to find that oppertunity to minister one last time on the streets of Los Angeles. Then Kelly and I went sovenior shopping for our family back home. Then headed back to the Oasis building to get ready for Club Zion which is a teen club that they do every Friday night. Club Zion was the end of our ministring in Hollywood. We did a skit for it and it was funny and powerful. Apparently 80 teens and 3 groups of ministers were there to see it. It really got me outside of my comfort zone. Club Zion ended at 11pm and I was already not wanting to say goodbye to the North Carolina folks. It was probably one of my hardest goodbyes ever, they barely knew me and they pretty much new my story. I opened up to some of them and really shared my heart. We did however share our good shares of laughs packing that night. A girl who is a bit OCD neatly packed my bag. It was a bitter sweet night.
June 26th - The real missions trip starts! Headed home! That morning as I got ready to go, I embraced myself for a bitter sweet goodbye. We all knew we were going to keep in touch via facebook. However we shared some precious memories together. One's that I'd never forget. The hardest thing for was, I had to say the first goodbye. I was headed to breakfast with my daddy. Which was pretty important. So I said goodbye to them, while some tears shed from my eyes. Had breakfast with my daddy that morning though. It was the first time that I actually saw true happiness from within him. After breakfast I sat and watched the rest of my team eat and then we headed back to Sactown.
As you can see by the long post, it was a life changing week. If you made it this far, thank you. Sorry for the length of the post, but I wanted to break it down for you a little, so you can feel what I felt. There is so much more. Maybe in the next few posts I can break it down for you a little more, just not quite as long as this one. (:
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