Sunday, October 12, 2008

El Matador


While you make think living in Malibu is filled with surf and sand, you are completely right. After being gone a semester from the beautiful beaches, I decided that I needed to go there at least once a week. Not only is the scenery beautiful, the beach calms me down. This week I got to go twice! The first was after our chapel on Wednesday. My roommates and I headed down to El Matador beach. This seclusive beach is about 15 minutes north on PCH and breathtaking. It is quite a hike down to the water but there are towering rocks that give it quite a isolated feel. It was so private, a couple rocks down from us we believed a middle age male nudist party was going down. Awkward. But other than that, I went into the ocean several times, completed some homework, and soaked up the sun. Not a bad day.

Monday, October 6, 2008

San Felipe

Hi all! This past weekend I went on a mission trip to San Felipe, Mexico. While we were all a little scared to cross the border, I realized that we are called to do God's work in all places. to be. So we hoped that the drug wars wouldn't cause us any issues and drove down Thursday/Friday morning. San Felipe is about 2.5 hours into Mexico. We stayed at a camp and there were about 50 of us students there. It was a blast.

Our main objectives were to build a house and serve the community. The house took a lot of effort since it was made entirely out of bricks (cylinder blocks) and then I had the special role after that was completed of cutting, bending, and placing the rebar everywhere. We passed out beans, rice, and flour to the community and while my Spanish is no good...we had several people who fluently spoke the language. Why did I take German?...great question. Another outreach to the community was our Kids Party. They made crafts, played with toys, ate lunch, watched a play about Jonah, sang songs, and busted open a pinata. It was one of the highlights of my trip because I made friends with a seven year old girl, Mariela. While I couldn't speak Spanish and she couldn't speak English, she taught me how to say the colors in Spanish and we colored together. Adorable. :)

This trip was my first experience with the Church of Christ group on campus. I really enjoyed my time and fellowship there. We had delicious Mexican food in the town and prepared by the wife of the family the house was going to. We made it back safe and sound and the family has a finished house to live in thanks be to God!