Gamingphreek
Lifer
**My posts are from a Lutheran Church (Christian) perspective. I am not trying to discredit other religions or put anyone down. In fact all religions are encouraged in this discussion. But please PLEASE respect others decisions**
Well my church youth group goes on a summer trip every year. This year we elected to raise money to go to the Bahamas and do work on the island that was hit by the hurricane.
My youth minister informed us that we were going to be doing a vacation bible camp down in the bahamas.
We left last Wednesday and just got back today.
I do have a question. In one of the devotion topics we discussed it involved passing on and expanding your faith. My youth minister brought up the young girl at Columbine who was shot for saying that she believed in God. However where the conflict began was when we discussed sticking up for others, especially when it might do more harm than good.
For instance, we used a fight in high school. I argued that no matter how much one person might be right, we as students cannot jump in and simply break fights up. Doing that would result in suspension (even if all we were doing was helping).
Another argument was the ELCA's (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's) stance on world hunger. At the National Youth Gathering in Atlanta Georgia in 2002 the ELCA acknowledged that there were many homeless people, however the youth were on strick orders to ignore them.
Do you think that spreading faith and expanding your faith (etc...) takes into account personal safety? I have thought through all the topics in the bible and i dont know of a place where that is mentioned. With no account for personal safety would that not make you a martyr?
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As for the actual Camp, it was a blast. We prepared for 90 kids combined at 3 camps. Almost every day we exceeded that with 120-130 kids. I was on the "Puppet Team" so i got to see all the camps. The smiles that we put on those kids faces filled me with joy. They even gave us hugs when we left.
Even the people on the Island, almost everyone we met, knew about this camp. They congratulated us and gave us so much support! If you are interested in reading the article all point myself out; ill link it up in the morning.
______________________________________________
Seeing as we were in the Bahamas there was of course a certain level of fun. 2 of my closer friends went and we all had a good time.
The highlight (personal, excluding religious) was that this one really hot girl (in our group) flirted with me a lot. I dont think either of us meant anything for serious.
However i did get to show off a little:
1. We went snorkeling. We easily swam 1500 meters just to get to the snorkeling sight. She was a little afraid of the fish at first and when i told her that the others in our group had seen a school of Barracuda she flew through the water to me 🙂 . Then, she asked me to go back out with her friend and who just so happens to be flirting with my friend. Then since there was no room on the little floating rest buoy, i decided to stay and tread water for 5 mins while they all caught their breath. Additionally, everytime everyone stopped i always stopped and asked to make sure everyone was fine. So that all worked out.
2. About halfway through the trip we were at the hotel (for once) and our youth minister called a meeting. He had said "the contour of the hotel had shifted" meaning that some shady guests had checked in. He said that now we were required to walk in groups of 3 everywhere. Now me im having a blast with the whole trip so im like hell yeah.
After the meeting we (my 2 friends and I) walked the girls back up to their room, and were sitting their talking when we heard a knock at the door. Now us guys immediately just duck and cover as we weren't 100% positive we were allowed to be up there. However, remember the meeting one of my friends jumped up and the girl (the one who was flirting with me [sarcasm]who is the SMARTEST girl in the world[/sarcasm] immediately flings the door open to someone unknown to me. I look up and my other friend is kind of standing back a little bit. And the 4 girls are sort of crowded around the door slowly backing up. Suddenly, im like "oh dear god" and i run to the door followed by my other friend. When i reach the door i looked way way up into the eyes of a guy the size of a pro bowl linebacker. He had to have been at least 6'6" >300lbs (I am 5' 6" 150lbs.... not by any means weak or anything). My friend was backing up however when he saw us 2 guys come out as well as 4 girls he turned and walked away.
Upon talking with other members of the youth group he did this only to the girls rooms all of which, thankfully had a chaperone in the room at the time.
Well, after joking around a bit, we walked them back up to their rooms. She is RIGHT next to me and i then hear foot steps. Just when im thinking, "Oh this is wonderful", tank guy comes and walks up. Takes one look at us 5 and keeps on walking. I was so tense. But afterward, nothing else really heppened, so it really cut the tension.
________________________________________
Last question:
At noon on on the 5th (today for me) i leave for Italy for 10 days (with a group). Does anyone have any advice? I am already carrying my passport around in a little thing that hangs around my neck, and all that good stuff.
Well my church youth group goes on a summer trip every year. This year we elected to raise money to go to the Bahamas and do work on the island that was hit by the hurricane.
My youth minister informed us that we were going to be doing a vacation bible camp down in the bahamas.
We left last Wednesday and just got back today.
I do have a question. In one of the devotion topics we discussed it involved passing on and expanding your faith. My youth minister brought up the young girl at Columbine who was shot for saying that she believed in God. However where the conflict began was when we discussed sticking up for others, especially when it might do more harm than good.
For instance, we used a fight in high school. I argued that no matter how much one person might be right, we as students cannot jump in and simply break fights up. Doing that would result in suspension (even if all we were doing was helping).
Another argument was the ELCA's (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's) stance on world hunger. At the National Youth Gathering in Atlanta Georgia in 2002 the ELCA acknowledged that there were many homeless people, however the youth were on strick orders to ignore them.
Do you think that spreading faith and expanding your faith (etc...) takes into account personal safety? I have thought through all the topics in the bible and i dont know of a place where that is mentioned. With no account for personal safety would that not make you a martyr?
______________________________________________
As for the actual Camp, it was a blast. We prepared for 90 kids combined at 3 camps. Almost every day we exceeded that with 120-130 kids. I was on the "Puppet Team" so i got to see all the camps. The smiles that we put on those kids faces filled me with joy. They even gave us hugs when we left.
Even the people on the Island, almost everyone we met, knew about this camp. They congratulated us and gave us so much support! If you are interested in reading the article all point myself out; ill link it up in the morning.
______________________________________________
Seeing as we were in the Bahamas there was of course a certain level of fun. 2 of my closer friends went and we all had a good time.
The highlight (personal, excluding religious) was that this one really hot girl (in our group) flirted with me a lot. I dont think either of us meant anything for serious.
However i did get to show off a little:
1. We went snorkeling. We easily swam 1500 meters just to get to the snorkeling sight. She was a little afraid of the fish at first and when i told her that the others in our group had seen a school of Barracuda she flew through the water to me 🙂 . Then, she asked me to go back out with her friend and who just so happens to be flirting with my friend. Then since there was no room on the little floating rest buoy, i decided to stay and tread water for 5 mins while they all caught their breath. Additionally, everytime everyone stopped i always stopped and asked to make sure everyone was fine. So that all worked out.
2. About halfway through the trip we were at the hotel (for once) and our youth minister called a meeting. He had said "the contour of the hotel had shifted" meaning that some shady guests had checked in. He said that now we were required to walk in groups of 3 everywhere. Now me im having a blast with the whole trip so im like hell yeah.
After the meeting we (my 2 friends and I) walked the girls back up to their room, and were sitting their talking when we heard a knock at the door. Now us guys immediately just duck and cover as we weren't 100% positive we were allowed to be up there. However, remember the meeting one of my friends jumped up and the girl (the one who was flirting with me [sarcasm]who is the SMARTEST girl in the world[/sarcasm] immediately flings the door open to someone unknown to me. I look up and my other friend is kind of standing back a little bit. And the 4 girls are sort of crowded around the door slowly backing up. Suddenly, im like "oh dear god" and i run to the door followed by my other friend. When i reach the door i looked way way up into the eyes of a guy the size of a pro bowl linebacker. He had to have been at least 6'6" >300lbs (I am 5' 6" 150lbs.... not by any means weak or anything). My friend was backing up however when he saw us 2 guys come out as well as 4 girls he turned and walked away.
Upon talking with other members of the youth group he did this only to the girls rooms all of which, thankfully had a chaperone in the room at the time.
Well, after joking around a bit, we walked them back up to their rooms. She is RIGHT next to me and i then hear foot steps. Just when im thinking, "Oh this is wonderful", tank guy comes and walks up. Takes one look at us 5 and keeps on walking. I was so tense. But afterward, nothing else really heppened, so it really cut the tension.
________________________________________
Last question:
At noon on on the 5th (today for me) i leave for Italy for 10 days (with a group). Does anyone have any advice? I am already carrying my passport around in a little thing that hangs around my neck, and all that good stuff.
