Wow! I think my head is still spinning from the whirlwind trip we took to Southern California for Spring Break this last week (March 21-30). Joel and I and our intern, Becky, along with 5 Apache teens all had a blast and got a lot of great footage for our documentary journey along the way.
First, we stayed in host homes at Hope Community Church in Long Beach. Sunday morning, Joel led worship at church and after church we headed to a skate part in an urban area to hang out with the skaters and some homeless people. We served them hot dogs, chips and drinks and were able to chat with some of them. It was a good opportunity for our kids to see what urban inner-city life can sometimes be like off the rez.
Monday was surf lessons with Bob Mabry! The group absolutely LOVED learning to surf and really got into it! One of our teens, Waymond, went after just about every wave I think! Afterwards, we hung out at Huntington Beach, got some fish tacos and did a little shopping not to mention beach volleyball too.
Tuesday we headed to one of the most beautiful beaches in California: Laguna Beach. We walked around the artsy downtown area to check out the shops and art galleries. Later we grabbed some sandwich fixings and headed to the main beach area for a picnic on the grass just behind the beach. After getting some interviews done for the video, the teens were the ones brave enough to get in the water to splash around and body surf a little bit (it was COLD!!) while Joel, Becky and I hung out and soaked up the rays on the sand. It was a beautiful sunny day!
Wednesday we headed to a lovely park in San Pedro to get some interviews done then headed to check out the tide pools nearby. We walked down the side of a cliff to the shore and scurried over the rocks to peer into all the little pools. We saw starfish, anemones, sea slugs, a few fish, and TONS of hermit crabs. I personally could’ve stayed there all day, it was awesome! Later, we visited the Korean friendship bell and a park with a lighthouse, it was a relaxing day. Later that night, we went to our next host church, Trinity Lutheran. Their youth service was that night, so we were able to meet some of their youth group members and connect with the pastor as well. We really enjoyed meeting so many great, welcoming people.
Thursday we headed to Venice Beach which was…interesting. There was definitely no shortage of things to see. After that, we went to Santa Monica Pier and the group enjoyed going on some of the rides on the pier and playing games. The beach was also right there to walk around at. That night, we headed to Saint Paul’s Lutheran in Orange (after 2.5 hours of traffic…yikes) for a BBQ with our host home families. St Paul’s really spoiled us! We loved hanging out with the families we met.
The next day we set out for “the happiest place on earth”: Disneyland! Yep, we spent ALL DAY (yeah, I counted, it was about 13 hours) at Disney. We had a great time and the group rode rides like crazy and just tried to pack as much in as they could. St Paul’s also paid for a fabulous lunch for us at a nice restaurant inside the park. One of our students, Ariel, videoed just about everything she could in the park so we think we got some great footage! It really was a great day!
Saturday, we got caught up on pick-up interviews at the church, then headed over to the youth pastor’s home to make homemade frybread with beans and cheese for his family and us (and I got to make fresh lemonade with his two adorable daughters.) Afterwards, we all went to Wendy’s, a friend of the AYM’s, house where we swam in her pool, ate snacks and hung out until the church service at St. Paul’s that night.
Sunday morning, there are 3 services at St. Paul’s. The guys attended the first, then helped with Sunday School for the younger kids for the other two. The girls then attended the latter two services. The attendees at St. Paul’s were so welcoming; they laid hands on us and prayed for us and also took up an offering for AYM. We felt so blessed! That afternoon, we went back to Wendy’s and she took us to a galleria mall for shopping, a movie (in 3-D) and lunch. Later, the group all headed back to St. Paul’s one final time for the youth service that night.
And the next morning, we headed home. I can truly say that this trip was awesome! We felt so blessed and welcomed by all of the host families and churches that we were able to meet. I think the students’ eyes were opened even more to the world outside the rez and being able to meet and mingle with people and stay in their homes was really good for them. Thank you for your prayers for us for this trip! I believe it was a life changing experience for them!
