2017 Summer Highlights

Although it is the last day of July, it is still July so this is a miscellaneous article about some highlights of my summer. I had a great summer break off school and I was able to do many things. The main ones are listed below:

Finishing School

This is a very frequent happening, but every summer I finally complete my school year. I finished 10th grade this year, and it was extremely tough compared to my previous grades. There were many changes between Jr. High and High School. I had to study harder and had to write longer reports and essays. But 10th grade was also very different from 9th grade. I had even more work to do, and had to apply logical thinking to many of my subjects. This was mostly so in Biology class where application questions were on my tests and exams. I also began to take some notes, and began to use flashcards for both my English and Spanish vocabulary terms. I was glad to be finally done with that school year although I knew that I would be moving on to another.
 

My Birthday

I kind of already spoke about my birthday, but not so extensively. For my birthday in June, I invited some friends over for a World War II themed party. We talked a lot, played Peace Treaty Trivia (you can play this game here), and swam in my pool. For lunch, my dad grilled hamburgers, I baked some cookies, and my parents bought a cake from 85⁰C Bakery and Café (which has an excellent variety of cakes). I had a lot of fun hanging out with my friends.
 

Vacation Bible School

I volunteer at my church’s Vacation Bible School which is held in the summer every June. This year’s theme was Operation Arctic, and the kids learned about the Bible with this acronym:

• The BIBLE is the Book of Books.
• The BIBLE has Incredible Impact.
• The BIBLE is the Bedrock Base of our lives.
• The BIBLE is a Letter of Love from God.
• The BIBLE is Exciting to Explore.

I usually volunteer to help in the kitchen mostly because the kitchen is a favorite place of mine and I’ve been volunteering there for since 7th grade. This year, I signed up quite late and was placed to volunteer in Science. It was a different experience as I had to spend more time interacting with the kids. It was extremely messy (we used flour, ice, and water), but very fun at the same time.

Summer Camp

My youth group has a camp called Kamp Resolve where we will go to Forest Falls in Ojai Valley for about four days. We played a lot of games for team competition and I had a great time talking with those in my cabin. The theme verse of our camp was 1 Timothy 4:12. This verse says, “Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.” The sessions challenged my faith and reminded me of to guard my speech and actions.

College Enrollment

Because I am going in 11th grade, my parents thought it a good idea to let me take some General Education courses online in preparation for college. I applied to take these courses at the Master’s University in Santa Clarita, and I just got accepted. I’m excited to take these classes, but I am not excited for the reports and homework that I will have to do. I hope that will be able to balance my regular high school work alongside these extra classes.

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There are other things that I did in the summer or will do in the remaining of the summer such as having my uncles visit and doing an escape room (which I hope to cover eventually). Comment below on what you guys did this summer whether its vacation or just staying home and relaxing.

The verse for this week is 1 Timothy 4:12. “Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.” This verse shows that even though one is fairly young in the world’s terms, one can set an example to the church with our speech and actions.

Come back next week for a historical article over the Flood and some cultural Flood stories. See you then!