Driving down Highway one on a weekend vacation, my wife and I arrive at a little town by the name of Carmel. We decide to stop and drive around this beautiful town. We stop at the beach for a while and enjoy the beautiful day. After enjoying the day we leave the beach and drive a different way than when we came in to the town earlier that day; we get lost. As we are trying to get back to Highway one we turn on Rio Road and come onto one of the most beautiful buildings we have ever seen. We decided to get off and look inside; since we saw a parking lot and a couple of cars parked in the parking lot. When we went inside we found out that the beautiful place we were…
We knew we had a chance, we knew we could do it, it was a matter of when. This was one of those moments for most people that when you are in it you don’t realize how big it was until your out of it, but we weren’t most people.…
I didn’t really do much over the summer. We went to Indiana beach, and I am not too fond of roller coasters, or any ride for that matter, except for at water parks. Last year in 7th grade we went to Washington D.C and saw the washington monument, lincoln memorial, we went inside the Capitol building, The Changing of the Guard at Arlington cemetery, saw The White House. That didn’t really interest me, I don’t even have any souvenirs! Even earlier in the year, we went to Buffalo, New York. We saw a football game (the team we were rooting for lost,(TO THE JETS!) and we got to see Niagara Falls.…
In my freshman year, I went to Ohio Mission Trip, which was led by Mrs. Lundquist. While I had an amazing life experience through volunteering, I was able to become closer to my friends and upper classmen. Darby and Sydney Lundquist also joined the trip, and they shortly introduced me about Washington and Lee University. I assumed the college should be very advanced since they were well-known for their excellence in intelligence and sports. This year I attended a college meeting with Mr. Webster to get to know more about the college. It was a great opportunity for me to grasp a big picture of the school as well as more specific details of admissions. I immediately fell in love with the school as Mr. Webster explained about the school in detail.…
This morning I attended a weekday mass at All Saints Catholic Church. The church itself is relatively large from what I saw. The exterior had many well-tended trees and bushes, with a sign pointing to the office, and a cross about six feet tall out front by a cement walkway which led to the entrance. The building itself was a taupe color with dark brown roofing and glass doors leading at the entrance. As I walked through the glass doors I was not greeted by anyone, so I followed what everyone else was doing. I noticed a holy water font in front of the doors leading directly to the room of worship. I watched as the casually-dressed Parishioners, all aged at least sixty-five years, and mostly white, middle-class women dipped their fingers into the font and then made the sign of the cross, before entering the worship area.…
I am from San Antonio, Texas and growing up in San Antonio was a great experience. I am proud to be from a big city with a small town feel with strong family values. San Antonio is a city rich in culture that her people love as much as Texas.…
On a hot and sunny day in Los Angeles, California, there were two friends who were talking about what they were going to do on vacation. Allison and Conner were the best of friends ever since they were young, and they always hung out together. They even took many martial art classes together just in case if they faced any danger. Conner had blond hair, blue eyes, and was wearing a gray football t-shirt and khaki shorts. Allison had brown, long hair, brown eyes and always wore blue jeans with a nice shirt. They always went on vacation with each other during the Spring so that they had to time to relax and have fun.…
It was a Wednesday morning that I'll never forget. I had woken up at 3 in the morning because I had to be at a park for a physical fitness test. The test was not until 6 but because I was taking the bus, I had to make sure I was out of bed and out of the house early in the morning. The first few minutes of my commute were peaceful; there was light rain, birds chirping, the insect's low buzzing in the distance. It was just a normal morning. After I had gotten on the 85 bus that goes down Central to Jefferson Park I was a little groggy so I rested up against the heating compartment. The little designated area where you push a button and the heat comes on during the winter months so that commuters are not stuck out in the cold for too…
Weather destruction hits hard some places more then others around the world. In Alpena where I live we rarely have any kind of major weather damage. On June 14, a group of 44 members from Grace Lutheran Church, as well as other churches in Alpena, drove 20 hours to Mayflower, Arkansas where a level 5 tornado had hit. I was one of these, along with my mom and one of my best friends Maddy. For six months we had prepared and fundraised. I did not want to go on this trip, but what I was going to see was much more than what I had imagined--i came back more grateful for the life I have and more aware of the problems that other people deal with.…
My rite of passage was coming to Randolph-Macon. As I arrived at Randolph-Macon College on September 1st to begin my freshman year of college, I could not do anything but shake from being so nervous. My parents kept telling me that everything would come together and I would fit right in. I had never felt so out of place. Coming from a small private school, with a graduating class of 30, I could not bear to meet a freshman class that was as bigger than my hometown or my k-12 school. It was like I was a nightmare and no matter how many times I pinched myself, I could not wake up. I was trapped here without any friends or a vehicle to escape.…
The day had come, as usual, I woke up in the morning and it seems nothing different. It’s around 8 o'clock. I found my cell phone; however, the time was show 23:00 pm. Due to the different time, I realized, here is Arizona, certainly, I with my friends arrived last night. Since that time, I was worried and felt excited. Everything for us are unfamiliar, we should to fit into this new circumstance.…
As soon as my friend Sam informed me of the upcoming mission trip to Illinois, my heart immediately started to race with excitement. Millions of questions raced through my head: where was the trip, when was the trip, how many days, who was going?…
During the year of 2010, the summer before eighth grade year. I got the chance to participate in a five day youth mission trip in Galveston Texas with my church that went by the name of Oakwood Baptist Church. During the mission trip there would be many different activities that our church group would get to be a part of, such as an outdoor dodge ball tournament, indoor carnivals, and our very own Vacation Bible School. I was able to take part in this amazing adventure, and I couldn’t wait for it to begin.…
I never thought how interesting it would be to visit a different place of worship besides Christianity. Since the day I was born I’ve been a Christian and whatever anyone else believes in is wrong and that they are going to hell if they don’t believe in Christianity. About 3 years ago I visited the International Buddhist Progress Society a Buddhist temple in Naperville. Buddhism from what I learned looks more like a way of life or guidelines to it rather than a religion. Buddhism tells you how you could live life better but doesn’t scare you with the prospect of hell instead you live with ignorance. My own history with Christianity still made me doubt or fear the conquences of going to this temple. Part of me believed that I be punished by…
When I was in the eighth grade I went on a weeklong mission trip with my youth group to Houston, Texas. This trip was a turning point in my life spiritually and mentally, completely changing my thought process of inner city missions at the time. There is a ministry there called CSM that invites youth groups to come and they will take the group to certain places in the city where they can serve and get a feel for the need there and many places. This trip was very impacting for me and I am still looking back on it and realizing the benefits.…