Weekend of Fun and Sun(burn)

Friends—

We have two student posts to include today, but I also wish to share a couple of prayer requests with you. First, the weather has not cooperated by cooling down as quickly as we had hoped. At 4PM today, it’s 92 degrees in town and closer to 100 up in the foothills where we are. There’s still talk of the rest of the week being better; please pray that the high temperatures ease off so that we can work.

Second, our two days of Seaworld and ocean have left quite a few of us sunburned and most of lethargic. (New rule: friends don’t let friends fall asleep on the beach!) Please pray that the sunburns heal quickly and that our group regains its energy for service during the remaining days here in California.

To catch you up a bit, on Friday, some of our group worked at removing a wooden fence that had been damaged by the fire. A length of fence that by my (admittedly poor) estimating skills looked to be about 150 yards was gone before noon. Friday afternoon, we took each small group and its chaperone into town to do the laundry (the first time some of them had encountered a washing machine, so it was a new life skill).

Saturday, we left Cornerstone at about 9AM and were bused to La Jolla Lutheran Church to drop off our belongings. We were greeted by our host pastor Mark Dahle, who made us feel very much at home in the buiding. Then it was on to Seaworld by about noon. Some of our group went back to the church about 6:30, while the rest attended the late Shamu show and got back to church around 10:30.

Sunday we walked about a mile and a half to a Panini’s for breakfast and then went back to church to pick up our “beach duds.” By the time we met our bus again at 5:00 PM, most of us were some shade of pink with sunburn.

Today it was (reluctantly) back to work for some and quick trips to the doctor for a couple of sunburn victims with quite severe sunburns. Our doctor’s visit yielded three prescriptions and a scolding from the doctor.

Now, here are today’s student bloggers. First, Amber will tell you about our Saturday adventures.

On Saturday, we went to Seaworld. The day was completely beautiful, the sun was shining and there were no clouds in sight. Most people headed straight for the water rides. There were two rides: Journey to Atlantis and Shipwreck Rapids. Some headed for the souvenir shops, but most people went for the exhibits. We saw Shamu and Dolly Dolphin. Some went to the Pets Rule show, which is where they show dog’s and cat’s and other domestic animals’ tricks. We saw Flamingos and Penguins and Polar Bears and Beluga Whales. We also saw seals and otters and a couple walruses.

When the time came to meet back at the front entrance, half of the group went back to the church while the other half stayed there and went to the Acrobats Show and Shamu Rocks. The Acrobats show was cool, but kind of weird; they were all dressed in very colorful wetsuits and had on wigs and a lot of makeup. We got there about five minutes late and they had a guy out on a trampoline with a huge plastic ball. Five minutes later the guy got into the ball and they pushed him into the water. He sat there for a little bit and then a JetSki came and started to push him around the water. Then later they had another ball on top of a castle and a guy in it. They pushed the guy and he rolled down a ramp and into the water. It was cool.

After that, we went to see Shamu Rocks. Shamu Rocks is a show where Shamu performs to rock music and they have really cool lighting. We got soaked, but it was so fun! Three people got kind of lost but we did find them. One, we did not know where he went, but later found out he went back to the church with the early group. After our shows, we went to catch our bus, we had to wait about 20 minutes for it. There were also other people waiting, too. They got on first, so we had to stand and the ride was very bumpy and winding. Then we had to get off and wait for another bus, which took another half hour. After we got to the church, Pastor Barbara tried to order pizza. She called many places before she found something. Then we waited for 45 minutes, ate, and went to bed. Our day was very fun and eventful.

Michelle offers us her perspective on Sunday at the Beach:

Yesterday we enjoyed (for the most part) the beach. Many people have severe burns. Tiffani is very close to the most painful. Some people such as Whitney, Amanda, and Amber fell asleep while relaxing on the sand. They are burned bad. Mostly everyone is burned pretty bad. There are a few people who have small burns.

While we were at the beach, we enjoyed riding the waves. These waves were huge! Many people would jump into the waves and be taken to the shore. We enjoyed this even though it was painful at times. The beach was so beautiful – white sand and blue water. The currents were very strong. Just standing out five feet, the water would push you out and then pull you in when the water went back. We enjoyed the great experience.