So it had been a rough but good first few months for 2008 and one of the very first highlights was when myself and Bryce McAllister decided to start a small group for college age students. I had been back at The Shore for about 2 months and thought it would be cool to start up another small group. I had lead a small group before from Nov 06 to April 07 but Bryce had not yet lead a small group for college age people... so after a few weeks of prayer we talked to John Harris and Robi Quick and decided we were going to go for it and name the group "MAZEVO" which is Greek for "Gather".Ok so the very first meeting we had 1 person show up... not quite what Bryce and Myself had expected. It was like this for about 3 weeks then people started to show up and after about 1 month we had a consistent group of 5-7 people showing up. We had a great group of people and developed some great relationships while the group was together we even had a "Mazevo open" mini golf tournament. The winning team got free Big Spoon...my team won! BOO YA! Although it was sad to have to disband at the end of August due to my new job at Bayside, it was great while it lasted and I will never forget a lot of the conversations and talks that was produced from the group.
-POLF-
Oh POLF...Ok so if you havent played POLF then you have no idea what it is and probably have no desire to play it either. I wouldnt blame you but it was an important time, and the beginning of summer. So while I was cleaning up the yard with my pops I thought it would be cool to try something with the pool and a golf club. I was thinking about what it could be and decided that it would be sweet if I put the net (pool cleaning tool) and attach it to one of the lawn chairs and have it hang over the middle of the pool. So I did that and found a small plastic ball and put it on the lawn. I attempted many time to hit the ball from the yard into the net and actually hit it a few times. I threw in the towel after about 10 minuets. that following weekend I decieded to throw a BBQ with some friends. So all my buds came over we cooked up some hot dogs and a pork loin if I remember correctly. After that we were debating what to do...So I thought I would share with them the awesomeness that I had discovered. So I set it up and they are tried a few whacks. They ended up loving it. So as we played we set up a scoring system and a few more ways to rack up the points as well as coming up with the name POLF (Thanks Andy). We played this quite a few times over the summer even investing in more plastic golf balls a white board and a hula hoop(new way to score). It was amazing. Although the playing of POLF halted as fall came around we intend on playing it more as the spring comes.
-Hanging out at Chris, Steven and A.D.L.'s-
Although I did hang out with these dudes in 07 and early 08, I really started hanging with them in the spring of 08. I was probably over at their apartment 3 out of the 7 nights during the week. We had a blast. We watched a tone of movies, played a boat load of GH3 and every once in awhile we would play a board game. A lot stemmed from this hanging out time. There were a lot of laughs and some amazing conversations. I wish I could have recorded a lot of the different things while we were there. Here are a few video's of us hanging out VIDEO1 and VIDEO2
Even though that was a crazy day of shooting people...we usually just hung out and chilled it was awesome. I have never been able to do that with any of my friends up to that point in my life. So hanging out there was an amazing experience.
-Capture The Glow Stick-
OH dang! CTGS! So this is one the most amazing things that took place in the year 2008! I am going to try and explain it but you almost have to experience it yourself. I will start from the beginning. A few of us were hanging out on the 4th of July after the party at my house and lots of fireworks...Jon Bryant, Steve Shearer,Tori McLaughlin, Ashlee Carillo, Jared Carillo, and myself are racking our brains trying to figure out something to do. After a lot of debating we decided to try out an idea that I had been thinking about for some time. I thought it would be awesome if we tried to play a game of capture the flag at night with glow sticks instead of flags. There would be 2 teams So we went and bought some glow sticks and some energy drinks and headed to Hillsborough Park were the very first game took place. Here is a VIDEO of that first game. There were a total of 6 of us during that game. We ended up having so much fun that we decided to have another game the following night as well as make a facebook group. We talked to some friends and made a few phone calls and the next night 12 people showed up. Then we decided to hold another game the following weekend and 24 people showed up. As we played through the summer and fall, more and more people were showing up to play a game that was free and fun! Although we have not played since October CTGS is not dead yet!!! The game is hibernating for the lack of a better word. Its not super fun to play a game outside when its 38 degrees at night. So as spring roles around so will CTGS.
-New 4th of Ju-Christmas Party-
-A Few Weeks Before Sr.High Houseboat Trip-
So I had had an amazing summer at this point of the year. I was working for Weckworth Electric for over 2 1/2 years. As being with my friends and serving at Bayside more I started thinking about what I really wanted to do with the rest of my life. I prayed about it and talked to my parents about it. I just didnt really feel like I was getting any direction so I thought about anaylzing what I was doing and seeing if I could change something about my daily routines and commitments. The first thing that poped into my head was were I was serving. I was helping the college ministry at Bayside for about 4 months. I started thinking about the idea of serving in another ministry. The first ministry that came to my mind was the jr.high ministry. But after talking to my mentor. he suggested the high school ministry. So I prayed more about it and decided to talk to Brad (sr.high intern at the time) about getting involved. After talking to Brad, I had not heard anything back from him or the ministry. Then I got a text from another staff person (Gil) and asked if I was interested in being a leader on their annual house boat retreat in two weeks. I at first thought there was no way in God's green earth it would work out. But after thinking back at what I had been praying about I felt I should tell him I would try. Now I didnt think my boss at work would give me a week off with only 2 weeks notice...but thought i would try. So I asked him and he said YES! I was soooo suprised! I couldnt believe it worked out.
-2 Weeks After Sr.High Houseboat Trip-
-POLF-
Oh POLF...Ok so if you havent played POLF then you have no idea what it is and probably have no desire to play it either. I wouldnt blame you but it was an important time, and the beginning of summer. So while I was cleaning up the yard with my pops I thought it would be cool to try something with the pool and a golf club. I was thinking about what it could be and decided that it would be sweet if I put the net (pool cleaning tool) and attach it to one of the lawn chairs and have it hang over the middle of the pool. So I did that and found a small plastic ball and put it on the lawn. I attempted many time to hit the ball from the yard into the net and actually hit it a few times. I threw in the towel after about 10 minuets. that following weekend I decieded to throw a BBQ with some friends. So all my buds came over we cooked up some hot dogs and a pork loin if I remember correctly. After that we were debating what to do...So I thought I would share with them the awesomeness that I had discovered. So I set it up and they are tried a few whacks. They ended up loving it. So as we played we set up a scoring system and a few more ways to rack up the points as well as coming up with the name POLF (Thanks Andy). We played this quite a few times over the summer even investing in more plastic golf balls a white board and a hula hoop(new way to score). It was amazing. Although the playing of POLF halted as fall came around we intend on playing it more as the spring comes.
-Hanging out at Chris, Steven and A.D.L.'s-
Although I did hang out with these dudes in 07 and early 08, I really started hanging with them in the spring of 08. I was probably over at their apartment 3 out of the 7 nights during the week. We had a blast. We watched a tone of movies, played a boat load of GH3 and every once in awhile we would play a board game. A lot stemmed from this hanging out time. There were a lot of laughs and some amazing conversations. I wish I could have recorded a lot of the different things while we were there. Here are a few video's of us hanging out VIDEO1 and VIDEO2
Even though that was a crazy day of shooting people...we usually just hung out and chilled it was awesome. I have never been able to do that with any of my friends up to that point in my life. So hanging out there was an amazing experience.
-Capture The Glow Stick-
OH dang! CTGS! So this is one the most amazing things that took place in the year 2008! I am going to try and explain it but you almost have to experience it yourself. I will start from the beginning. A few of us were hanging out on the 4th of July after the party at my house and lots of fireworks...Jon Bryant, Steve Shearer,Tori McLaughlin, Ashlee Carillo, Jared Carillo, and myself are racking our brains trying to figure out something to do. After a lot of debating we decided to try out an idea that I had been thinking about for some time. I thought it would be awesome if we tried to play a game of capture the flag at night with glow sticks instead of flags. There would be 2 teams So we went and bought some glow sticks and some energy drinks and headed to Hillsborough Park were the very first game took place. Here is a VIDEO of that first game. There were a total of 6 of us during that game. We ended up having so much fun that we decided to have another game the following night as well as make a facebook group. We talked to some friends and made a few phone calls and the next night 12 people showed up. Then we decided to hold another game the following weekend and 24 people showed up. As we played through the summer and fall, more and more people were showing up to play a game that was free and fun! Although we have not played since October CTGS is not dead yet!!! The game is hibernating for the lack of a better word. Its not super fun to play a game outside when its 38 degrees at night. So as spring roles around so will CTGS.
-New 4th of Ju-Christmas Party-
New 4th of Ju-Christmas Party was the party of the year... at least in my mind. So Jon Bryant, Steven Shearer, and myself all thought it would be pretty dang cool if we celebrated Christmas in July. So we started planning a Christmas party for the end of July. As we contemplated what this party would look like, we started getting more and more abstract about how it was all going to play out. We all thought it would be amazing if there was a white elephant gift exchange then we thought it would be cool if santa showed up. Then we thought it would be even better if we had food. Then we decided it would be even more amazing if we celebrated new years in the party too! So we had a ball drop at midnight and live music by lincoln Brewster to ring in the "new half year". We had large Christmas tree's, wreathes, garland, lights, sound system and even a disco ball (thanks to a local church) People loved it and we heard about it for weeks after the party was over. Be looking for an even better New 4th of Ju-Christmas in 2009!
-A Few Weeks Before Sr.High Houseboat Trip-
So I had had an amazing summer at this point of the year. I was working for Weckworth Electric for over 2 1/2 years. As being with my friends and serving at Bayside more I started thinking about what I really wanted to do with the rest of my life. I prayed about it and talked to my parents about it. I just didnt really feel like I was getting any direction so I thought about anaylzing what I was doing and seeing if I could change something about my daily routines and commitments. The first thing that poped into my head was were I was serving. I was helping the college ministry at Bayside for about 4 months. I started thinking about the idea of serving in another ministry. The first ministry that came to my mind was the jr.high ministry. But after talking to my mentor. he suggested the high school ministry. So I prayed more about it and decided to talk to Brad (sr.high intern at the time) about getting involved. After talking to Brad, I had not heard anything back from him or the ministry. Then I got a text from another staff person (Gil) and asked if I was interested in being a leader on their annual house boat retreat in two weeks. I at first thought there was no way in God's green earth it would work out. But after thinking back at what I had been praying about I felt I should tell him I would try. Now I didnt think my boss at work would give me a week off with only 2 weeks notice...but thought i would try. So I asked him and he said YES! I was soooo suprised! I couldnt believe it worked out.
-2 Weeks After Sr.High Houseboat Trip-
So I had just been on an amazing houseboat trip that stretched and challenged me. And thought to myself this is actually really cool and I enjoy this. I heard there was an opening on the staff as an intern...gave it a thought and then just stopped cause I felt I couldnt make that work too. There were a few hurdles: Finances, quiting my current job (which intled talking to my boss again) But for some strange, God only knows reason...I really wanted to apply for it. I talked about this with my parents and some friends and they all thought it would be great...they also thought my financial situation would work itself out if I was suppose to have the job. So I went to work one day and decided to tell my boss...I was SOOOO stressed out about it...this is crazy. I wanted to leave a job where I was making good money, fun co-workers, and great benifets! So I sat the boss down in his office and explained everything and told him I wanted to apply for the internship. And his response? Was, well suprising. He said "You have to like what you do and if you dont like what you do then you will be miserable looking for that thing that you like to do. So please apply for the job and if you dont get it you will still have a position here at Weckworth." So after the burden of that converstation was over I sent over my resume to KJ (Sr.High Pastor) and after 1 interview/lunch and a week, I was invited to go on the staff retreat. I still had no idea if I was going to get the job. The staff retreat was fun and it was amazing getting to know the staff. about 3 days after I got back KJ offered me the job.
All this had caught me off guard. within 2 months my life had turned a serious corner. As of right now March of 09 I feel that God has called me to be in full time ministry. Not full time in the sense of hours on the job but more like this is what I want to do the rest of my life. I dont know how long I will do youth ministry. I will do it as long as I feel God is leading me to do it. I figured out trusting God to lead you is so exhilerating!
-Friendships-
As I reflect on this year I can honeslty say that the biggest highlight has been the frienships that I have developed. I have learned so much from my friends. Not only about who they are but also who I am. I have learned this year that friendships are not something that you can take lightly...yeah your gonna have your half heart accquintences but when you focus on your true friendships...they will really flourish. I feel the need to thank each one of my friends that have made a major impact on me this year.
Steven Shearer- So mine and Steve's friendship started in the fall of 07 thanks to my friendship with his older brother Chris. But our friendship really didn't start to flourish until spring of 08 when I started hanging out at his apartment. We started hanging out a lot! it was amazing just chillin... Steve has been a great friend to talk to about the deepest of issues of life. Steve-o which is another name I gave him has also helped bring the some of the creativity out of me. Capture the Glow Stick, POLF, and the New- 4th of Ju-Christmas party where all creative compilations between me and steve as well as Jon Bryant. So thanks Steve for just being an awesome friend and accepting of me and my some of my crazy ideas! Although it does suck that he has moved to LA for school...we are still having fun! We went urban exploring a few weeks ago and had an amazing time.
Jon Bryant - Oh what to say about Jon Bryant well Jon has been around for sometime but I never really knew him all that well. He was a friend of Steve's and worked at Bayside with my dad. So He had just got back from Germany and Steve invited him over to my house for a little game of POLF and ever since then we have been close friends! Jon has been a great friend since connecting. He also has been apart of helping create CTGS and New 4th of Ju-Christmas. Jon is a very creative person, he is amazing with the computer along with videos and website stuff. Jon also helped me with my Human Development...he has a way with words that I envy! Thanks Jon for being you bro, your amazing!!!
Matt "Nemo" Cimino- AHHHHH NEEMS! So Nemo is quite possibly one of the most amazing human beings I know. He has the patience of a turtle (he isn't slow) He has challenged me in many different ways. He likes to think deep...and sometimes just says really, really dumb stuff. It has been a pleasure getting to know him over the last few months. We are like bros.
Drew -Drewsky has always been my common denominator best friend. Drew and myself go so far back he cant even remember...literally...he cant remember. Drew has been there for me through thick and thin. We might not always be connected on a daily basis but we get together for some dinner or coffee and within 5 minuets we are acting like we see each other every week. Drew helped me through alot of stuff in 2008 and I appreciate it very much.
Gilbert and Stacy Acevedo - The Acevedo's. Yup thats all I have to say. Just kidding, I have loved developing my relationship with these two. I feel as though they have brought me into their family. I have had some seriously amazing conversations with them as well as just having fun hanging out at their house and watching movies and HOUSE! Its a lot of fun working along side Gil in ministry. He has a heart for students that I envy. Stacy has already told me that I have to screen my future girlfriend through her...I will being praying for that specail girl. Anyway, I cant wait to see how our relationship will shape my/our future.
Thats it...hit me up if you have questions.
Thank you.
All this had caught me off guard. within 2 months my life had turned a serious corner. As of right now March of 09 I feel that God has called me to be in full time ministry. Not full time in the sense of hours on the job but more like this is what I want to do the rest of my life. I dont know how long I will do youth ministry. I will do it as long as I feel God is leading me to do it. I figured out trusting God to lead you is so exhilerating!
-Friendships-
As I reflect on this year I can honeslty say that the biggest highlight has been the frienships that I have developed. I have learned so much from my friends. Not only about who they are but also who I am. I have learned this year that friendships are not something that you can take lightly...yeah your gonna have your half heart accquintences but when you focus on your true friendships...they will really flourish. I feel the need to thank each one of my friends that have made a major impact on me this year.
Steven Shearer- So mine and Steve's friendship started in the fall of 07 thanks to my friendship with his older brother Chris. But our friendship really didn't start to flourish until spring of 08 when I started hanging out at his apartment. We started hanging out a lot! it was amazing just chillin... Steve has been a great friend to talk to about the deepest of issues of life. Steve-o which is another name I gave him has also helped bring the some of the creativity out of me. Capture the Glow Stick, POLF, and the New- 4th of Ju-Christmas party where all creative compilations between me and steve as well as Jon Bryant. So thanks Steve for just being an awesome friend and accepting of me and my some of my crazy ideas! Although it does suck that he has moved to LA for school...we are still having fun! We went urban exploring a few weeks ago and had an amazing time.
Jon Bryant - Oh what to say about Jon Bryant well Jon has been around for sometime but I never really knew him all that well. He was a friend of Steve's and worked at Bayside with my dad. So He had just got back from Germany and Steve invited him over to my house for a little game of POLF and ever since then we have been close friends! Jon has been a great friend since connecting. He also has been apart of helping create CTGS and New 4th of Ju-Christmas. Jon is a very creative person, he is amazing with the computer along with videos and website stuff. Jon also helped me with my Human Development...he has a way with words that I envy! Thanks Jon for being you bro, your amazing!!!
Matt "Nemo" Cimino- AHHHHH NEEMS! So Nemo is quite possibly one of the most amazing human beings I know. He has the patience of a turtle (he isn't slow) He has challenged me in many different ways. He likes to think deep...and sometimes just says really, really dumb stuff. It has been a pleasure getting to know him over the last few months. We are like bros.
Drew -Drewsky has always been my common denominator best friend. Drew and myself go so far back he cant even remember...literally...he cant remember. Drew has been there for me through thick and thin. We might not always be connected on a daily basis but we get together for some dinner or coffee and within 5 minuets we are acting like we see each other every week. Drew helped me through alot of stuff in 2008 and I appreciate it very much.
Gilbert and Stacy Acevedo - The Acevedo's. Yup thats all I have to say. Just kidding, I have loved developing my relationship with these two. I feel as though they have brought me into their family. I have had some seriously amazing conversations with them as well as just having fun hanging out at their house and watching movies and HOUSE! Its a lot of fun working along side Gil in ministry. He has a heart for students that I envy. Stacy has already told me that I have to screen my future girlfriend through her...I will being praying for that specail girl. Anyway, I cant wait to see how our relationship will shape my/our future.
Thats it...hit me up if you have questions.
Thank you.
