GATEWAY TRAVEL CAMP 2006

ok here we go, i will break down the highlights of the trip and the breakdown of what we did and did not do. it was a short trip in comparrison to my 8 day road trips with 100 people. so four days and 37 people was a nice change.

Day 1 - a travel day, eating five different types of beef stew for dinner, a great discussion about the wounds in our lives and that many of us are carrying a lot of baggage and we ended the evening bowling. a great way to end any first day of travel camp. we did get stuck in traffic and it took us about 1 hour and 30 minutes to get to the lanes.

Day 2 - i wake up and grab alex yepiz and depart to starbucks in the "artsy" of san diego. i ordered my venti americano sat down and it was delivered to me by a nice gentlemen. we returned woke up the other leaders, dialogued about the coming day. the days activity following small groups was to hit mission beach and go kayaking in the ocean. once, we got our kayaks. we were off and runnin. a great day for the kids and us leaders. most of them had never done anything like this before. one kid, "montebello" as he is known by in the group will never forget the experience, as he got hit by a sting ray. he chose keeping his foot in extremely hot water over the numberous group of guys who were willing to pee on him. you could tell he was in pain, but he was laughing as well. he is a good 240 and plays defense of end for montebello high school, so he was glad he got hit over one of the junior highers. he took a nap, the swelling stopped and he was back to about 90% following our evening session about learning to forgive and love those that hurt us. alex shared his story... very powerful. he was ready with the rest of us to hit "boomers", a minature golf, go-carts, video games and other rides for the night.

day 3 - another morning with my friends at starbuck... today alex and i were asked if we were "together" while we ordered. i said yes :) leaders were dragging a little more, but were still ready for the day. after small groups, we hit la jolla beach. i took a few wrong turns so we saw all of la jolla, but the beach was beautiful. it had actual clear water and was just the right temp. the kids loved the waves, the sand and the showers (oh yeah each day the only showers were at the ymca in the morning, so many brought shampoo to the beach). we had a great football game that "montebello" landed in a thorn bush and need ghetto surgery with a close pin to get it out. but my team won (yepiz team lost, but he should comment about some excuse) i really think the best team won. i think our team was thier leading receiver (sorry mark). sean and eric caught everything in the air. we got back to the church for a late dinner, a great session on the storms in our lives and what have we built our lives upon. which we followed with two hours of broom ball. for those who have not played, it is pretty much ice hockey with shoes on instead of skates. and only person to get injured was "montebello"... who else. it was his week.

day 4 - we let them sleep in an extra hour, so i visited the friendly starbucks at 730 instead of 830 but same great service. i love good customer service... i was a marketing major undergrad. today was the challenge for the students... we were off to do random acts of kindness. we had the kids split into four teams (beef stew, albondigas, holly rollers, and mean girls). each team was assigned an area of san diego. they were to walk through the area and determine what random acts of kindness they could perform right than and than gather their own funds to make it happen. they did get a little frustrated, but all four teams did a great job and had a great time. beef stew was at the beach and passed out water and than provided free shampoo to 40 people at the beach showers. i think this is one of my all time favorites... i would have never thought of that one. eric you are the bomb. albondigas - hit the downtown area and hooked up dee ann with some socks and shoes and even a caramel frap. they also passed out water to the street workers. mean girls - did a free car wash and provided drinks for the people while they waited. and lastly - the holly rollers made cards for all of the workers in the "artsy" area of san diego and attached candy to them, so they went to all of the store fronts and blessed them with an encouraging message and candy. great job guys.

we ended the evening with dinner at the beach and a bon fire. we had a great time sharing our experiences from the day and wrapping up the week. as we finished talked sea world fireworks went off behind us... priceless. a lot of tears shed and really did see god orchestrate a great week. it was a blessing to be a part of.

oh yeah and on the ride home two boys in honor of james de jesus who did not go... what a flake... summer skool or somethin'... put away an 8x8 at in n out. that is 8 patties and 8 pieces of cheese. james has added a patty to each of the travel camps he had been on and it would have been his 8th. so the 8 x 8. thanks for reading about our journey... it was great to be a part of some kingdom work and hang with some of my high school boys... tim, devin, nathan, eric, mitchhell, montebello, mark, and sean it was great to roll one more week with you guys. and thanks to the new oikos leaders... keep it alive... and thanks to alex for rollin could not have done it with out you. peace.