Zumba 5 hours to date

Heidi Buyak and I have been attending some classes at Prime Fitness in Bonney Lake. It is such a new and fun way to workout. Its so exciting that you almost forget its for fitness. We dance to a lot of Latin songs, which I love since that is pretty much all of the music I listen to! I can't wait to take some actual partner salsa classes so maybe I can utilize my dancing skills when I go to Spain!


Each class persists for 1 hour in which we dance to 12-15 songs. It is designed to tone and burn calories, nearly 400-600 per session! I can't wait to try more classes like yoga and Latin Funk. Who knows, maybe when we get more used to this we will venture out and try belly dancing!

World Vision 20 hours to date

Throughout the fall I volunteered with World Vision. I worked in the mail room creating packages of the various children in order for them to be adopted. I had never worked doing administrative tasks before, so this was a new experience. Overall it was a great experience though at times it seemed mundane. I would definitely consider doing more work with World Vision in the future, maybe just not such menial tasks. I hope to continue over the summer. Since I got a position as a power group leader at Calvary Community Church, unfortunately I was forced to choose between one activity or the other, so I hope to continue with World Vision eventually!

Power Groups @ Calvary Community Church 10 hrs.

To date I have completed about 10 hours of service. On Tuesday nights I lead a bible study for about 5 middle school girls. We just finished a study on relationships! It was a great study and the girls were really receptive to the advice I had and to what the Bible said about dating relationships. I think is is so important to talk about relationships at a younger age so that they can begin to form standards and boundaries. Sometimes this area isn't talked about a lot at home. I really enjoy teaching the girls and leading them in the right direction. It helps them walk about in their faith, but it helps me grow in my faith as well. The fact that the girls understand and are pursuing what the Bible says is so encouraging and gives hope for future generations. Many say our generation is the most apathetic and lost, but I ask have you looked around? Our generation has so much potential to change the world. Anyways, we are now beginning a new study on the gospel of Mark which will be great. I also created a two week individual study for the girls to do daily devotions at home. We are going through Hosea which is a great book in the old testament about idolatry.

Overall I have learned a lot and it is interesting trying something new and leading a group of girls in Bible studies. This was a great opportunity and I am excited to disciple them for a long time!

Swing Dancing @ Century Ballroom 3 hrs.

Last weekend a few friends and I went swing dancing in Seattle for the first time. It began at 8pm and cost only $5 for lessons and such. The lessons lasted about 30 minutes and was a great way to learn the basics. After the lesson there was dancing until all hours of the night. It was fun to meet new people and practice dancing. Everyone was very friendly and gracious when you made mistakes or didn't know how to dance very well. It was fun trying something new and branching out of your comfort zone to meet new people. I will definitely go back, who knows, maybe I will try merengue next time! Learning to dance is pretty important because more than likely you will use the skill in the future. It is also a fun way to get exercise, you don't even realize that it is a workout!

World Vision 4hrs

This weekend I was contacted by some employees of World Vision and they assigned me with a very cool opportunity. They asked me to look through years of their seasonal magazine for any articles displaying inspirational teens. The cool thing about this is that the articles I chose are going to be used in a new Student Bible being made by the international printing company Thomas Nelson.

This opportunity was especially unique because I chose various stories about teens from around the world. I think this will help give teens a global take on life since sometimes we think the world revolves around us. This helped me think about other ways I could be helping out my community, even if it is just giving up some of my time to help others less fortunate, what a simple way to serve.

Power Groups 2 hours

Recently I began leading a power group at church. This is every Tuesday night from 5-7. We go over some set curriculum with the girls. In my group there is seven girls from Sumner Middle School and Lakeridge. A lot of the girls are from the Middle School Camp we attended last weekend. Its cool that I already know the girls on a deeper level. This next month we will be talking about relationships and what they should look like. It is fun to talk to younger girls about what this looks like because I can give them my morals on dating and abstinence. I am excited to further my relationship with them and learn more as the year progresses.

Community Dinner 4 hours

Over the holiday season I volunteered at the annual community dinner we host at the high school. I helped decorate the gym. I have to say everyone did an amazing job, it was the best it had looked in years. I helped to paint backdrops and organize food for the food pantry. It was very fulfilling to know that your helping someone feed their family. It is sad to think that there is 800 homeless families in our city. I learned that it is much easier to do things as a team rather than on your own. When I began the tedious project by myself, I was a little overwhelmed, until I asked for help, then the job went by really fast. I think it is very special that our school does that for the community, because I know of a lot of high schools that aren't very involved in the community.