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.

Middle School Ministry Retreat 1/14-1/17 20 hours service

Over the weekend I attended a Middle School Ministry Retreat for Calvary Community Church. I served as a Middle School Camp Counselor and I was paired with 12 girls. Some go to Sumner Middle School, Mountain View, and Lakeridge. All of the girls were really fun to hangout with. This is the first time I had lead a Middle School group, but it wont be the last. I had so much fun going to chapel with them. When we got back to the cabin we had "cabin time" and we got to discuss what we had just learned. The theme was "belonging to Christ" and we got to talk about some idolatry the girls might have in their life and how they could let it go and start building a relationship with Jesus. Some of the girls shared a lot of things I didn't even know middle schoolers struggled with. It seems like the drug and alcohol scene is begining to start younger and younger. I am just excited to be able to mentor to these girls and help them grow so I can share some of my wisdom with them. We did a lot of other fun things at camp, for example, all of the leaders did skits on "Sunday Night Live." One of the skits I did was really funny, I pretended to be one of my friends legs so it looked like she was really flexible. Overall it was an amazing, new experience. I would do it again in a heartbeat. I learned more about Jesus than I had at camps I have attended as a camper. The girls taught me patience and not to be so quick to get angry. Out of this I have made many great bonds with the girls and I am excited to maintain the friendships.

Cello Lessons 10 hours to date

I have been continuing with cello lessons. I have advanced to playing on the G and C strings as well as A and D strings. I have really enjoyed the improvement I am making since I can now play a wide range of pieces. I am learning how to play songs in different keys, and surprisingly it is much easier than I thought it would be. Before I had taped the finger board to mark where my fingers should be so I could play in tune. Currently I have taken the tapes off and am training myself to play by ear. I have began playing with my second finger (the middle finger) when the key is C#. In this case the second finger occasionally takes place of the third finger since the second finger on the A string is a C. So this makes the range from a low C to a high C. I am learning to play more recognized classical songs like Allegro in D by Vivaldi. I am also playing Pachebels Canon which is very well know, but also painfully slow to play on the cello. Soon I will finish with the Suzuki Cello Book #1 and move to play book #2. I am really excited to get new and more difficult songs. It will be a challenge, but I love the cello so much that I am willing to stick to it for a long time.