To the Beach!

Day 11

Decent hour, that was the plan, right? Well, Kat and I were talking about our lives and about other religions, and before we knew it, it was almost 1am. Vans were rolling out at 8am, and so I had to get up extra early. THAT was difficult, but I did it. I had to dress nicely for the church service. The service was ok. Not my favorite, and I was in a lot of pain for whatever reason, so I wasn’t really focusing on the sermon that well. The bookshop they have is really good, and I was definitely impressed. I would have probably bought so much if I had anything on me. But I didn’t, so I left empty-handed.

Lunch was at a random mall, where we were able to change from our church clothes into our swimsuits and beach clothes. We went Zuma beach, which is right by Malibu Beach. On the way, half the van was playing 20 questions (it was a pillowcase, and we did it in 19) and guess the number between 1 and 100.

The beach had AMAZING waves that were just soo huge! After playing in the ocean quite a bit I calmed down by just sunbathing on my towel. I called my dad to wish him happy father’s day, and it ended up being a short conversation about how I’m supposed to help my sister with the transition from high school to college. It makes me so angry sometimes, like I’m just this tester kid they don’t really care about. And then once I’ve “done it all” THEN they’ll talk to me, so they can help my sister. Like, I’m not worthwhile enough to bother with, and my sister is this incompetent kid. At least my mom tries to care, but sometimes it feels like she’s just humoring me. She can’t relate, and is just amazed I can socialize so well. It’ll be hard going home, and part of me is looking forward to go back, but a large part of me is dreading it. My dad literally has lists going of things I’m supposed to talk to my sister about college, and help her buy whatever she needs, such as a laptop. I feel like I’m complaining a lot, and it doesn’t sound bad, but I don’t know how to get across how little my dad cares about me – I’m treated like a computer…something you turn and off when you please and use to gain information. You don’t give to the computer; you only take its information. That shouldn’t be the kind of relationship you should have with ANYONE, especially between father and son. I talked to my mom a little afterwards, but she’s so clueless about what I’m doing, she doesn’t even try to ask questions a lot. So after so long of awkward silence, I say goodbye and hang up.

Back on topic…the beach wasn’t just to enjoy another day of the beach. We had the same partners from our USC evangelism, and were sent out to evangelize on the beach. Jill talked to this guy Alex who was planning on graduating high school early. He had some really insightful things to say, and I could tell he was definitely stepping towards God, but he wasn’t there yet. But it was good talking to him. I talked to two girls – one didn’t really talk and participate and left like halfway into it, and the other one was Jewish. ANOTHER Jewish girl. She was very opinionated, but I liked it. She was open, and at the end she says, “Ok, so I have one question.” “Ok, go for it.” “So if Jesus died, and then ‘rose up again’ or whatever you believe, that makes Him alive, right?” “Yeah. But he did more than die. He descended down into Hell, and three days later he rose from the dead. He walked among his disciples and other people, and then ascended into Heaven. So He’s not just ‘alive’ walking around, but He’s in Heaven. That’s what makes Christianity so different from other religions – our King is ALIVE.” “Oh, ok…” I could tell she had wheels turning, but wasn’t ready to accept Christ. I gave her my paper, and Jill and I prayed for her.

Later on the beach, I got to see dolphins. DOLPHINS! They were so close to us, and there were like eight of them. It was so amazing to see. And then one of the pairs of girls came and told us that two girls had accepted Christ today, and we gave them one of our Bibles to keep. How cool!

For dinner, we ate In N Out, because almost no one has eaten there. It was fun to see everyone reactions to the fact there are Bible verses on the sandwich wrappers and on the bottom of the cups. And then this guy comes out of nowhere, and walks past us all saying, “Creation does not exist, the Bible is a lie, e=mc^2, the energy…” and we just froze, not sure what to do. He sat by himself for a little bit, and then a small portion of the group talked to him. A lot of us were just listening to the guy, because he wouldn’t shut up about science. In his mind, time and energy is infinity. However, God had to be created. And to create God there has to be a super-God to create him. And then you need a super-super-God to create the super-God, and so therefore religion does not hold up. He knew a lot about history, but you could also tell he wasn’t completely sane.

We left him after awhile, and back at the dorms, I saw how bad the sunburn was. Should’ve put lotion on…and I don’t know why I didn’t. Oh well. Tomorrow, here I come.