During the bus ride we had a change to get to know one another a little better and discuss what we expected from the week that laid ahead of us. Most of us were excited for the opportunity to grow in our faith, some were looking forward to relaxing with God's great creation, the ocean, and others were anticipating the long evenings at the pool with close friends. I, personally, was looking forward to all of the above. I was excited to get to meet new people, but I had no idea what God had in store for me that week.
Every morning, we met up with our small group (mine is pictured above). In the small groups we discussed a lot of religion-related topics that eventually helped us to realize what areas we needed to improve in, and in which areas we were excelling in. It was an amazing time where we were given the chance to get to know peers from the other schools in Northern Indiana.
After our meetings with our small groups, we were given free time to do as we pleased. During this time on one of the days, a group of us found our little "pet," Pedro, a Portuguese Man of War.
Every day in the late afternoon, the Campus Life leaders organized a beach game for us. The teams for the games were your small group members. One of the games involved kiddy pools filled with water and Lucky Charms. The students had to scoop up Lucky Charms in our MOUTHS and spit them out into our small group leader's hand. He then had to sort them out and find a marshmallow of every color. It was slightly gross, but it gave us a chance to step out of our comfort zone, which is what Campus Life is all about. The game pictured about was one in which we had to crawl over and under our other team members, then lay down at the front of the line. After we reached the first cone, the last person just had to walk over the others until they reached the front (as seen above). The first team to reach the second cone, won.
My small group team after winning a tough beach game!
The Garbage Burger. Need I say more? You can find it at McGuire's Irish Pub in Destin. As you can see, they have the most bizarre sandwiches. The Hot Fudge Sundae Burger.. just as it sounds: a scoop of ice cream, hot fudge sauce, and a cherry, over a hamburger, topped with a bun. The Peanut Butter Burger.. A scoop of peanut butter on a hamburger. Surprisingly, both were good! They offer normal entrees as well for the light stomached people. But this Garbage Burger contains every single topping that they offer on one sandwich. The toppings include wasabi, ice cream, hot fudge, cheese, ketchup, mustard, peanut butter, and many, many more.
I have left out the biggest blessing of this trip. Though this is not where my boyfriend and I met, this trip sparked the flame in our hearts. We grew in our faith with one another and enjoyed many long walks on the beach. Since God brought us together, we do our best to keep him in the middle of our relationship, which is working amazingly for us. We have vowed that we WILL take another trip back to the beach that brought us together.
Another amazing high of the trip was the dolphin watch! We enjoyed seeing these amazing creatures of God so close to us! There is NO zoom in this picture!
Though I failed on this jump, I still love the picture:)
We WILL be back, Destin! And I will be praying for another great success for Campus Life next March!
