Pinecrest

If you go to Southgate Church and attend the teen youth group called Zap, you'll kind of know what I'm talking about. Every year around mid-November, Zap goes to a place about 3 hours away from South County, it's called Pinecrest. Pinecrest is a beautiful place with a lake, chapel, gym, indoor pool, mess hall, a meeting place, dorms, cabins, hotel-esque rooms, and many other retreat-y things. The reason why we go on this retreat, is to get away from our distractions and to get to know God and our beloved Zap members more. I've been going to Pinecrest for give or take 3 years now, and I think Saturday nights are the best in my opinion. But! We get to Pinecrest Friday night at 8pm, we worship, meet in our "pinecone" groups which are just mixed gender small groups, then we chill out and go to bed around 1 or so.

                                                                                 The Lake

Saturday, you can get up early if you want to, eat breakfast, chill out if you have time, worship, someone speaks, then pinecones, lunch, group activities(This year, we had bracelet making, ultimate throton, and Putt-putt golf) The bracelets that we made were for a good cause, to help the girls in this home that were used in sex trafficking.

After our activities, we had free time, in which mainly everyone played the "greatest game ever", Mafia. I have nothing against Mafia lovers, but when you play for 3+ straight, it gets REALLY old just simply being around you. Throughout the whole weekend, I think people played about 12 or so hours of Mafia. Ridiculous, right? Anyway, later, we do healing, message, and then chill out around the bonfire(but instead, mainly everyone went and played Mafia in the gym. Oh, deerlord, GAG ME.)

Sunday- It's good to be packed before breakfast even starts because you get more free time and you don't have to worry about your stuff not being packed when it's time to go. We do the usual(worhsip, message), then we reminisce about how another year at Pinecrest has come and gone just like that *snaps fingers*.

Even though at Pinecrest, you have your pros and cons:

Pros: Awesome food, gorgeous lake, friends, bonfires, getting closer to God, and just the fact that you can hang out somewhere other than at someone's house and chill out is awesome just by itself. Oh, and pranks.

Cons: Mafia, Mafia, Mafia, Mafia, oh, and did I mention Mafia? I'm kidding(but not really). Friends, the defeat of pranks, distractions of phones and ipods and whatever, and just feeling alone since you're so far away from home and your usual schedule.It's weird being away from home.

Maybe I should mention the pranks now? Yes? Awesome. So, it went this way- Guys got the guys, then the guys got the girls, girls got the guys, guys threw a smoke bomb, and the girls have yet to give them payback.
Guys got the guys- One side of the guys' cabin pranked the other side. So, they made the guys toilets overflow and messed with the shampoo.
Guys that got pranked get the girls- Guys that got pranked use the other guys prank, they made the girls toilets overflow, put chocolate syrup in their hairbrushes, emptied out a shampoo bottle and put chocolate syrup in that, put vinegar in the toothbrushes and toothpaste tubes, and sprayed axe all over the girls stuff.

The girls somehow took one of the boy ring leaders' toothbrushes and we put mayo and hair all over it.

We received a smoke bomb from the boys 20 minutes before lights out. Such a lovely present, right?
Our main girl leaders were furious, even the pinecone leaders were totally ticked off! It was interesting to watch the girls crowd around the doorways and watch one of the leaders talk to the guys about what they did.

Anyway, what I got out of this weekend, is that things go deeper and deeper when you really look and observe something. I received Psalm 19 and Psalm 22:14 from the spirit, here's a link for Pslam 19: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+19&version=NIV

Psalm 22:14
¹⁴ I am poured out like water, 
   and all my bones are out of joint. 
My heart has turned to wax; 
   it has melted within me. 
¹⁵ My mouth is dried up like a potsherd, 
   and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; 
   you lay me in the dust of death.


To me, that verse is romantic and it's kind of how I feel when I worship God. I may be wrong, but whatever. It's just how He makes my heart melt and he molds me the way he wants me to be.
I have a feeling that this year at pinecrest is a new awakening in my life that I need to focus more on God than whatever I do with my time. 


Question: What's God telling you to do? 

Restless Movie Review

Tuesday night, I decided to see if there were any decent-looking movies on this website where I watch movies and shows all the time. I was simply glancing at the selection and stumbled upon a movie called "Restless". I thought that the movie cover was simply perfect and (obviously, since I'm a girl) it appealed to me because the couple(Enoch and Annabell), were really close and her bright red scarf was blowing in the wind.

Adorable, right? 

The story is about this guy named Enoch Brae, and he goes to funerals uninvited, he is unemployed, and he is friends with a Japanese kamikaze ghost name Hiroshi. At a funeral, Enoch meets a young girl named Annabell who is attending her uncle(or cousins) funeral(they mentioned it once and left it at that.) You can tell that Annabell really likes Enoch, just by looking at him once. Enoch then gets in trouble with a pastor because he's shown up to a bunch of services that he's done, Annabell then comes and tells the pastor that Enoch is her "boyfriend" and they escape the awkward guy and chill out in the back. Enoch leaves, then sees Annabell at a cemetery the next day when he is with Hiroshi. They go for a walk, they talk, time passes and they fall in love. Annabell told Enoch in the beginning that she works at the hospital in the cancer treatment center, but she's really just a cancer patient and she has three months to live.

The story to me was really sweet and it was tender. It almost made me cry. Ferrealsies. I'm not a crier when it comes to movies, too. I loved the cute quirkiness in romance and interests that they shared and even though it was probably just another love story, it seemed different. Hiroshi was an amazing character to have in the movie even though he didn't really do much except be there for Annabell and Enoch when times were rough and they needed someone. Annabell, she's sweet and she really has no limits for anything. Enoch seems sheltered and he breaks out when he meets Annabell, then he's flying high. 

I give the movie a 7/10 stars for the cute and quirkiness. 

Question: What's your favorite movie of all time?

Dance off? I'm game!

Ever thought about war? Or what if the war was just a major dance battle? I think I'd actually get into politics if we had dance battles to settle differences. Just think about it!

America: Yo, Russia. Share some of your vodka.
Russia: No way, broski.
America: Why in the heck not? You have plenty.
Russia: Because I don't share my vodka.
America: Know what? This calls for a dance battle.
Russia: BRING. IT.

Meanwhile in "Normal Land", wherever that may be....

                                                                             .....he's forever alone....