Beach Break

I spent the past week in Italy with 400 middle schoolers for Club Beyond's Beach Break. We had a blast down there, enjoying the water, the heat, and the love of God.

We left last Monday morning at 1:00. It took us 17 hours to get down to Camp Darby. This is a military base close to Pisa. It was a long and very hot trip down. The back of the bus didn't have any air conditioning and we were all dripping in sweat. As soon as we got there, we got all cleaned up, had supper, club, and went to bed. Everyone was quite tired. The next day we headed to the beach. There is an American Beach right on the Mediterranean sea. It was absolutely beautiful. The sand was perfect, the water was a good temp, and it was just a great place to be.

The next day we traveled to a water park. It was another great day to be in the water because it was so hot outside. I had fun chatting with the girls in the pools and going down several water slides.

That's me on the left and Kyle on the right.

That evening after Club, we had a hoe down and a county fair. We had country music playing and had lots of activities going on. The kids were to go to different booths and earn a token from doing the activity. After earning three tokens, they could take them up front and do one of two things. They could either pie their leader in the face or "shave" their leader. Shaving their leader meant they would coat their face in shaving cream and then take it off with a water gun. I was pied with a plate full of whipped cream.

On Thursday, we went to Cinque Terra. This is five small towns that lie right on the water's edge. They are all within close distant. We started out at the fifth city and did lots of shopping. I made a big purchase of my 2 euro thimble. I could have spent a lot more as there were lots of nice things. We then took a train to the fourth city. This is the best place to get gelato (Italian's form of ice cream). It was absolutely delicious. I could have eaten lots more!!! The girls spent some time playing on a beach while I sat in the shade. It was a toasty day to be out in the sun.

On Friday, our last day of traveling, we went to Pisa to see the leaning tower. The tower was neat to see as it definitely is leaning, but there isn't anything else to look at. There are tons of vendors trying to sell junk, but that's wasn't appealing to me.

After spending a few hours at Pisa, we took the bus back to the American beach. We spent the rest of the day and the evening there. We had club and our small groups at the beach which was absolutely amazing. We were able to watch the sunset on the water. I wish I could have frozen that evening. I could have sat there forever. Such a great way to see God's creation.

On Saturday, we got cleaned and packed up and were on the bus by 1:00. Another 17 hours and we were home! We arrived back in Schweinfurt at 6:00 in the morning.
It was an amazing trip. I wish I could have brought my girls closer to having a relationship with Christ, but it's all in God's timing. He has them questioning what it means to have a relationship, which is the first step. I hope to walk beside them for the next year, answering questions, and hoping they find God. This is just the start.