Surf's Up!

One of the fun elements that we decided to incorporate into our ELN program here in Long Beach, CA is a few surfing lessons! Since we're a program in Southern California, only 20 minutes or so from Huntington Beach, Surf City USA, it seemed we would be incomplete without this! ;) Our very own worship leader, Pastor Jim, just so happens to be skilled in this particular sport, so we finally worked into our schedule the very first Awakening School of Ministry Surfing Lesson...

As you can see, we had a few younger folks hanging out with us as well! (Perks of being the pastors' kids)

Terrance, Justin, Chris, Tony

Me & Annelise

It was so much fun! We went to Bolsa Chica Beach, and the waves were great for beginners. At first we were more excited about getting pictures of ourselves with the wetsuits and boards than anything else..

 but eventually Pastor Jim rounded us up. We needed some lessons on the sand before we hit the water!

This was everyone's first time, except for Pastor Chris & myself. I have actually tried out surfing with friends a couple summers ago, so we let the other four take the first round. He had us practice lying on the board and hopping up onto our feet so we could get a good feel for positioning and get the hang of jumping up into the center of the board to avoid tipping over.

Then it was time to get into the water! It was FREEZING! I wish I could tell you what the temperature of the water was, but I don't know; all I know is that I was shrieking the whole way in until my legs went numb. You see, my wetsuit had sleeves, but the legs cut off at the knee! I wasn't allowed to say I was cold, so I just kept screaming, "I'M WARM! I'M WARM!"

Side thought: more than one person said to me something like, "You're from Ohio! Aren't you supposed to be tough in the cold?" Hahahahahahaha... I find this quite funny and respond similar to this: "Yeah it gets cold in Ohio, but you don't see us running around in the snow in a swimsuit! We dress appropriately or go in where it's warm!" Really, people ;)

Anyways, once it was my turn and I was out there and my legs were numb, I had a great time! I got to have Pastor Jim helping me one-on-one, so I didn't have to worry so much about paddling out or figuring out which wave to catch. He had me hop on the board and he would tow me out there and line me up, and tell me when to go. The trickiest part for me was keeping the nose of the board pointing up while riding the wave in. That sucker just wants to tip down into the water, and as soon as it does, off you go! That's the scariest part to me, because the board would pop up behind me, I fall into the wave and my board comes flying at me, a few times on top of my head, and once it barely missed smacking me right in the throat. I got a few good rides in on my belly and knees, but I didn't yet get to try standing up. My lesson actually got cut short because the wind suddenly got really crazy. I was getting blown to the side and the water was blowing all up in my face, so we had to call it a day. But a very fun and adventurous day it was!

All 3 of us are standing up in this picture LOL