Photo Album of New Life Beach Day - September 13, 2008
On Saturday, September 13, New Life hosted a Beach Day Gathering Event for the congregation and the core group of Reliance Covenant church. along with the church members and friends, we we were joined by 22 recently-arrived refugees from Bhutan, Burma and Iraq.
This was the first time that any of the refugees had seen the Pacific Ocean, and the very first time many of them had seen any ocean at all.
Gathering such disparate groups together at a Northern California beach is always risky. The weather is notoriously unpredictable, with days of 80 degrees and sunny in San Jose turning out to be 50 degrees and windy at the beach. Further, what if no one talked to each other? What if the refugees hated the ocean? What if no one wanted to share food together?
But God was in this from the beginning. The day was perfect, not too hot or too cold, everyone arrived in good spirits, the refugees were ready to try anything, even boogie boarding! And the New Life and Reliance folks were lovely and wonderful and open to meeting and interacting with our new friends.
Bonds were formed, new friendships sprouted, and we all got a chance to learn from one another in a way that most would never have had a chance to do without an event like this.
Many thanks to everyone who came, we hope to do more events like this in the future.
Enjoy the pictures!
This was the first time that any of the refugees had seen the Pacific Ocean, and the very first time many of them had seen any ocean at all.
Gathering such disparate groups together at a Northern California beach is always risky. The weather is notoriously unpredictable, with days of 80 degrees and sunny in San Jose turning out to be 50 degrees and windy at the beach. Further, what if no one talked to each other? What if the refugees hated the ocean? What if no one wanted to share food together?
But God was in this from the beginning. The day was perfect, not too hot or too cold, everyone arrived in good spirits, the refugees were ready to try anything, even boogie boarding! And the New Life and Reliance folks were lovely and wonderful and open to meeting and interacting with our new friends.
Bonds were formed, new friendships sprouted, and we all got a chance to learn from one another in a way that most would never have had a chance to do without an event like this.
Many thanks to everyone who came, we hope to do more events like this in the future.
Enjoy the pictures!
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| Beach Day |
posted by New Life Covenant Church at
3:28 PM
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