on God prepared Paul in his early life for his ministry later in his life. Some of these things are:
God has already been preparing me in my life for the work I will do for him. He sent me to the Philippines, where I saw him in the people there. He has given me many talents, and a great family to support me through all my challenges.
on Before the persecution project, I had no idea how severely Christians were persecuted. Families turn on other members, friends on friends, and governments of their own citizens. I had no clue how Sudan has been attacking and segregating the Christians from the normal society so that no Christian can be known in public. I have learned so much during this project, and am so happy we did it.
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Our tower is really cool! It is very stable because of our base, as we built it around our base. Our egg isn’t as stable as we would like, but it kinda holds it in. Overall, our tower is super good. We taped our base to the cardboard, as well as crossed the sticks and built a basket.
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on So far, 8th grade has been an exciting year. One thing I have enjoyed has been Social Studies class. It is really like living history, and has been a blast! Something I have learned this year was about the years of silence. The years of silence was the 400 year time period in between the Old testament and the New. I am looking forward to being a small group leader this year. I have the privilege of leading Mr. Buetyn’s small group with Jed, and I am looking forward to leading and growing relationships with the other people in my small group. Overall, this year has been a phenomenal year and I look forward to experiencing the rest of it. I am excited to be done with middle school soon, as high school is coming soon, but I will miss ZCS in high school and beyond.
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This is the team ‘Nien Numb Pancake’s’ boat. We hope that our boat will be able to finish, as our development has been iffy. Our boat has typically ran into the wall, but we are hoping to balance it. Our boat has had no time in which it was sunk, so that is a plus. So far, also, it hasn’t finished the race. We plan to make some last minute modifications, so that it will finished. I learned throughout this lab to test out materials, and design carefully.
on This summer was an amazing summer. At the beginning of summer, I took part in my school’s mission trip to the Philippines. My school, ZCS, has a sister school in the Philippines. The school’s name is Grace Community Christian School. Myself and 11 other students from ZCS traveled to the school, and 3 adults. We were gone for 15 days, and had an amazing time building relationships and seeing the beauty of the Philippines. We landed home at 1:30 A.M., and had a baseball game at 6:00 P.M. Our all star team got pretty far, and almost made it to the state tournament. we lost in the regional semi-finals. later in the summer, Sam Knot and I attended Knollcrest Music Camp at Calvin College. We had an amazing time and learned a lot of new music. The week after camp, My family and I went to Boston for 11 days. We learned a ton about American History, and also made stops at Niagara Falls, Cape Cod, and Cedar Point. We had an unforgettable time there and made tons of memories.
By James Oosterhouse, August 28, 2018
on This past Friday, our 7th grade had African Union Day. For the whole morning, we represented African countries and created resolutions on some topics. Prior to the event, each of us individually got to write a position paper on our African countries stance on democracy. During the event, delegates from African countries worked together to create resolutions, or suggestions, on democratic values. My African country was Malawi. Malawi supports democracy and democratic values. After we made the resolutions, we debated on them. delegates from separate countries amended, tabled, or voted on the results. The hardest part throughout the entire time was convincing all the different delegates on our ideas. Overall, I learned a lot about created resolutions, convincing people, democracy, and had a lot of fun!
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The star of the movie Invictus, Nelson Mandela, was played by Morgan Freeman. Nelson Mandela, arguably one of the most influential person in South Africa’s history, changed the world. Nelson was in prison for 27 years, after the whites in power of the country where mad at him for fighting apartheid. Reconciliation was found in this movie when whites and blacks unite together over rugby.
Francois
One of the main supporting characters in the movie, Invictus, was Francois. (Played by Matt Damon.) Francois changed a lot in the movie, because of his role. at the beginning of the movie, Francois and his family had very strong opinions about Black Africans. after meeting with Nelson Mandela, Francois (the captain of the Springboks, the national rugby team of South Africa) changed the most in the movie because he played the leading role in this. By the end of the movie, Francois had changed his entire view of the world.
By James Oosterhouse
on After doing the Africa simulation today, my view of Africa changed. I learned that HIV is a major disease that we don’t think about often in the United States because we have access to vaccinations that are not found in Africa. during this Africa unit, I am excited to learn about the different cultures in Africa. I also am going to really enjoy researching the current events in my country. I used to think that Africa was isolated and has no modern technology. After today, I realized that Africa has a lot of technology, like cell phones and computers. I did not know the 65% of the world’s diamonds came from Africa, and that leads me to wonder why Africa is not more wealthy than it is. this experiment reminded me of the movie ‘Black Panther’ when everybody thinks Wakanda is a super poor country when really it is the most technologically advanced country in the world. (note: Wakanda is not a real country.)
on Recently, we had the opportunity to travel to Europe. We faced many challenges on this trip, including customs, money, and many more. One of the challenges we faced as tourists in Europe was the money. In every country we visited that we needed money for, we had to exchange our money for theirs. This slowed down our traveling drastically. Another thing that was a challenge on our trip was the customs. In every country we visited, whether we were visiting our just pacing through, we had to go through customs. This took a long time due to congested lines. when working in our home country of Spain, we faced many challenges. one of the challenges was keeping up our guests. As custom workers, we did not want long lines, but we still needed to be thorough. A benefit of Spain was the traffic. many people had to travel through Spain to get to Portugal. Another benefit of both France and Portugal is the water. Due to the location of these countries, they could provide transportation to countries like the U.K. One benefit of the U.K., Belguim, Poland, and Italy is isolation. These countries were not easily accessed and did not have the stress of long lines. Germany, one of the most heavily benefitted, has many perks. One is location. Germany is located near the middle of Europe, thus created it a vital passageway.
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on NOTE! Mrs. Z not all sound bites are in yet and I am adding them really soon.
Salute to the King
In the Old Testament, the Israelites were very similar to us today. They’re always wanting the newest thing. In our case, maybe we want technology. In the Israelites case, they wanted a king. For a long time, the Israelites had the cycle of Judges. The times would start of going well, then the Israelites sinned. Following that the enemies of Israel would attack. Next, the Israelites would cry out to God, and God would send a Judge to save them. This cycle repeated over and over. We can connect this with our lives in many ways. One way we can do that is we can compare the Israelites and us. The Israelites, after the cycle of judges, the Israelites wanted a king. Today, we are also always wanted the newest earthly possession.
There were many things that can be learned from this lesson. One thing that I learned from it was to not always need the ‘coolest’ new item/ because like the cycle of judges, there will always be another new thing you ‘have’ to have. The important thing to remember is this: the earthly possession we crave on earth has no eternal value.
Something is Rotten
During the middle part of the old testament, Israel kept getting some really lousy kings. To get Israel out of this trouble, God sent the prophet Elijah. Elijah faced off against the 450 prophets of Baal at Mt. Carmel. At this time, the people of Israel did not believe in God, but in Baal. At Mt. Carmel, Elijah proposed a challenge. They would both but a dead ox on an altar and whoever’s God set the ox on fire would be the winner. Elijah let Baal go first, but nothing happened. Then, after all of the rituals of Baal, Elijah doused his ox in water. After this happened, God came down in the lightning and struck the ox. Elijah then commanded the people to destroy the prophets of Baal and the entire religion.
The reason I picked the picture of a baseball is not to say that baseball is rotten. I picked that for two reasons. First, we oftentimes worship sports rather than God. We decide to do travel sports and give up Sundays for that. Second, we do not act how we should when playing these sports. We can get to worked up, or mad at the refs, or do a dirty play. These things are all un-Christlike and rotten.
Sinai Law
Towards the beginning of the old testament, the Sinai Covenant was made between the people of Israel and the God. God would be their God, and the Israelites would be his people. In order to be his people, they also had to follow the ten commandments. God did not give them these laws to smother them and hide them, but to protect them from themselves. The law God gave them covers every single part of their life, not just at church or at school. He also wrote these commandments for us. Part of the law says that ‘thou shalt worship no other gods but me’. We call ourselves Christians, but we also tend to accidentally worship other things. For example, we oftentimes end up worshiping sports, technology, Money, and other earthly possession. We need to throw away the rotten stuff of this world and focus on God. I decided to chose the ten commandments for my visual because the ten commandments was the symbol of the Sinaic Covenant, between God and Israel.
A Savior
Inevitably, the people of Israel could not keep the Sinai Covenant. Despite this, God offered a new covenant. The new covenant would be written on their hearts, not on stone tablets. The new covenant would not need animal sacrifices, for Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice. Jeremiah gave the people a new covenant, through God. This aggrement was called the Davidic covenant. It was an unconditional covenant. No matter what God would still hold through and do his part, even when we sin. Isaiah came and gave the people pictures of a new savior that they could relate to.
I chose the nativity scene for my picture because it is a symbol of Christ coming and saving us. Many people have in a way ‘corrupted’ Christmas. People have actually said, “let’s not pull religion into the holidays.” People! The holiday is literally called Christ-mass. We call it that because we celebrate Jesus’ birth! People can pull Santa, presents, and more into the holidays, but it will always be about the birth of Christ our savior.
Covenant
A covenant is a type of agreement that was very common in the old testament. Every covenant is made between two groups of people. In the old testament, it was often between God and someone else. God made a covenant with every single one of us. This covenant is called the cultural mandate. In the cultural mandate, God gave us the Earth and we have to take care of it. We need to obey God and be respectful of God’s creation. God told us that if we obey him he will help us. But just like anything else, if we mess up we get punished. There are two types of covenants, conditional and unconditional. A conditional covenant is a covenant that both groups have to hold up the deal. An example of an unconditional covenant is the Davidic covenant. God is still holding up his end of the deal, even though we failed to do so. As my picture, I chose a rainbow as my picture because it is an unconditional covenant. God promised to never flood the entire world again.
Symbol of a Lamp
God promised everyone that He would send His Son as a savior for us to save you and me from our sins. God uses the symbol of a lamp for this covenant because it was the main source of artificial light in those days. God promises to David that he would be his father, and David would be his child. God’s own Son would come from David’s line. David was a man after God’s own heart, even though David like us made many mistakes. God promised that Jesus, the ultimate light of the world, would come from the line of David. We can connect to this passage to our time by putting us in David’s shoes. We are just like him! We sinned, and God is our father. Though Jesus may not come from our own family line, God is still our father. I picked the Survivor® Season 35 Heroes healers Hustlers logo because, in that game show, they use fire to represent life. God gave us our fire, our life, through Jesus.
Call
God called Abram and Sarai to become parents of a great nation. The got their names changed, to Abraham and Sarah. They didn’t always trust God’s call and tried to control their own things on their own. In the end, God kept his promises. Sarah did have a baby and Abraham did become a great nation and Jesus did come from their line. God called them, and He still calls us today. All we have to do is listen for God and look at the clues. God tells us to read the Bible, pray to him, and listen to him. God has recently called me to go on a mission trip to the Philippines with ZCS. My family and I prayed and talked about it a lot, and said that if it was God’s will for me then I should do it. Many people have been called by God, and all you have to do is listen to God.
Slide to Destruction
After the cycle of judges, the Israelites finally got one good king. His name was Josiah. Other than him, all thing other kings were foolish, worshipped Baal, and did evil in the eyes of the Lord. As punishment for these kings, Israel was scattered in Assyria. Judah had two good kings, but the rest yet again did evil in the eyes of the Lord and worshipped idols. As punishment for their sin, Judah was scattered throughout Babylonia. These kings who did evil focused on power, not God’s Law. this lesson teaches us to listen to the prophets in our own lives, so we do not follow the paths of these kings. I did a crown for this picture because it represents what the kings wanted, popularity and power. We should not follow this path and we need to listen to God and pay attention to his law.
on On Tuesday, October 17, we went to the Saugatuck Center for the arts and watched a documentary called ‘We the 7th’. This documentary talked about the Dakota Access Pipeline. They also talked about Native American history, discrimination against Native Americans, and their families. After the movie, we had the unique experience to talk tot he producers and then walk through a Native American art Exhibition. I enjoyed this experience as I have never had the opportunity to hear about Native American culture and history from their point of view. In the museum, one thing that popped out to me was this; Emerald Ash. Emerald Ash is a disease that can wipe out Ash trees like you licking a plate. The Native Americans thought of the disease as a monster that eats the trees in the night. this disease was a thought hing for the Native Americans due to the fact that Ash trees are sacred and used for many things by the Native Americans.
By James Oosterhouse
Link credit: https://daplpipelinefacts.com/
Saugatuck Center for the arts: http://www.sc4a.org/
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on Today we watched the movie “Living on one Dollar”. It was eye-opening for me because over 1.1 billion people experience extreme poverty everyday and some of us can’t even start to imagine what it would be like. They live on informal jobs, adding up to less than a dollar a day, and never knowing when the next pay is going to come. I found this movie very interesting and I immediately felt guilty because some of us live on more money for one week and they do in one year. We complain about food we don’t like, where they get fed the same thing everyday with little to no nutrition. the movie “Living On One Dollar” was a good experience and can’t even begin to imagine what it is like to live in extreme poverty. The movie was set place in a small, poor, town called Peña Blanca, in Guatemala. It is crazy how little they have, and they’re still ready to give to help others at the same time. When w take for granted everything we have, and we want more. We don’t want to give to others and always say we ‘need’ more stuff, when 14.4% of the world’s population lives on less than one dollar a day.
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Madrid esta derecha de Portugal. Barcelona esta arriba de la mar de mediterránea. Soria esta Izquierda de Barcelona.
El clase de mate esta cerca de la plaza san Lorenzo. El officina de el director esta derecha de la plaza mayor. El biblioteca esta izquierda de la plaza mayor.
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En España, Estudiantes aprenden muchos clases. clases incluir es Matemáticas, Ciencias, Clase De Español, Historia, y muchos mas! Matemáticas en España es muy divertido! Escuela llagan Nueve de la mañana. España comen y un siesta en doce de la tarde. escuela reanudar en tres de la tarde y salan en cinco de la tarde,
We are doing a lab in Science class where we have to build a long chain. Our chain is really good at being long because it can stretch. One thing that I am worried about is that our chain will snap because of the rubber bands.. we decided to not use popsicle sticks because they do not loop well.