There was a lot in the beginning of Paul’s life that shaped him into who he was in the future. I think that I have had experiences that have shaped me and what God is using in my future. One thing especially comes to mind, my trip to Costa Rica. Sense the very first day there I was happy, content and felt like that was exactly where I was supposed to be. I felt at home even though I was thousands of miles away. I felt like the people there were like family and that they were showing God to me through them. Many of them had nothing yet they had joy. They were truly happy. Real God joy, not just joy found in things. From the day I left until today, I know that someday I will go back, I want to go there for a while. I want to stay there and enjoy the people and feel that joy. I LOVE Costa Rica because I know the language and I can connect with the people there in a special way. That would be the place that I would like to go the most in the world, I would want others in the country to experience that joy of Jesus and that love of God that surpasses any love that any earthly parents could give these little orphans. I feel like God is calling me there and that I have the love for traveling anyways and that also shapes that amount of happiness I would have to be able to be there with the people and the language.

We built a marshmallow and spaghetti tower. We thought that it went pretty well. We bought the supplies and started building. But then we realized that we needed one more marshmallow. So we needed to buy another marshmallow. We also realized that we were going to need to use tape, because we forgot to put the tower on the base. We needed to also tape a spaghetti stick back together because it broke. We also used tape to tape together the top because some of the spaghetti sticks had fallen out and we had to fix it. Overall everything went well, we worked good together and worked through the problems. What went bad was that the spot where the egg is supposed to go is really not stable and could break at any moment.

Quincy Eldersveld

Mrs. Roskamp

LA, 8A

19 October 2016

Thematic Writing

This book is about a girl, Lea, who lives in St. Louis and her friend, Camila, came to visit her from Brazil. They signed up for a photography class. And so did Lea’s other friend, Abby, from her neighborhood. So they went to the first class and Abby started to get close and be really good friends with Camila. Lea and Camila went to a remodeling house and found a picture of a girl who was wearing the same necklace that Lea’s grandma owned. Which there was only one of that necklace, or so Lea thought. So Lea tried to solve the mystery and she was so focused on the mystery girl that she forgot to be a good host for her friend. In the end she found out that the mystery girl was a really good friends of her grandma, and that there was two of the necklaces. In this book I realized that friendships are more important than anything else.

The girls were not always acting like friends, they fought but not with words, with actions. The girls in this book, Lea and Abby, were best friends at the beginning. And Lea hoped that Abby would get along with Camila and that they could be friends too. But when Camila and Abby first met, Lea seemed to see that they were getting along almost too well. Which bothered her a lot. So she started to get mad at Abby. But what Lea did not realize was that Abby was being really nice to Camila because she was worried that Lea liked Camila more than she liked her. Abby was jealous of Lea;s friendship with Camila. And Camila was caught in the middle of the mess. In the end both girls could not stand each other and they finally talked over why they were mad and jealous. Once they talked that over they were all a really good group of friends. And I realized when I read that, that it is really easy to do sometimes. And that friendships are more important than trying to make people happy.

Another conflict was the photography class, Lea was told that she was not good enough. When the girls first signed up for the photography class they thought that they were good at it. They all loved it and they would learn more about taking pictures. On the first day they had to take pictures of whatever. Lea planned out her picture and took it very carefully. While in the meantime Camila and Abby took a bunch of fun and crazy pictures. Then the teacher pulled up the pictures to show the whole class. She got to Lea’s and she said that it was dull and needed some pop and some excitement. When she got to the other girls she talked about how much she loved their pictures. Lea was really jealous at that point. She was supposed to be the best photographer. And she was not ok with her friends being better. She was thinking too much about herself and not caring about others, and congratulating her friends for their photography skills. She was not being selfless. It would have been easier for her in the long run to just own up to her mistake and try harder the next day, because the girls have already gotten off to a bad start.

In this book I realized that friendships are more important than anything else. I really liked this book. It was a good mystery and not to long. It was a good quick read for a busy person. It had a lot of adventure and mystery. It was written by the perspective of Lea which was also easier to read for me. You learned things along the way about St. Louis and Brazil, but it was not written like a nonfiction book, I would not read it, because I really only read fiction and mystery. The one thing that I did not like about it was that the mysteries were easy to solve and you could figure out what would happen by reading a clue. So maybe they should have made the mysteries a little bit harder to find out! But overall I think that this is a well-written book.

Quincy Eldersveld

Mrs. Roskamp

LA, 8A

16 September 2016

Colossians 3:17

And whatever you do whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Selfless

Selfless is an attribute of Jesus, and one that we should have too. Last year we had a theme day where we had to choose the theme. We went over to Faith Church and had to decide a theme. We had to all think of ideas in smaller groups, then choose one theme for our smaller group. After that we combined as a grade and voted all of the options. We ended up choosing the theme selfless. This theme makes me feel challenged because it means that you have to do things that are against what our human nature wants us to do. I can apply this theme to my life as an 8th grader at Zeeland Christian School and to my life in the community and in the world.

This years theme can apply to my life here at Zeeland Christian School. I can be selfless by using my time to help others, in ways like staying a few minutes to help someone with homework/work. Or to just be kind and do what Jesus would do use his time to help others. Another way that I can be selfless is to give someone something that I wanted if someone else wants it or needs it. Like if I have eaten a bunch of candy I could give someone the last one. A simple way to be selfless is to hold a door for someone or picking up something if they drop it. You could hang out with someone that you don’t normally spend time with. Someone who is normally alone. (Which is easier said than done.) You could also help a teacher stack chairs, or sort papers after school. You could also let someone else do or have something before you. But you could mostly just have a attitude of wanting to serve and put others before yourself.

This year’s theme also applies to my life outside of school. I can be selfless outside of school by helping a stranger with picking something up or just saying hi and smiling . People notice when others go out of their way to help or worry about someone else. And by doing something for someone else they can hopefully see that there is something different about us and they can see Jesus through us. Another thing that I can do and anyone can do to be selfless is to hold open a door for someone, and when they say “Thank you” to say “Your Welcome.” A bigger thing that you can do to be selfless is to buy someone something or give someone a gift, (because you want to not because you have to) that required time and maybe even money. Keeping an eye out for what you could do for someone and what you could do to be selfless all the time.

I can apply the theme “selfless” to my life as an 8th grader at Zeeland Christian School and to my life in the community and in the world. You can be selfless through anything you do, whenever and wherever you are. In conclusion it is not that hard to be selfless, and it can make a big difference in someone’s life.

Chloe, Brooklin and I built a boat. When we started the boat was just a cup, styrofoam and a wooden dowel. Everyone said that the boat looked like a plunger. It kept falling over, so we cut the dowel down shorter. We added weight to the back and tried it again, it worked but it was slow. So we tried adding a cup to the top which helped and made it faster. It worked like a sail and our boat got second!

This summer I did not do much. I hung out with friends a lot and went to the beach. I also babysat every Friday for my cousin. But at the end of the summer I went to this camp called Maranatha. We stayed at Maranatha for a week and did a lot of fun things. We went paddle boarding, swimming, zip lining and hung out with friends. At Maranatha we won 2nd for a sand castle building contest. I brought two of my friends to Maranatha, so we hung out a lot too! And I had ice cream every single night. The best thing about the summer was that I got to sleep in every day!

¿Quién somos?

Yo aprendí que en otros lugares del mundo las personas tienen mucho menos que nosotros en los Estados Unidos. Y que con la ayuda de solo algunas personas, otras personas en el otro lado del mundo pueden tener una experiencia muy buena para su vida. Yo quiero empezar a mi propio negocio cuando soy un adulto asique yo puedo sentir todo lo que estas personas sienten cuando ellos reciben su propio negocio. Creo que las personas que reciben sus negocios sienten como si ellos tienen un nuevo comienzo a sus vidas y creen que ellos pueden dar comida a sus hijos.

¿Quién es Él?

Yo creo que Dios se revela a sí mismo con las personas que reciben a estos negocios y con sus trabajos. Porque las personas que reciben tan poco tienen mucha alegria. Y esto se enseña que no es tan dificil ayudar a alguien y con poner una sonrisa en la cara de alguien que no siente amado. Jesús nos encenõ amar a nuestros amigos y a los que no conocemos. Asique con ayudar a alguien estamos enseñando el amor de Cristo. Y si muchas personas enseñan el amor de Cristo a algunas personas puede cambiar mucho. Jesús también dijo que necesitamos seguir sus acciones. Jesús ayudó a muchas personas durante su vida. Entonces nosotros debemos ayudar a otros también.

¿Quién soy yo?

Esta tema me ha afectado porque yo vi que con solo dar un poco una persona puede recibir mucho. Yo he visto que yo tengo mucho más que las personas en los países pobres. Esto me he enseñado que yo tengo mucho más que las personas en otros lugares del mundo. También que cuando alguien recibe $100, es mucho dinero. Pero cuando yo recibo $100 es mucho pero no tanto como las personas en África. Mi perspectiva ha cambiado, ahora cuando yo recibo dinero yo recuerdo que es más que otra persona ha recibido en una semana de trabajo.

Resumen:

Las microfinanzas son muy buenas para las personas en otros lugares que no pueden hacer dinero facilmente. Para empezar una microempresa los microempresarios van a un banco especial y toman $100 para empezar su negocio. Después van y compran todo lo que necesitan para empezar. Luego empiezan a trabajar y hacer dinero. Cuando tienen $100 traen el dinero al banco otra vez y continúan su negocio y hacen dinero para sus familias.

Llamada a Acción:

Solo tienes que recordar que un poco de dinero, es mucho dinero en otros lugares del mundo. Yo voy a recordar que si yo gasto dinero alguien podría estar usando esto para mucho. Cuando yo estuve en 4to grado yo hize dinero para pozos en África. Es solo $100 para hacer un pozo para una ciudad entera. No toma mucho para hacer una diferencia en la vida de una persona o de muchas.

Galátas 5:14

“En efecto, toda la ley se resume en un solo mandamiento: Ama a tu prójimo como a ti mismo.”