Day 1 – 
Today we worked mostly on individual parts of our bridge, and completed the first of the two bases.
Day 2- 
Today we started the walking part of the bridge and began the assembly for the second base.
Day 3- 
Today we finished the bridge part and started the supports.
Day 4-
Today we attaches the walkway/train tracks, completing the bridge.
In the past, God equipped Paul and other people to share his word around the world. He is doing that in everyone today, through a wide variety of forms. Everyone has their own gifts, and they can use them for God. For me personally, I have been blessed with the gift of being bilingual, along with the gift of music. I can use Spanish, my second language, to reach out to many more people than I could without it. The gift of music could help me to give praise to God, and encouraging others to do the same.
Christians have been, and always will be a minority in religion in our world, they currently make up only about 25% of the world’s population. Christians have been persecuted in the past and are still being persecuted in countries today, such as, Indonesia; however, there are things we can do to help these Christians.
Christians have been persecuted in almost since the beginning, when Jesus left the earth. The persecution started with Nero, in 54 BC. Nero was one of the worst Roman Emperors, and he would do horrible things to Christians. He accused them of cannibalism, using communion as his evidence, saying that they would eat Christ’s body and blood, not just the bread and wine they were using. Firstly, he started part of the city of rome on fire, because he didn’t like that part of the city, and then watched it burn from his house. He blamed the Christians for starting the fire. Not only did he do this, but he would use them as lamps in the best of his parties, burning them alive. Nero, however, was not the only emperor of Rome to persecute Christians, but he was one of the worst. The justice system of Rome was very disorganised, so much of the persecution varied by district. In the justice system, the governor would have the freedom to hear any case, but was not obliged to. He himself would hear the witnesses’ stories and decide on a ruling based on his personal beliefs, not necessarily the law of Rome, so, naturally, the outcome and sentence of cases varied widely. Diocletian was another emperor who persecuted Christians. He forces them to make sacrificed to the Roman gods and then they would be allowed to live, and if they refused, they would be given a second chance, and if they still denied the gods, they would be executed. Over 20,000 Christians died in his rule and still more fled the country. Much of the reason for persecution was just the personal belief of the particular governor, at least until 303, when it first became illegal to have a Bible. Even though there was much persecution, much of the first 300 years of Christianity was peace.
Christians have been persecuted in the past, and still today. There has been a lot of persecution in Indonesia lately, enough to make it on the top 50 list. The main religion in Indonesia is Islam, which generally accepts other religions, except in cases of extremism. The government says that they are tolerant to Christians, but are extremely biased against them. Court passed a law declaring that to open a new religious building, you needed the approval of 60 citizens outside of your religion group. They have been misusing this law and shutting down long-standing churches, even though the law applies to new structures. There is also a lot of hate towards missionaries and Christians in general, such as this story, where people threatened missionaries through texts. Sometimes, local persecution is evident, such as this story, where a church was shut down by the mayor, and was kept shut, even after the Supreme Court ordered or it to be re-opened.
There are people being persecuted globally, however, we can help them. Some different ways that people can help are through prayer, donations, traveling to a different Country and
DeKruyter 2
through letters of encouragement. Also the Prayer, Educate, Advocacy, Care, Equip, that spells PEACE.
In conclusion, there are many Christians around the world being persecuted, but there are ways that we can help. Christians have been persecuted in the past and are still being persecuted in countries today, such as, Indonesia; however, there are things we can do to help these Christians.
For science class, we had to build a tower to hols an egg 40 cm above the earthquake machine. It had to be shaken for 10 seconds without breaking. We decided to use X’s and ∆’s to support the tower, which we learned are stronger and should hold more weight. We just tested it and it held the egg, and nothing moved, other than the broken base edge, which trembled a bit.
Metaphor Writing
I am a tree. I consist of many parts, like a tree. The first way I am like a tree is a tree has roots that keep it firmly in place in the ground. I have ‘roots’ in Jesus that keep me firmly planted in God’s soil. A tree will not move from it’s spot, and neither will I.
I am a tree because I grow tall over the troubles of this world. I can move past them without stopping. The troublesome ‘vines’ wrap around me and seem to trap me, but I keep growing on.
Another way I am like a tree is that the leaves on me constantly change. Some ‘seasons’ of life are easy, like summer when all the leaves are green and there is plenty of food and sun. Others, like winter are hard, where there is little food or sun and the leaves are dead.. Other seasons are more symbolic, such as spring, which represents a new beginning, where the leaves are small and eager to grow to the next season. Fall is a season where all the leaves change color, preparing for the next ‘season’ of life. I can try to hide my troubles by making myself look like I’m fine, but they will be exposed eventually.
I am like a tree because trees are hard to kill. Sometimes, the people trimmed the tree. Even then, I will still grow back into a better person than I was before. Even If you uproot some of my life, If you miss any of the tree, I will still grow back.
Tanner DeKruyter Mrs. Roskamp LA, 8B 19 October 2016
Harry Potter And the Deathly Hallows
In Harry Potter And the Deathly Hallows, Harry Must stop Lord Voldemort by destroying all the Horcruxes, or pieces of Lord Voldemort’s soul. But now, after reading the legend of the Deathly Hallows, Harry, Ron and Hermione must choose which path to follow. Ron thinks that they should find the Deathly Hallows, but Harry and Hermione think that it would be safer to find the remaining 3 horcruxes. Later, Harry learns that he is a horcrux and has to die in order for Voldemort to be defeated. Through this book, I learned that sometimes sacrifices are needed for a greater cause.
Throughout the book, I have seen the theme in many ways. In the middle of the last book, Harry realises that when Voldemort was first defeated, the part of his soul residing in him was transferred into Harry, so he has many of Voldemort’s traits, such as speaking Parseltongue. Harry must sacrifice himself to defeat Voldemort.
I have seen the theme in many ways. Towards the end of the series Dumbledore, Harry’s headmaster, must not blow the cover of Severus Snape, who is pretending to work for Voldemort. He allows Snape to kill him to prove his loyalty to Voldemort. Dumbledore knew that it would be better for him to use the last of his life to prove Snape’s loyalty than to just die peacefully.
Through this book, I learned that sometimes sacrifices are needed for a greater cause. I think that this book/series is a great series. There is a theme throughout the book, even though it is well concealed. You have to look for the theme to find a theme, even though there are many.
This week in Bible we have been studying different names of Jesus. I made a keynote on the name Prophet. We had to say if the name showed his divinity or humanity, give some context and attach at least 3 pictures. I think that this is a cool name because it shows that he is God’s mouthpiece and will do his will.
Our boat had a catamaran bottom. We did this because we wanted the least amount of styrofoam possible to be touching the water. We had the two pieces connected with popsicle sticks that also held the sail. The sail was originally higher but it tipped over. Then we decided to lower the sail and move it farther back. Then we put some tinfoil around the mast and moved the mast all the way back so out boat wouldn’t nosedive into the water. Now our boat doesn’t nosedive.
This summer I did a lot of things. I went to Arizona, Utah, and Nevada with my extended family. We visited the Grand Canyon and a few of us watched the sunrise. We also went to Bryce Canyon and hiked to the bottom. It took about two hours. We also went to the beach for a week. The water was warmer than usual, so we went swimming a lot. Towards the end of the summer, we went camping up north. The first night there was a lightning storm so we had do sleep in the car instead of the tent. Summer was fun.
Resumen
El debate de la selva fue interesante y divertido. Había 6 grupos; los madereros, los caucheros, los nativos, los colonos, los ganaderos y los ecologistas. Todos hicieron un póster con su plan para la selva. Los madereros, apodados ‘mataderos’, querían dividir a la selva ‘igualmente’, ellos recibían medio de la selva que no había sido destruido., ya habían cortado a medio. Los ecologistas querían usar parte de la selva para estudiar, Sólo querían que los madereros salieron. Mi grupo, los caucheros queríamos parte de la selva para sacar caucho de los árboles. Los colonos y nativos querían un espacio para vivir en sin distracciones. El otro grupo, los ganaderos estuvo feliz con la tierra que tenían de los mataderos. En el debate todos compartieron sus ideas y al principio fue callado sin personas gritando. Después de día uno, todos odiaban a los mataderos solo porque cortaron medio de la selva. Durante la última sección, los mataderos intentaron compartir su idea de por cada árbol que cortan, iban a plantar 3, pero todos ya odiaban a los mataderos. En la vida real, eso es un crisis muy grande en que todos tienen una idea diferente y todos quieren su idea.
¿Quienes Somos?
Del tema de la selva, aprendí que no todos tienen las mismas vistas de que va a ser lo mejor. Por ejemplo, los madereros querían dividir la selva igualmente, a pesar de que ya habían usado casi medio de la selva. Todo ese debate fue queremos la selva o queremos dinero. Nadie de los otros grupos quería eso, aunque no tuvimos un plan de acción, solo queríamos que los madereros salieran de la selva.
Estoy conectado a los demás en este tema porque todos los grupos tuvieron que juntarse para sacar a los madereros.
¿Quién es Él
Lo que este tema me enseñó de Dios fue que É ama a todos incluso si hacen una mala decisión y que las decisiones que hacemos con la selva no le van a cambiar. Seguir a Jesús significa estar con el grupo que mejor beneficia a la selva incluso si no te beneficia, pero estar abierto a otras ideas.
Me ha afectado este tema porque no queramos a los madereros (mataderos) tuvieron más de la selva y todos aprendimos mucho de la selva. Pienso que no solo yo he cambiado, pero que todos han aprendido a considerar la situación y luego hacer una decisión.
¿Quién soy yo?
Ese tema me ha afectado y enseñado que personas tienen que trabajar juntos y aveces hacer un compromiso para tener lo que quieren.
Llamada a acción
Ese proyecto me ha enseñado cómo aceptar las
ideas de los demás y no solo escoger mi idea. También me enseño como trabajar en grupo para tener lo que todo el grupo quiere, haciendo un compromiso. Respondí a lo que aprendí porque en en otro debate, el debate de la Unión Africana, escojí al grupo que propugnó la mejor idea para nosotros.
In the book While The World Watched, a girl named Carolyn lived in Birmingham, a city frequently bombed, later nicknamed Bombingham. In the bombing of the 16th st. Baptist Church, her 4 friends died. Later the book describes efforts to desegregate the world. It describes how she felt specifically about the assassinations of important leaders and unfair rules and laws. While she attended college, Carolyn met her husband Jerome. He introduced himself as Je-romeo. Later in life while she was struggling with depression and trying to fix it with alcohol, Jerome helped her give up alcohol. Later in the book, many cases were reopened and most of the time the murderers were found guilty, even though some of them had died. In one of those cases, Carolyn was asked to be the defendant of the murderer, Cherry. She was nervous and angry because she hated the murderer and couldn’t look him in the face. After the trial, Cherry was sentenced to 99 years in prison, even though he was around 70.
What stood out was the murder of Emmett Till. He was murdered in the middle of the night by the white store owner because he didn’t like him. Not only were there no arrests or trials, but the murderers bragged about killing Emmett Till. It shows how sad and unjust the world was.
I learned that social injustice and racism didn’t die with slavery, but continued on much after. I also learned about the fight for justice after slavery and segregation were made illegal, but were still used.
This is important because even though the world was desegregated long ago, there is still injustice in the world like racism.
I learned that you need to be carful with experiments and to follow directions or you will mess up the experiment. I also learned that lakes are not all mesotrophic, oligotrophic or eutrophic, but a combination of the three. I learned that quagga mussels were once present in the entire lake Michigan.
This made me wonder how many invasive species invade places each year. It also made me wonder why people use Celsius.
Para tener un micropréstamos, primero tienes un deseo de una vida mejor. Entonces tienes una idea de hacer un producto para vender, y luego, vas al banco y llenas una aplicación para un micropréstamos. Tienes el dinero y por eso puedes empezar tu negocio. Empiezas a hacer los productos y luego los vendes en el mercado. Después de unos meses, vas al banco y devuelves tu micropréstamo con un poco más. Al fin, todos tienen lo que quieren. tu tienes una vida mejor y un trabajo, y el banco tiene su dinero extra. Una de mis historias favoritas fue cuando la persona pidió un micropréstamo para comprar un horno para pan.
I learned that you score in rugby by kicking the ball and not by running into the goal. I also learned that the president was in jail for 27 years even though he didn’t do anything wrong.
Mandela was wise because he knew that if you took away the rugby the relationship between the black and the whites would go back to what it used to be. He also knew how to spend his time and not just be obsessed with his job as president.
Lo que me impactó de ayer fue las palabras que todos pensaron de África, fueron palabras como sequía, enfermedad, desierto, y cosas malas como eso. Aprendí que África no es así. Hay muchas ciudades grandes y personas ricas que tienen sus propias companías. También aprendí que hay casi 300 idiomas en un solo país, pienso que es por todos las comunidades que tienen su propio lenguaje. Mi perspectiva de África cambió por todas las personas que miraron como fueron de África, pero fueron de los estados unidos y este estereotipo es muy común y injusto a los afroamericanos. Pienso que esto debe de cambiar. Pero África todavía necesita ayuda. Hay una falta de agua para casi todos los países.
