Saturday July 4

This morning was the first time we got to sleep in. It was amazing. I woke up around 10:00 AM. A lot of people were still sleeping, so I got breakfast and had a quiet time. That was nice because I haven't been able to do it for a while. Then around noon, all of the girls and guys gathered separately. We had our own women's/men's day.

During the women's time, we talked about the struggles that women face. It was a good, eye-opening experience. Then we made bracelets that tell the story of Jesus' life. After a little while, the whole group went out for pizza. Poor Julie cut her finger on a glass because she got so excited about sitting next to LaShondra.

We then came back to SPU and listened to some testimonies. They were all so powerful. We all laughed, cried, and related with their stories. It was really neat to watch how the group reacted to each story after knowing each other for only two weeks.

Once we were done with testimonies, a few of us went downstairs to worship. After worship, we went to the balcony on the sixth floor to watch fireworks. There weren't any too close to the area, but we could see a few shows in different locations throughout the city, so that was cool. We were pretty lucky though because this is supposedly the first year in quite a while that it didn't rain on the fourth.