February 2020

Back To The Grind

On the 1st of February, a bunch of the Thrive School students–including myself–helped host a giant car wash, garage sale, snack bar event with live music and funtivities for kids and families at Bayside Folsom. This was a great experience, and we were able to raise $2,500. There were a lot of us helping with the event, so we each made a profit of about $100. We were able to make this an outreach opportunity to the community of Folsom. You can see pictures of the live music setup and flyers we made from the pictures above.

On the 5th of February, all of us Thrive Worship students presented our songs we wrote over the last few months to the main writers of the Thrive Worship album from Bayside. This was an amazing opportunity to receive feedback and encouragement on our songwriting abilities from two people who’ve seen so much success in the world of worship songwriting. Corbin Phillips and Peter Burton gave some positive feedback on the song me and my group wrote that excited me to continue creating songs. The Thrive Worship album topped the charts of Christian Albums in May last year. I love songwriting and am excited to continue working. It was also so encouraging and fun to hear all the songs my peers wrote as well as getting to share mine with them.

On the 9th of February, I was able to attend the Toby Mac concert at Golden 1 Center with some of my Thrive School peers and experience the music, artistry, and production of that show. It was so interesting to come into the Golden 1 Center once again as an attendee this time (as I’d been able to observe and help with the setup of the Bayside event at Golden 1 months ago) and have more understanding of the systems and intricacies at work to put on such a large show. It was very exciting and a cool learning opportunity to attend the concert (which I was able to go to for free).

From the evening of February 12th into the afternoon of February 15th, Thrive School had a Relationships Intensive. On this intensive, we stayed up in the wood areas outside Nevada City in cabins and had many speakers come and give sessions on how to have healthy relationships: friendships, dating relationships, marriages, and families. We also were able to worship together, play games, eat, have deep conversations with our Discipleship Groups, and even take dance classes. It was an amazing experience, and I definitely feel like I took away a lot from that Intensive. God is so good and is teaching me so much. You can see a picture of me and my D Group at the intensive rocking our matching sweaters above. 

On the 15th of February, after we returned from the Relationships Intensive, all of the worship and production students had a Valentines day party hosted by one of Thrive School’s third year worship students with food, games, and fun times. We were able to enjoy each other’s company, unwind, and win prizes.

On the 16th of February, I took my roommate, Klara, to the airport. She had to go back to the Czech Republic because her Visa had expired, and she couldn’t come back until she got it renewed. This was sad for our D Group, she ended up having to be gone for about a month before she could come back and rejoin us to finish this year of Thrive School. Our D Group went from 6 girls to 5. 

On the 22nd of February, I helped set up and run the Thrive School information and sign up booth at Bayside Granite Bay to help inform and recruit more students for next year and share my experience with Thrive School so far. You can see a picture of our booth above.

On the 24th of February, my D Group and I went to the beach at Point Reyes. We had a worship night and fun bonding time there as we talked over how Thrive School had been going for us and talking about our goals, expectations, and experiences. You can see a picture of us at the beach above.

On the 29th of February, the Bayside Folsom worship interns invaded the Bayside Blue Oaks Campus. We had the opportunity to help lead worship for their students for one of their main Saturday night services. I also had the opportunity to learn more about main service lighting, and I ran lights for the worship rehearsal in the main auditorium. This was a very fun experience as the Blue Oaks staff and interns were very welcoming and encouraging to us. You can see a picture of me and two of my peers from Folsom above leading worship for Middle School students at Blue Oaks.

This month, I’ve had multiple amazing musical opportunities: leading worship in Middle School from singing and playing acoustic guitar, playing keys (piano) for High School at Folsom, and leading at Blue Oaks as well as learning more about running audio and lighting at Folsom and Blue Oaks. God has been teaching me so much and blessing me with amazing people and freeing me from a lot of false identities I’d been putting on myself and weights I’d been carrying around that were not my burdens to bear. In His grace, He has blessed me with contentment.

Thanks for reading!