This past week I attended a conference at Saddleback Church, Lake Forest where Mariners brought a handful of students and we just jammed. I'd been to this conference about 5 years ago with the old students ministries worship leaders at Mariners, but it was so cool to be able to come back and see all that's changed. This year, I was really special for me because not only did I get to attend with some of my favorite Mariners band students, but I also got to hang with a bunch of my Saddleback friends!
I'm in this state of transition right now where I've been attending both Saddleback and Mariners HSM services, and I'm hoping to decide on one ministry to call my home by the end of the summer. So this conference was a rad blend between both churches where I kinda felt like Hannah Montana getting the best of both worlds for those couple of days. I'm not here to compare the two churches in this post, but I am here just to talk about how much fun the conference was and I can share my silly and spiritual moments with y'all!
I got to see a ton of familiar faces from Saddleback, which was sucha good time. I had friends who were worshiping, hosting, mixing, and running cameras for the conference. It was so awesome to see all of my friends in their element doing what they love for Jesus. Because I went with Mariners though, I did spend more of my time with the Mariners team.
Here are some of my favorite moments with Mariners this past week:
We grabbed dinner on the first night together at California Pizza Kitchen at the Spectrum in Irvine. The high schoolers all kinda sat at their own table and we couldn't stop laughing. I was laughing so hard that I accidentally hit my waiter's arm because I didn't know he was behind me. We laughed really hard because Luke had said something and we although none of us heard what he actually said, it sounded like he had asked, "Am I high?" We also laughed really hard because Ava ate all of the bread that they had brought out as an appetizer. And then Ava got so frustrated because Alex had spit in her drink, and well... they're all inside jokes I guess, but every moment at CPK that night was so much fun. And after dinner a bunch of us grabbed Pressed! So we had our frozen treats and we all just ate in community. I love that. I love sharing food with others and just being with my friends.
Another one of my favorite moments with the team was when we took communion on the second night. There were only a couple of us, so the bread and grape juice that Saddleback had provided our team with was a lot more than we needed. It worked out though because much like the night before, Ava ate the rest of the bread and I got thirsty and drank the rest of the grape juice. Gosh, it was just funny.
It's moments like those that make memories. What a blast.
My favorite memory from the conference happened at H48, Saddleback HSM's Night Of Worship. Ava and I were the only Mariners folks who had stayed, so we stuck together almost the entire night. We did however, hang with a few of my close Saddleback pals. The four of us (Ava, Grace, & Zach) spent the entire night praising Jesus until all of the sudden Ava was trying to tell me something. I couldn't read her lips and so it wasn't until she grabbed my arm until I heard what she had said. She pulled me outside and kept saying, "He's here, he's here!" but yo girl over here was like "Uh- bruh, who's here? I don't see anyone."
And then lo and behold, JASON sCoTT bOhEn turned around the corner as he was chewing on an apple and talking on the phone. Classic Jason.
So long story short, Ava brought me to Jason, who I haven't seen since Mariners JHM winter camp. I cried for far too long, but that moment made my night. It was pretty rad.
Anywho, I just wanted to talk about my conference. That's kinda it. With that all said though, since tomorrow is the Fourth Of July, stay safe out there folks! And make sure that your pets stay safe too! I know that fireworks can be scary, so make sure that you're safe and stuff. Have fun celebrating!
Much Love,
Delaney Miller