SM Beach Retreat, 2007
Written by Dan Dao (young member of SM)
This year, Sunflower Mission hosted the annual beach retreat in Galveston. When the first group arrived at the beach house, we had the usual problem with unlocking the door to get in. After we had managed the door, the kids set off for the beach (after putting on sun block.) It was hot outside, but the water was perfect. It was fun except a fish swam up my shirt… After a couple hours outside, we showered and it was time for lunch! As usual, the food was great thanks to all the people who volunteered to bring it! Between lunch and dinner, we had “bánh mì bò kho”, “mì xào”, “xôi”, “thit kho”, and “canh chua” to name just a few.
After lunch, we were out at the beach again. We actually had some fun catching crabs, which is a lot easier than it seems. We caught about seven of them, but we released them because we are good people. The kids who planned the carwash went upstairs to make posters for the big event. There was a bit a problem because we forgot markers and we had to make the whole thing in glitter glue which was stepped on by some of the very young members of Sunflower Mission. While the younger kids worked upstairs, the Board of Directors and Cau Tung worked on the final touches for Sunflower Missions’s new website. It is really cool and will make updating easier for everybody. Meanwhile, Anh Huy and other members responsible for the 5th anniversary gala also gathered to go over the gala action items.
By that evening, there were many more people and we spent time catching up with each other. Later that night, the young members of Sunflower Mission were divided into teams to play a game. We were asked questions about Sunflower Mission and we had to answer as if we were answering a news reporter or journalist. The judges decided which team answered more accurately. Since the game ended in a tie, everyone who participated got a gift card to the movies!
The next morning, those who stayed over night cleaned up the beach house and made one more trip to the beach followed by a hearty brunch!
I hope everyone can join us at more Sunflower Mission events. The beach retreat is a great opportunity to spend time with friends and family and learn something new at the same time!
