This picture comes from a winter retreat that my youth group did last year. To start I just wanna say , do you see how beautiful God’s creation is ? It’s crazy to think that he created something so beautiful, it’s mesmerizing. So much that we would all wake up at 6am put on our hoodies and go out to see the sunrise or stay out to see the sunset. We wouldn’t even talk or anything , everyone would just come out , sit down and look at the sky. It was actually a peaceful moment I wish I could go back to all the time, sitting around with my friends staring at the sun rise or go down. This retreat was actually our second ever. We had already done one and we were so excited for this one. It lasted three days and let me tell you, we all wanted it to last longer. Over these three days so many friendships were restored, started & we all got extremely close. Something about just being around people who love God as much as you do, puts everyone in a good mood. So much love and happiness. Every time we go on these retreats it’s awesome to look back and see what God did and what he continues to do in our youth group. There’s so much talent and great attributes to each and everyone of them , we are the next generation and I can’t wait to see what God has in store for us and I pray we all follow God’s plan and can fulfill it to our best abilities.
5 ways to build your relationship with God
5 ways to build your relationship with God 1. Prayer
Praying. Praying is the one of the best examples of how to build your relationship with God. Prayer is like having a conversation with your best friend, it’s easy and you always know what to say and can tell them everything.
2. Study the Bible.
Studying the Bible will help you understand God’s power and glory. What’s a relationship if both sides don’t know each other 100%? Reach out to Him get to know Him , read His word.
3. Fellowship.
Living in the world is a hard thing to do sometimes as a believer. Surround yourself with positivity and positive people who strive for the same goal as you. Living how God wants us to.
4. Listen.
Listen to God. Sometimes we need to be reminded to listen to God’s voice. We might be going through a rough time while God is trying to show us why or how to get through it. Seek his voice and look for answers.
5. Fasting.
Fasting is all about drawing near to God. Putting everything away and soaking in his presence. Fasting doesn’t necessarily mean not eating. You could fast from using your phone, listening to certain music, etc. Just focus on your time with God while fasting.
MISSIONARY LIFE
TENNESSEE WAS AWESOME! Last Sunday my youth group and I left to a 10 hour trip to Tennessee ! The purpose of this trip was to be missionaries. We left not knowing where we were staying, how it would look, what we would be doing, nothing. It was all a surprise for us. As soon as we got to the place we would be sleeping I was amazed , Tennessee is absolutely beautiful and we were staying in cabins on a mountain. To start off when we got to our cabin, we were the last group of girls to get there and sadly got the outside porch for our bunks. We are all from Florida and did not know it would be 50 degrees outside at night, so the first night was pretty tough as we all had brought shorts and tshirts to sleep in. But that was besides the point. Although our experience started off to a rough start I can’t believe how amazing this week was. We ended up helping clean up an elementary school that was really in need because of the poverty within the area. The walls needed to be chipped of paint and sanded, library re done and play ground cleaned up. We did all that in a week along with two other youth groups. It was the most satisfying thing to see how tremendously God used us to clean up this school and make a difference for these kids. I say with no doubt that I would do it again. 
7 DAYS!!
7 DAYS LEFT!!! AHHHH. SO! There are officially 7 days left until I leave for the mission trip to Tennessee with my youth group! I am honestly feeling so many emotions right now. I’m anxious, scared, happy, excited, nervous. I have no idea what to expect from this trip since it is my first Mission trip. If you didn’t know a Mission trip is where you help people in need and spread the word of God. On this trip specifically we will be going to Copperhill, Tennessee with a team called Team Effort, it is my youth group’s first mission trip and we are going to help construct houses for people in need. I’m trying to be as open minded as I can because we have no idea how this experience will be. I don’t know where we’ll be staying, who we’ll be helping or what we’ll be doing specifically within the houses. All I know is that I’m ready for what God has in store for me and the group going and am certainly ready to get out there and help people in need. I’ve come to notice that my heart has the position of helping people, whether it be physically or emotionally, I yearn to help the people around me and reach out to others in need. That’s what I hope to accomplish on this trip, help others. Of course it’ll be fun to be with my youth group for a week and build relationships with them but my main focus is going to help within the community. It’s what God has commanded us to do and I can’t explain how excited I am to embark this journey.
Tune in next week to see how this trip went.
God bless.
-Gia.
Mission Day
Hello beautiful people! I hope you had a wonderful Sunday. My day was extremely long but extremely satisfying. In two weeks my youth group will be going an a mission trip to Tennessee. In preparation for this trip we had to complete three mission days , today was one of them. We helped out an elderly member of the congregation clean his house since he wasn’t able to. This honestly shocked me. How much this brother needed our help. As soon as I walked into the house I was in shock, the house was a complete mess and he was helpless. This broke my heart. In this moment I realized I wanted to commit to helping out people in the community, congregation, other countries. Everywhere. All I could think of was how many people must be in need with no one around them to help. I would never want to feel this way , which is why I pray God uses me to do missionary work. To help the community , help the world and bring His word along with me. Today was definitely an eye opener.
Shavuot !
Hello beautiful people ! So this past week was Shavuot. For those of you who don’t know , I am messianic. Shavuot is the feast of Pentecost which comes from Leviticus in the Bible. This year instead of making Shavuot a huge conference at a hotel , my church decided to make it here at our congregation. Now although I wasn’t happy about it at first I quickly realized that Shavuot wasn’t about the hotel or the conference or the youth activities , no. It was something much more than that. I had to wake up from my careless thoughts about the event and realize that it wasn’t about the fun stuff or staying at a hotel. It was an event to reconnect with God and the Holy Spirit. Before Shavuot you count what is called the Omer , which is basically a countdown to Shavuot where you prepare yourself for the feast. This year I really tried preparing myself in the mist of the busy day to day lifestyle. It was hard but worth it. Once the day came I was super excited! Being on the worship team and all had me anxious for the night to be able to be in the mist of the Holy Spirit and worship all night long. And so we did. Our worship service lasted almost two hours. And although my feet were killing me after, during was the most amazing experience ever. I closed my eyes and just worshipped for my God all night, it was a feeling where I felt so full of life and the Holy Spirit that I could feel it through the room. This is a feeling I want to feel for the rest of my life, complete serenity and peace. That’s what I strive for, to live a life based off my relationship with God and shining his light throughout my life. 
MegaCon Convention !
So today was the Megacon Convention! For those of you that don’t know Megacon is a large multi-genre convention that caters to the comic book, sci-fi, anime, fantasy, and gaming communities. This year was the first time I was going to Megacon and I was super excited! I am not going to lie, I am definitely not the biggest geek in the world and I don’t know everything and everyone at Megacon. BUT, I do have my favorites that drew me to Megacon, like Deadpool, Star Wars, Vampire Diaries, etc. These few interests of mine had me super excited to be able to go to at least one day of Megacon. The one thing that I was really looking forward to was seeing Ian Somerhalder who plays Damon on The Vampire Diaries. Sadly, I wasn’t able to get an autograph or a picture with him but I was extremely satisfied to just be able to be in the same room as him. All the Star Wars things they had were pretty awesome too! I was in awe of everything I saw today and can’t even decide what my favorite part was. I honestly loved seeing people in cosplay and seeing the love and passion they had for their favorite characters and making their costumes. No doubt that I will attend Megacon as much as I can throughout the next years. Maybe even doing cosplay!
Hi there!
So! Here we are. My first blog post. I’m super excited to be starting this but I think my first post should be about me and who I am so you get a feel of who’s writing all this. To start off, my name is Giovanna Zapata but most people call me Gia. I’m 19 years old and I am currently a student at Valencia College, majoring in Digital Media. Besides the basic age and where I go to school I’d also like to say that I am a strong believer in God, I am Messianic and am fully dedicated to living my life according to His word. I am very involved in the church I go to and am always running around, from being on the Worship team to being a Youth leader and a Dance team member. It all may get crazy but I absolutely love it and wouldn’t change it for the world. Another thing to know about me is that I am a family oriented person.When I’m not studying, working, or at church I take that time to spend with my family whether it be just hanging around the house or doing family outings… That’s a little bit about me! I hope you can get an idea of who I am and hopefully you will get to know me more along my posts :).
Life through the light 