Koinonia Christian Campus Fellowship – UC Berkeley Club

Update: Hey frosh, just in case those wonderful memories are fading, check out these clips from the recent Sierra Lodge trip!

Taking off Friday afternoon from Berkeley, Koinonia’s freshman class headed to Sierra Lodge, leaving behind their books, tests, midterms, and worries. More than 80+ freshmen piled into cars and made the 2 hour drive up to the beautiful Sierra Mountains. Here’s the recap on all that we did, together with photo accompaniment! And if I missed anything, please chime in!

We got to the house and made our way to the lit courts. There was 4-on-4 basketball on one side, and on the other was this ad-hoc “Ultimate Basketball” game: half-court 7-on-7, coed, using a volleyball, running around and trying to score. Thanks to Steve S. for pointers!

Once everyone had arrived, we went into the house, welcomed everyone, and then had the mother-of-all King Kong Shower tournaments. The freshmen beat the staff (gasp!), and when it came down to it, the guys beat the girls. The celebration that ensued was maniacal. The winners were: Strong Man, Watermelon, In-N-Out (guess whose move that was), and Oh My.

After that, we all bundled up, grabbed flashlights and went on a night hike through the property. We scaled the hill and did some stargazing, marveling at the number of stars we could actually see, yelling as falling stars made their way through the night sky, and even enjoying a moment of eerie, quiet silence as we pondered what it would be like being outside all alone in the darkness. Steve’s 2-minute lesson was: Life’s a journey, and whether we experience fear or comfort while moving around in the darkness has a lot to do with the people and friendships in our lives.

The philosophy lesson ended quickly, however, when we got back to the courts, played one big game of Ultimate Ninja, and laughed at weird people like the guys below.

Again, somehow the freshmen eliminated all the staff (the likes of John K. and David W.), and in the end it was Jeremiah vs. Ann. We walked over to the campfire, and 115 voices strong sang the Milk song, ate Shin ramen (with Evergood sausages), and laughed and sang late into the night. Some folks knew motions to the Milk song and shooby-doo-bopped away. Wish you could have seen that.

After hitting the sack, we woke up in the morning, had healthy, continental breakfast (to offset the unhealthy ramen from the evening before), and watched the Incom-Parable Jesus Koinonia Bible Study. Gracepoint Berkeley’s Pastor Ed Kang had given the bible study on Friday to the Koinonia upperclassmen, and some of the guys who drove up Saturday morning brought the video up for us. Technology is great!

We did a brief icebreaker after that, hanging out by birth order and found out these couple highlights from various people. You’ll have to ask the freshmen if you want the full sibling horror story:

• An eldest sibling tying up his younger brother with a Nintendo controller after watching a Trix bunny commercial.
• An eldest sibling roundhouse kicking his younger brother, and that same younger brother coming after him with a knife.
• The youngest son of 7 kids, singing, dressed up, videotaped by parents, and that same video tape played every subsequent family get together.

We piled into the cars, went off-roading, ate lunch on the shore, skipped rocks and threw rocks, hiked a short (but beautiful) trail, arrived at Island Lake, and took a million pictures together, enjoying the scenery, enjoying one another, breathing in the fresh, crisp air of the mountains. We yelled “Go Bears” and heard crashing echoes from across the lake (so we could remember and cheer on Cal in their victory over UCLA), and then had a moment of silence as we thought about and prayed our personal prayer request for the semester.

After getting back to the house, we ate dinner, did fast (but effective) cleaning so the next group could enjoy the Lodge and Barn, played 15 minutes of basketball and Ninja, and then got into the cars to head home. Barely 24 hours, but it was packed, and the coolest part: Now we know everyone’s names, and the “Koinonia” that’s our namesake is a bit more of a felt reality for each of us. Until next time… Go Freshmen!!

There’s more pictures online.