Generation Joshua

My First Starbucks coffee EVER <3

     So, I’m back from a long week of campaigning in Los Angeles. We woke up at around 6-7 AM, got ready eat breakfast, got coffee (I went to Starbuck for the first time in my life whooo!)  and then had to be ready to get on a bus (the buses were awesome!) at 8:15 to go to campaign headquarters where we got our assignments for the day.                                              

One of our Epic buses :)

      From about 10:00 AM to 5:30 PM (with a break for lunch) we were out walking through neighborhoods, knocking on doors, encouraging people to vote, and doing literature drops. Then it was back to campaign headquarters for dinner, a group meeting, then an hour or two of phone banking. Then it was back to the hotel, and lights out by 11:00 PM.   

Tony Strickland for Congress!

   In 4 days our group of around 50 people knocked on between 9,000-10,000 doors and called between 4,200-5,000 people. We all were totally exhausted by the end, but we were pretty happy with what we’d done. However on Election Day everyone’s nervous excitement turned to disappointment as we heard the results. Not only had Romney lost, our candidate that we were working for, Tony Strickland, who was running for Congress, had lost too. We worked so hard, and in the end it seemed like it was all for nothing. But I don’t believe it was completely for nothing.

    I learned a lot on the Student Action Team. I can use a map now (haha!), I am now completely comfortable with calling strangers on the phone, and knocking on doors, whereas before this I was terrified at the thought of it! I met lots of wonderful people there as well. Our amazing team leaders from Patrick Henry College in VA, and lots of other teens from all over California. They were so friendly, and were always making me laugh and smile.

Good Friends :)

Our Amazing Team leaders!

     

 Yes, we had people slam doors in our faces, hang up on us, yell mean things at us, and refuse to speak to us, but when you’re with friends even that can seem funny. We made so many memories, and I was always looking forward to hearing everyone’s funny stories at the end of the day.

   Being part of Generation Joshua also showed me just how much a group of teens can do. I mean yeah, I’d heard about teens making a difference before, but it wasn’t until I was actually out there doing things with a group of determined, energetic teens that I realized just how much we could do!  Even though our candidate didn’t win, we made it a very close race, and I know if we continue to be active, and get our friends to join us, we can definitely change election results next time!

     On election night, when we had our group meeting, it was a room full of glum faces. I found it just so sad that we were all sitting there, depressed over the election results, while the homeless guys outside the hotel were celebrating Obama’s re-election.  But what as our team leader said, God knows what he’s doing. He doesn’t just wake up on Election Day and say “What! How did he get elected?” Even if our Candidates lost, God did NOT lose! He’s in control and He has a plan, even if we don’t understand it.

I read an article today that I really found interesting.  If Romney had been re-elected, we might all have just gone back to our own normal lives, feeling safe and secure. We wouldn’t have to worry about the HHS mandate, and Obamacare and we would hope the government would reduce the amount of abortions.

But now that Obama has been re-elected, we can’t just sit back and relax. One good thing that has happened as a result of all Obama has done, is that he’s done more to get the Catholic Church to unite than anything else in the past 50 years. He’s got every Catholic Bishop to stand against him, and even the Evangelical Christians are starting to unite and stand against him.  Maybe God doesn’t want us to sleep, maybe he wants us awake and ready to defend our Faith and our Country.

~Tris

God Bless America.

Please check out  generationjoshua.org for more information on what they are all about. :) 

PS. I'll post more pictures and funny stories if anyone wants me to...? :)