Internship Update

My internship is going well. I am interning at my church, at a middle school youth group. I work with the middle school kids every Wednesday night but I am also at the church Tuesday nights and most Sunday mornings. The internship has for sure been different this year than it has in the past two years I have held the position. My first year I became very close with a group of guys who were in 7th grade at the time. I hung out with the same kids last year when they were 8th graders but this year they aren't there anymore so it has been interesting finding a new group to hangout with. On the bright side of the boys I knew graduating middle school is a lot of them go to Cal now and seeing them on campus is so fun! I remember while I was a freshman my brother was a senior and it was so cool and helpful knowing him and all of his older friends on campus, I try to be the older brother for these guys on campus. One of them introduced me to his friends as," Greg basically my big brother". I am really looking forward to getting to know the new kids this year, and getting to know some of the kids I already know better. It is also really weird having a new youth pastor/boss I have lost of lot of the responsibilities that I use to hold, my old pastor and I were so close and on the same page with everything; it's not so much like that with my new pastor, we have a different approach to kids. He likes to treat them as if they are very delicate and fragile both physically and mentally. On the other hand I am a little bit more blunt, I'm not afraid to talk about those awkward pubescent things, and while playing games I am very loud and crazy, like my old youth pastor taught me to be. Sometimes that gets me in a little bit of trouble but old habits die hard and I've been told by some kids that they don't like the new guy. Those situations are a little bit awkward for me because I do see where they're coming from and frankly I agree with them, but I can't tell them that. Some kids have even left the youth group and I've seen them around town and asked them why I haven't seen them in while and they'll tell me that its just not fun anymore. My new youth pastor, Chris, is very set on changing things, he wants them to be his way and to not resemble the old way at all, it is hard to try to suggest things to him because he will immediately shut them down. There is clear division in the church now between people who are willing to conform to the new ways and people who want to keep the old ways and I am caught in the middle, being one of Chris' main guys but also being a caring leader to the kids who wants them to be happy. I'm curious to see how this all works out in a couple of months.

Blog # 3

1. Brad Erickson. Brad Erickson is a close personal friend as well as a life mentor to me. He was my youth pastor for five years, and although he isn't my pastor anymore he is still my go to person whenever I need advice. I think Brad can help me achieve my goals because it is my goal to be just like he was with kids, fun and approachable.
2. Johny Wall. Johny Wall is a current intern at my church I really get along with, he is the kind of guy who does what he wants and doesn't care what anyone else thinks. I think Johny can really help me because he is going to be my go to person in the church, we will also hangout a lot outside of church and I plan on asking him about how he got to where he is.
3. Bill Wills. Bill Wills was an intern at my church my sophmore year of highschool and he completely changed my life, I will never forget everything that he did for me. Bill is in Africa now; he is a teacher, it is hard not having him here sometimes but I can always text him or write letters to him. Bill can help me because he is an example of who I want to be, he has been away for two years but we still talk all the time. I want to have a lasting impact on someones life like Bill had on mine.
4.Kevin Murphy. Kevin is one of my friends who I have been going to youth group with since 7th grade and we keep it fun for each other. Since Brad left the church there have been some difficult times, our new pastor can never be as fun as Brad was, and we have accepted that, so me and Kevin make it fun for each other and the kids. Kevin is a big reason for why I still like going to youth group.
5. Collin Alexander. Collin is another friend who I go to youth group with, he was the first person to ever invite me to youth group. While Kevin is my fun, laugh it up and have a fun time kind of friend, Collin is a guy who keeps me straight. Collin is the guy I can go to anything with no matter what it is I can trust him to help me out. I know Collin will be that friend that I call up randomly in college just to ask his advice on some stupid thing that I shouldn't even worry about.

PART 2.
1. College apps
2. Clean my room
3. Return clothes to the store
4. Cook myself a good dinner
5. Learn how to play a new song on guitar

Introduction Of Me

My name is Greg Bretzing and I am a senior at California High School; I am 17 and I have lived in San Ramon my whole life. I grew up playing soccer, as a child I played recreationally then when I went into middle school I stared playing at a competitive level; I played until 7th grade when I shatter a growth plate in my heel. Going into high school I decided I was going to play lacrosse, I played my freshman and sophomore year as well as coached my sophomore year and part of my junior year. My freshman year of high school I was diagnosed with schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder. At first it was very hard to deal with but as life went on I learned how to use these two challenges in life to my advantage. I have decided that what I want to do in my life is be a psychologist, specifically for children because when I was going through all of the confusion of hearing voices in my head that weren't there or having huge mood swings none of the doctors understood. All of the doctors I talked to had read about these disorders in books but they could never understand exactly what it is like to deal with it. I want to go into psychology because I can understand what is going through peoples minds because I have gone through something similar. Church helped me out a lot through these hard times as well, I have been going since 6th grade, a friend of mine invited me to go to youth group with him and I've been going ever since. At church I have met the most influential men in my life, these men are why I love church so much, they were right by my side when I was going through all of the schizophrenia diagnosing. They are the reason that I have such a passion for children ministry , my goal in life is to make as big of an impact in someone's life as they have made on me. My internship will be at the very same youth group that I started off at, I have worked there for two years already and I love it! I make it a priority to be open with all of the kids about my life's struggles so that they will open up to me about theirs. I have already had students approach me about relationships, drugs, alcohol, depression, suicide, divorce and many more very personal topics. On the more fun side however, my past experience in sports makes it very easy to connect with the kids whether its playing sports with them or teaching them how to play a sport I find that the kids love it. My goal for senior year is to continue doing the work that I love with the kids at my church, as well as setting a good example as far as grades, and general respect goes.