B Ryce

Hey everybody. My name is Bryce Donavon, and I'm one of the crazy 8 that will going to Bolivia for 5 weeks. At the end of the summer I'm going to start my third year at Cuesta Community College. I'm majoring in Business and plan on going into Marketing. I live in Camarillo, CA. I'm 20 years old, I have a brother who's exactly 18 months younger than me, my mom is the District Superintendent of the Methodist churches of the Santa Barbara district (Pastor Jane's boss), and my Dad works for the County of Ventura and just got married at the end of last year.

My favorite things to do are mainly sports. I am very competitive. Competition drives me to get better at whatever I'm competing at, and I love to practice and make myself better. Sometimes I let my competitive attitude get the best of me and I get carried away, but other times competition is how I learn about myself and other people. I love all sports; basketball, volleyball, baseball, football, etc. My favorite form of competition is soccer (the picture gave it away). I think what makes me good at soccer is that I'm a team player. I'm always looking towards and working with my team to be great. That's why I'm so excited to be going to Bolivia with a team, because I know I will be able to work with them and I know they'll be there for me just as I know I will be there for them.

My other hobbies and interests are playing the drums. I just started to learn during my first year of college, and I fell in love with it. I also love the beach. I grew up in Newport Beach from 3rd grade till the beginning of my sophomore year in high school, so I went to the beach a lot or hung out with a bunch of surfers. That's when I knew I just loved the ocean. Anytime I'm out in the ocean, I love it. I love how peaceful and powerful it can be, I love playing, I love swimming, and I just love how amazing it is. I really enjoy surfing, body surfing, kayaking, wake boarding, jet skiing, fishing, etc. I feel that's when I can really feel God's presence is when I'm near the ocean.

A fun fact about me would be that I can juggle. Just a random thing I picked up during high school. I can also make my stomach do the wave. So there's two fun facts in fact.

I became interested in this Bolivia trip because of a few reasons. One is that I love to travel. I don't like monotony very much, so staying in one place is not really my thing. And just seeing new things and putting myself in new situations excites me. I always have fun when I go somewhere new. Two, because somewhere inside me has been telling to go on this trip. I took 4 years of Spanish, I love soccer, I love traveling, I love playing with kids, and I love new experiences. So there are reasons 3,4,5, and 6 as well.

I'm the kind of person who feels confused a lot and I may think I know where I want to go or what to do, but really I just feel more confused than I did before. This summer I really hope to fix that through really understanding what I believe, where I've come from, what I'm doing in life, and how I want to change the world. I don't expect to figure that all out in a few weeks, but I think this trip will definitely get me going towards where I want/need to go. And I really believe it will strengthen me.

Well this is my first blog, and I think I have given you most of what you need/want or maybe even too much of what you wanted to know about me and this trip. I also have trouble getting excited for things, but somehow in the past few days I have been getting really excited. I'm feeling some good vibes about this trip and what's going to happen on it. And I know they're coming from somewhere Good. Until next time.

Bryce