The girls of the Troop
had a great time exploring the "serve God" portion of the Girl Scout promise.
They explored the belief systems and traditions of many religious systems,
learning tolerance for all and about the diversity of beliefs of children
everywhere. With these activites Brownies earned a Troop's Own Religion
Try-It and Juniors earned a Troop's Own Junior Merit Badge. Click
the links below to see pictures of all the memories! Special thanks
to the clergy of all traditions that opened their arms to the troop and
made each experience unique and enriching.
Land of Medicine Buddha is a center and
retreat for those who follow the Medicine Buddha teachings within Tibetan
Buddhism. Our docent for our Buddhist tour was a lovely female Buddhist
nun from Britain. Click here to see pictures
of the girl's experiences.
For more information about the Land of
Medicine Buddha, visit their website.
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The girls enjoyed their visit to the Islamic
Center. There they observed a daily prayer ritual, discovered why
Islamic women are covered and learned to write their names in Arabic.
We have no pictures of this trip.
For more information about the Islamic
Center of Santa Cruz, be sure to call them.
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Every year the troop participates in Girl
Scout Sabbath by attending the Friday night Shabbat at Temple Beth-El.
The girls in the troop are always treated to an introductory tour by a
docent before the service. This year the girls were pleased to attend
a Shabbat that featured the children's choir and a play put on by the youth
group. As always the food following the Shabbat was fantastic!
We do not have pictures of our trip, but the synagogue has a lovely website
with a lot of pictures and information about the stained glass windows
that can be seen in this beautiful synagogue.
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The SS. Peter & Paul Antiochian Orthodox
Church has wonderful iconography throughout the sanctuary. Father
David Barr was very patent with all the girls questions. Click
here to see what the girls did and saw on this field trip.
For more information about SS. Peter &
Paul Antiochian Orthodox Church, visit
their website.
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Our journey to the Quaker Center was a
memorable experience. Girls participated in a silent meditation walk
and had long talks with our great Quaker docent about the philosophy of
Quakerism. Click here for pictures of the girl's
field trip.
For more information about the Quaker Center, visit their website. |
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The troop always participates in Girl
Scout Sunday at St. Andrew's Episcopal church. This year troop members
were ushers, did a chimer's presentation and the flag processional, recessional.
A member of the troop also received her religious recognition award.
The troop also hosted the reception following the service, with Girl Scout
cookies of course! Click here to see all
the photos of a great Sunday.
For more information about St. Andrew's
Episcopal Church, visit their
website.
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The girls had a great time learning about
various religious traditions through dance. The Dances of Universal
Peace are an ideal venue for this form of exploration. We filled
out our studies through these dances by exploring Native American and Hindu
traditions. We have no pictures presently, but since the girls love
to do these dances for opening and closing of meetings, they may yet appear!
For more information on Dances of Universal Peace, visit their website.
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The girls enjoyed their tour of Gold Mountain Sagely Monastery located in China Town, San Francisco. We actually were priveleged to see the monks perform a service. This is a Zen Buddhist monastery, quite different from the Tibbetan Buddhist retreat we had visited before. Click here to view the troop photos of our visit. |
Also in China Town of San Francisco, we had the opportunity to explore a Taoist Temple. This was very different from anything else we saw. The statues in the temple also are worn in parades! Click here to see all the photos! |
Remember, all Girl Scouts can earn recognitions individually that reflect their faith. For more information visit the P.R.A.Y. website.
This website is unofficial.
Girl Scout words, pins, the trefoil shape and other items are trademarked
to GSUSA.
We recommend you also visit Girl Scout Memorabilia, it's a great site by our troop sponsor.
This site was designed courtesy of Crystal Cloud Graphics using digital camera images of troop activities and modified using . This site is navigable for the seeing impaired. Contact web mistress Kythera Ann with comments or questions.