Taking In the Scenery

     I made it to California! I am so excited to be here.  I arrived yesterday and have been working hard alongside eight other students and the staff here.  Yesterday I would look around and kind of shake my head in disbelief.  I couldn't believe that I was here, its crazy to talk about being excited about summer project with friends and family and then to be here.  I'm just taking it all in.  There are about 50 to 60 thousand people living in this city.  Ive seen many with out homes, some as young as I am.  Please pray that the Lord will remind the students on this project that our hope is found in the Lord and to speak with excitement about this beautiful hope.
      I know I am here for a reason and that the Lord wants me here.  I look around and for the first time I don't see buildings, but so many faces, a spiritually needy city/community.  We are essentially setting up in the enemy's camp, but I believe the Lord desperately wants to see Santa Cruz claimed for Him, and truly captivated by the opportunity to have a relationship with Him.  I am thankful that we have access to the Prince of Peace, to our Heavenly Father.

    This blog is here to tell of this adventure and I would love to end each blog post with a prayer request and praise report. There is power and prayer and I am excited to also share praise reports, reports about the Lord answering prayers.  Thank you to those who have been in prayer for me through out this journey of coming on project.  I am so thankful for your prayers!
      PRAYER REQUEST:  Please pray that we (all 60 students on summer project) will go out into this community, even if its just to run an errand, pray that we will be light, salty, and showcase hope and love that we find in Christ on our faces and through our actions.
  PRAISE REPORT: all students arrived safely to help set up the Peter Pan.  thank you for those who have prayed specifically for peace, getting ready, traveling, and arriving here is quit adventurous but this whole process, from the praying while filling out the application to arriving-- I have had an overwhelming, indescribable peace that I am in awe of. Thank you for praying for peace. I feel His peace and it is amazing.

"Nothing Is More Beautiful"

I came across this quote today:

Develop an authentic, adventuresome and risky faith, one willing to follow God wherever He leads. Don't mistake femininity for passive, inactive faith. Are you willing to get in the trenches and get a little dirt on your face for Christ? Nothing is more beautiful.

I think I'm going to change the wording around a little and make it a prayer for this summer. I love this!

Sharing the Gospel in California

 Back in the fall of 2010 I knew where and how I wanted to spend summer of 2011 and it was selfishly.  I heard more about summer projects at a Campus Crusade for Christ winter conference. It was there that I prayed that the Lord would show me what He wanted me to do with this summer.  I had my eyes set on applying to go to on a summer project to South America and after attending an information session about this particular summer project I was approached by a leader at the conference who is also on NCSU Campus Crusade for Christ staff. He asked me what my plans were for this summer and asked me if I would consider going to Santa Cruz, California.  He said that there is a Spanish speaking population there and He suggested getting a little more grounded and equipped by going on a state side summer project instead of an international also being that I am a freshmen, I still have time to go on other projects. During that conference I was convicted on selfishly wanting to spend my summer. And one student during that conference was talking about summer project and was convicted of filling her name into her summer and she felt the Lord asking her if she would fill His name into her summer. I felt that the Lord was asking me that same question and He changed my perspective. I got home from encounter and applied to go on a summer project to Santa Cruz, California. I was selected to go on this summer project back in March and I was so excited!
The Lord has led me to share the gospel in Santa Cruz, California and I am really excited!!
    I found out a couple of weeks ago that I will be working at Miller's Sun Shops!Its so silly, but when I was younger I had the desire to work in a surf shop. I always looked up at the girl who worked as a cashier at a surf shop whenever I would visit the beach and go to a surf shop to get a t-shirt. I always thought that when I was a "grown-up" I would  live near the beach and maybe even work at a surf shop.  I am really excited about working there, meeting my co-workers, and building relationships with them.
   A lot of my friends are going really excited about summer project and I am too, but it has not I guess you could say, "hit me yet" or "reality hasn't sunk in" that I am going to California for 11 weeks. Its crazy awesome. I don't think it will sink in until I set my feet in the San Jose Airport or maybe it wont hit my until I got to sleep and then wake up in California. AHHH I am so excited!! And I feel so blessed to be able to go.
  I realized a couple of months ago that I have always trusted the Lord to keep me physically safe and to always provide for meals. I wanted to step out on faith and trust the Lord. The Lord has provided over $2226 and I am continuing to trust the Lord to provide $1174.  I am really excited to step out on faith and to continue trusting the Lord with providing all of my needs for this summer and the rest of my life.
  I am praying that I will learn more about the Lord and that He will continue to change my heart.  I am so captivated by who He is and how He moves. I am so excited to see Him work this summer.
  I am planning on blogging and I pray that you will be encouraged by how the Lord works this summer. I've never declared to friends that I have a blog and blogging is still new to me. I hope that you will see my heart for the Lord through this blog and be blessed to read about how He is working in the hearts and lives of people in California.
    Update: It is May 18 and the Lord has provided and the project fee of $3400 and I am trusting Him to provide money for food throughout the summer. The estimated costs for food this summer is $700 and I have $50 of that amount today.  If you would like to give you can give online securely at https://give.ccci.org/give , type in Beverly Benitez into the search bar and give securely online.  Trusting the Lord has been a journey.
   At some points I doubted the Lord, but then I prayed that the Lord would help me in my unbelief and help me to trust Him. I knew that if He wanted me to go that He would provide for me to go and He has!! I am so excited and humbled to think that the Lord has chosen to send me to California this summer. Please pray that I will decrease and that the Lord would increase. Please pray that even in my excitement in talking with unbelievers and believers about the Lord that I will become sensitive to the Holy Spirit at all times.