Servant Leadership

      I'm grateful to be here on project among many leaders. I didn't realize that there are different leadership styles and Ive been excited to see some of those here on this project. I've learned that leaders don't have to be loud, or really confident, demanding or superior. Ive learned that you don't have to be a dominating kind of leader, now I'm thinking that that is not the best way to lead at all. I've seen one of my roommates and one of my best friends here on project lead in very, cool, down to earth, true-to-themselves kind of ways( I hope that made sense). Ive realized that the best kind of leader is a servant leader, a person who leads by serving the people around them out of their love for others. This type of leadership is one that is new to me and that I have not had the opportunity to see many people my age doing, well, I have not really seen many people demonstrate this type of leadership. This type of leadership can be done in our everyday lives and can eventually be a lifestyle.
    I am so excited to have one of my roommates be on of the four leaders on this project who will lead after the staff leave. I am also excited to be one of the bible study leaders here on project.
    Please pray that the Lord will teach me how to be a servant leader. I don't know exactly what that looks like, but I am excited and willing to learn from those around me and from the Lord. Thank you for your continued prayers.  

Big Ol' Kool-Aid Smile

I just wanted to take the time to explain how thankful I am to have the opportunity to be here. I am still so surprised and in awe of the fact that I am here. I am so thankful that the Lord led me here, He guided me, and walked this path before me. He orchestrated every tiny detail of this project, from my schedule every week so that I can meet different co-workers to when and where we do outreaches and what student we are paired with. I love that even though the Lord is so big that He cares about the little tiny details. I am so thankful to have the opportunity to be here, to learn to serve the Lord, love others well, and to be mission minded daily. I am so thankful for the girls that He has placed me with. My roommates and I get along very well. We are learning to encourage and love one another well. Each is so absolutely different and beautiful, they each add a different little something to the room. They absolutely love the Lord and are seeking Him. I am so excited to be rooming with these girls. The other students on this project are also so loving, accepting, encouraging, and bold.  This is such a loving community and very inviting place. I am so thankful that there is a peace here at the Peter Pan Motel, I am so thankful that the Holy Spirit is here and is moving in our hearts and lives, and in the hearts and lives of the people in Santa Cruz, these beach flats, and this state.

Prayer:   Lord, I pray that we will have pure motives. That we will genuinely seek You and Your face, Your will for this summer and for our lives. Please lead is and guide us. Thank you for your love, your power, your strength.  Lord help us realize that we are here to portray your grace, your beauty, your glory, and who You are. Thank you for choosing to let us be a part of what you are doing here in the beach flats of the city of Santa Cruz. Lord thank you for being about all the tiny details and for the way that you move an work. Lord you are so awesome and Lord I hope that you have a Big Ol' Kool-Aid smile when you look down at your children here in Santa Cruz this summer. Amen.

He Can Meet Us Where We Are

My quiet place in Santa Cruz, CA :)

   I have yet to share this but when I first arrived on project I felt that the Lord was really far away.  I did not understand why I couldn't feel Him and I cried out explaining that if anything, I thought I was supposed to feel the Lord closer to me now than ever before.  I felt really discouraged and disconnected from the Lord. I explained these thoughts and what I was feeling with my bible study/action group leader here on project. She shared with me that with our walk with the Lord we go through different seasons and she was explaining that in this season I may feel that the Lord is far away and He may be teaching me to rely fully on Him and not to trust in my feelings. She said that this also may be a loud season in my time with the Lord where I need to come to the Lord honestly and tell Him what is going on. She encourage me to explain to the Lord what was going on and how I was feeling, explaining that I am doing my best to get away from the noise to have my quiet time and she suggested that I ask the Lord to meet me where I am,  help me to focus on Him, and for Him to just meet me during this time.
   The other day I found a quiet spot to have my quiet time and then as soon as I opened up in prayer and began my quiet time there were distractions all around me. I was really frustrated and confused because I thought everything was going to be quiet that morning. I explained to the Lord what was going on, how I was feeling, and asked Him if He could meet me half-way, if He could bless this time we had together, and if He could still speak to me amongst all of these distractions. I was able to have a really great time with the Lord and just be in His presence and I was not distracted at all, it was so great to see how the Lord could help me focus and how I had a beautiful quiet time after I asked Him if he could meet me where I was.
    Prayer: I am so thankful Lord for how you care about the little and big details of our lives. Thank you that you hear me every single time that I cry out to you and for being so faithful in answering prayers. Thank you so much for meeting me where I was and for the way that you lead and guide me. Thank you, in Jesus name I pray. Amen.

Salty Conversations

     It is so easy for me to have a conversation with people and vent about life, but then I often begin complaining.  I came across this verse earlier during my quiet time at the beginning of the summer. Colossians 4:6 says, Let your conversations be always full of grace, seasoned with salt so that you may given an answer to anyone who asks.
     I've realized that I have been excited about diving into the Lord's word and learning, I learn great lessons during my quiet times, while not applying what I learned. I decided to memorize this verse and others. My prayer is that the Holy Spirit bring these verses to remembrance during moments of my day when I give into doing things my way and essentially not obeying Jesus.
     It has been excited to memorize this verse and to have the Holy Spirit nudge me when my conversations are not full of grace or salty.
     It was also very exiting when my Step-dad prayed this verse over me the day after I memorized this verse. I believe that his prayer was confirmation that I was focusing on and learning what the Lord wanted me to focus on.
    Prayer: Thank you Lord for your Holy Spirit and for how your Holy Spirit can nudge me when I am not being obedient to you. Thank you Lord that you gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit. Thank you that we can enter into your presence and sit at your feet. Thank you that you hear us, thank you for who you are Lord. Thank you for being the perfect Father and for teaching me who You are while I'm here in Santa Cruz. Goodnight Jesus, Amen.

A Different Perspective

    I prayed and asked the Lord to give me His eyes. I don't really know how to describe what is going on, but I see people differently here. I see more than a person standing in front of me, more than a customer, more than a co-worker; I see their need for Christ. I see them, but I don't see the features of their face, I can see the pain, loneliness, pain, brokenness, bitterness on their faces, and sometimes, what is past their faces. Sometimes I would feel that they were bitter and I would feel heavy, I guess I can explain this as being burdened for someone, not being at peace.
   Prayer request: Thank you Lord for giving me your eyes and I pray that you will help me to be a good listener,  give me wisdom to know when to speak during those conversations when people share feelings and thoughts about their lives. Lord thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to serve you here in Santa Cruz.

How Will They Know If We Won't Even Speak?

     This morning we went to do an outreach near downtown Santa Cruz.  We bought biscuits and took them to a store that's similar to home depot where Hispanic men wait to be picked up by any man who needs a worker for the day.  I was able to talk to a man named Mario. He said he was trying to figure out what the truth was, he asked if I thought that God could forgive him and what heaven was like.  He asked how is he to know the truth growing up if his parents didn't search for the truth and how is he to know the truth if people like me don't come and tell him?  That question in the form of a statement really hit me!

    I was able to share the knowing god personally booklet with Him and he knew, understood most of it. He just listened and said thank you for sharing it with me. He kept it and then I asked him if he wanted a Bible and he asked if it was in Spanish and if it was he would take it. I was able to write in the cover a couple of passages and verses to check out and he told me of his upcoming eye surgery on the 25th  of July. He thanked me and said that He would read it.
    Prayer request: That the Lord would reveal himself through his word and that He will see that the Lord is the way the truth and the light.
    Praise report:  Relationships with room mates are wonderful, we have been able to pray with each other, and laugh together and build each other up. These girls are so wonderful! I am so glad the Lord put us all together!

Life Working on the Boardwalk

     I am working for a family company called Sun Shops that owns about twelve surf shops/kiosks in Santa Cruz, around eight of those are on the boardwalk. I thought I was going to be working for this company on the boardwalk in one store for the entire summer. I started work last Saturday June 4th I believe and have been in a different shop every day, I was not expecting or wanting the above.
       I know that the reason we are working these jobs is to share Christ and I was really upset with being thrown into this job and not having someone hold my hand through my first couple days of work. I d. This job is in some ways my first job and I was discouraged because was overwhelmed with learning all about working in a retail business and also being mission minded; I was wanting to have conversations with co-workers pr getting to know them like I wanted to. On Wednesday and Thursday, my third and fourth day on the job, I worked at a store all by myself, let me clarify.  My third day of work I was scheduled to work at a store all by myself, I was excited and really nervous, but excited to be by myself because I needed some alone time. After about five hours of working by myself, I was done being along and the following day I had to work in a kiosk. I was discouraged because I was not really building relationships with coworkers and was not engaging them in spiritual conversations or inviting them to events. I was really discouraged and I cried out to the Lord explaining how I felt and all my thoughts. I really want to learn to come to the Lord and vent all the time and constantly to be in prayer.
      On Friday, my fifth day on the job, I met a guy named Edgar, we worked together in a small space where people buy pictures of their expressions at the top of the massive drop of a popular water ride here on the boardwalk. Here we are known as "Christian Crusaders," and coworkers often ask if what we are. He asked if I was a "crusader" at the beginning of the work day and I didn't think too much of it. Through out the day we got to know each other and then asked if I grew up in religion. And later asked what the difference between Catholicism and Christianity was. He has great questions and is hungry for truth and I am thankful for the opportunity to answer his questions, share my testimony, and the Gospel with him.  He listened intently and said that it was the second time someone has explained the Gospel.
    Prayer request: Please pray that his eyes will be opened to the truth and that he will continue to hungrily seek the truth. He has been to crusade summer project events before and says he is interested in coming to the barn party this Saturday June 18th, please pray that the Lord will continue to soften His heart.