Romans 1:20/ Romanos 1:20

  These are seven of my favorite project pictures that I feel absolutely capture the beauty of God's creation. In Romans 1:20 it is written, For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.  Romanos 1:20 Porque desde la creacion del mundo las cualidades invisibles de Dios, es decir, su eterno poder y su naturaleza divina, se perciben claramente a traves de lo que el creo, de modo que nadie tiene excusa. The Lord has made His existence and presence known through what He has created. Isn't His creation so beautiful?

Re-entry

   Being a part of a summer project was such a beautiful experience. I loved being in California, it was the best summer of my life. It was challenging but also a great season of my life.
  Its hard to describe the community and atmosphere of a summer project, but to sum it all up it truly is a wonderful community. I am so blessed to have had the opportunity to be a part of the  2011 Santa Cruz Summer Project. Please pray for the project as we are now home and are adjusting to our lives and trying to pick up where we left off in a strange, but familiar place. Re-entry is us re-entering our lives and please pray for an easy transition and for the Lord to remind us if what we've learned and how to apply it to our daily lives.
   Thank you so much for praying for me this summer, I am so thankful that you supported me through prayer this summer. It was so wonderful to see the Lord at work this summer.
Thanks once again for your prayers.

Taking This In

Home. Home meaning...

     I am currently sitting in the salt lake city airport. kind of taking all of this in, whatever this is. this being reality. this being the idea and reality that past 11 weeks of my life was a beautiful opportunity,  beautiful season, a challenge, a blessing, a call,  reality check, a life changing new perspective. Leave Santa Cruz was so difficult, it was and has been  roller coaster of emotions and thoughts. If never been on project its really hard to understand.
      As far as I know I am on my way home: home being North Carolina.
Going back to my family, friends, Wake Tech and North Carolina State University.
     To put what I'm feeling and processing into a brief three sentences: Home is North Carolina, I had the best summer of my life I've l earned so much about myself, good and bad. The Lord answered so many of my prayers and He has been so faithful, I' m in awe of Him and I am so thankful to be called His child, Jesus my daddy and i could never thank Him enough for letting me come on this summer project.

Summer Recap #1

A week on project is:
Monday- work, dinner at 6 and one or two students would share their testimony, Monday Night Live (MNL) at 8pm which is kind of like a church service. we have a greeting, a game, praise and worship, speaker, then on some nights we would go out and get ice cream

Tuesday-in the morning we would have our reflection time( quiet time), lunch all together at 12,
and work the night shift

Wednesday- work, dinner at 6, action groups at 8pm ( action group is a bible study with the girls I roomed with)

Thursday- work and then we all had the night off, so we could have dinner and hang out with whoever you wanted to spend time with/ some Thursday nights at 8pm we would all get together to set up for our outreach party on Saturday

Friday- when staff was here we would have training( the first 5 weeks of the summer) but after staff left that was a free morning (I would mostly sleep-in/ do errands) lunch all together at 12, and work the night shift.

Saturday- work, have dinner together, then we would normally do an outreach/ have an event here at the pan= outreach party

Sunday- church, lunch on your own, free time, committee meetings at 8 and action group leader meeting at 9
committee- each person is in a leadership group that all work together through out the summer to make the summer run smoothly. groups are: special projects, prayer, socials, outreach, housing administration, and a couple other groups
     Action group leaders meet with the four leaders and they run through the lesson with us and answer any questions and give us a chance to update them on how our group is doing.
     Each week we get Sunday and another random day off and so that day is often for errands/ traveling in California and doing some sight seeing!

The Best Summer of My Life

I wanted to apologize for not keeping my word and not blogging consistently throughout this summer.
    Today is August 3rd and I feel like just yesterday I was on the phone with my mom expressing that half of the summer was complete. This summer absolutely flew by and I have no idea where to begin expressing what has happened this summer.
  The last week of work was exciting and sad all at the same time. I tried to be really intentional and invite my co-workers to our last events and I was so excited to have a couple of girls come and visit us for lunch and for our last party.
  As I worked my last day at Sun Shops I was able to talk to a co-worker and tell her about the job that she would be doing because it was her first day. It was a really bitter-sweet experience, but I loved every second of it.
---I have a lot of thoughts and things to share, so here we go.

       Thank you so much to all of you who prayed for me, one thing that I am really excited about is the fact that the Lord really changed me perspective about life and specifically about the job.  On day two of my job I had this thought: I really need to do a great job so the owner of Sun Shops will be happy and pleased with me, but the Holy Spirit totally took that thought captive and I had a quick thought and heart change. Right after that thought I understood that my perspective was wrong and that I need to be working and serving the Lord and looking for His approval, I needed to please the Lord. I then realized that the Lord owns everything anyway and that the Lord is my boss and looked at my job like my daddy, my heavenly father is the owner and I get to work at His store. So I would work really hard and make sure that I did my best at work for my daddy.
      My last day of work at Sun Shops was on Saturday July 30 and that night we had our last theme party, a luau and that was wonderful. On Sunday we left for Yosemite National Park. This was a project trip and although we had difficulty getting there we got there in about four hours and we had a relaxed ride over there. We got to the ledge near the park, settled in, packed our Pb&j and had dinner and worship at the park. We got the chance to see clouds and the sunset over the mountains and half dome and it was so beautiful. We got to pray up there and it was so silent besides the rush of the waterfall and it was such a beautiful sound. Then on Monday a group of 19 of us left at 10 am to go on a 13 mile hike in Yosemite! It was so beautiful and we had a great time on an 8 mile hike through the valley and we got to climb rocks onto the waterfall and it was so adventurous and I loved every second of it. I loved being able to take the time to enjoy hiking, taking pictures, and mostly being in awe of the chance to see the Lord's beauty displayed all around me. I loved being at the park. We hiked for a while and we all left the park around 5. We had dinner together, played some games, and then went swimming. We left to come back here to the peter pan at 11. We are back at the pan, I've started packing my suitcase today and tomorrow and Thursday we are cleaning up the peter pan. If we finish on thursday then on Friday we get one final fun day together as a project on the beach and enjoy Santa Cruz. Saturday will be a long day waiting for my flight back home and I get back on Sunday.
     I know that this summer is just one season of my life and it was been absolutely wonderful, but I'm almost ready to go back home, get in the swing of things, and live life intentionally for Jesus.
     This has been the most difficult, but most beautiful summer of my life and I feel like I could never thank Jesus enough for letting me come on this project.  I am so humbled to have had the opportunity to come on a summer project! Thank you Jesus for the best summer of my life. Amen.

One More Week of Work!

     I am sad and excited about this coming week. It will be our last week of work and last chance to invite coworkers to different events and share the Gospel. I love being here and I am excited to continue to have great conversations with co-workers. I enjoy talking with them and I have made a few friends that I am really going to miss!
    Please pray that we will love them with the love of Christ and have opportunities to share the Gospel with our coworkers in the days to come.

The Word Is Alive!

Since I have been on project I have really grown to appreciate the Bible. I have a hunger to read the word, to dive into it and pick it apart. And I love that its the only book that answers all of my questions, that leaves me refreshed, sometimes encouraged and convicted all at the same time. I love Hebrews 4:12: For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to the dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.


Please pray that this project as a whole would have a love, appreciation and longing for the word of God. Pray that we will be thankful that the word of God is alive and so powerful!

SCSP 2011

      I just wanted to take some time to say how awesome the Lord is!! I absolutely love everyone on this Santa Cruz Summer Project! we are all such great friends and brothers and sisters in Christ. I love that the Lord picked each and every one of us to be here, to share the gospel and do life together. I feel like I can never say thank you enough to the Lord for allowing me to come on this project! Ahhh its crazy.
     This trip so far has been such an interesting and fun season of my life.
This season in my life has been one of growth, trials, learning to trust the Lord, prayer, leading, following, serving, and learning to love. This has been one of the seasons where the Lord has been teaching me what His heart breaks for, what He delights in, and what and who He is at work in. This city is so different. This city is so in need of Christ, love, and forgiveness.
 Prayer: Thank you Lord so much for allowing me to come here and allowing me to be a part of what You are doing here. Jesus you are awesome!

Beautiful Blessings!

Abby, Bev, Brooke, Kaylie, and Brittany

I just wanted to take the time to explain how thankful I am to have the opportunity to be here in Santa Cruz, California. Some days 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, that 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.

Persevere

    I will persevere by the power of the Holy Spirit. I know that this summer was going to stretch me and that I was going to learn and grow and I knew that the Lord was going to allow trials to come while I am on this project.  I am so thankful to know that the Lord has promised not to give us more than we can handle and I am so thankful for His word, for His promises.
   And we know that in ALL things God works for the GOOD of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose!- Romans 8:28

Sisters in Christ

Kaylue, Brooke, Brittany, Bev, and Abby ready for a party!

    I just wanted to share with y'all a little about my roommates!
    I am living with four other girls, Abby, Brooke, Brittany and Kaylie. I love these girls, they are so awesome! It has been so awesome to learn how to love them well and be around them. I love that we are all so different and yet we get along! Ahhh! I love it! These girls are so fun to be around and are serious about learning more about the Lord and sharing the gospel.
    Pray that we will learn to love each other well and be encouraging to one another in word and deed. please pray the following:


   Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of our mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. Ephesians 4:29

Praise Reports from Santa Cruz

    I never realized until about a couple of days ago that there is a real, intense, battle going on here in Santa Cruz and all around the world. A battle for people's souls and lives. I never realized that the reason I am probably so tired is because we are here in enemy camp ground. We have chosen to be the Lord's soldiers and we are in the middle of the most intense battle ever.
    This project has really been encouraging one another to be in prayer and I think that one thing I will take back to campus is having an attitude and daily mindset of prayer.
    The Lord has been giving me different eyes while I've been here. I've been noticing relationships all the time. I'm constantly around different groups or people and families and the Lord has opened my eyes to broken relationships while I've been here. I don't understand why He is allowing me to see these things or feel these feelings. I've been feeling what kids feel, what parents feel while I'm at work. I've seen people cry, not be loving or kind to their kids and to other people around them even though they are all here together, most people here in vacation.  I don't understand why the Lord is allowing me to see these things but sometimes I feel so hopeless and hurt by the things I here and see while I'm at work. I feel a burden and tired. One of my sisters in Christ, a really wise woman in the Lord told me that because I've been in prayer while at work for my co-workers that is probably the reason that I am physically tired because there is an invisible battle going on for the souls of the people here in Santa Cruz.

   Please pray that the Lord will just give us all rest here as we are living for the Lord and being Christ's soldiers. I am so thankful that He is here with us and that He will never leave me nor forsake us. I am so thankful and honored to be one of Christ's soldiers.