Final Countdown

Friends, I've made it back to Greenwood, South Carolina. I'm so thankful for the memories, lessons in leadership, new friendships, the rough patches along the way, and the good ole Aquarius V Motel that will always have a place in my heart no matter the condition of it's standing. I will give a more in depth depiction of my summer and overall experiences but I wanted to let you all know about the last part of project.

We made it through the last days of work with smiles on our faces. The bakery helped us celebrate by pulling us out from behind the counter to share with us some lovely cakes they made! They invited our team of CO students at our Bi-Lo to join and even some of the other ladies we work with. On the last day, we jumped in the pool with our work clothes (photos to come soon). 

Last week I also passed our fitness test running alongside Sara while quoting some bible verses in my head and praying aloud together. I just really felt god's strength through it all. I pray that I really rely on him every time I get out there to run and just run through him. 

The last week of LP we had return training! Lots of old friends stopped in so it was good to see friends from last year and other PC students. We cleaned up project and finished up worship and made it out with a smile on our faces to be home in the comfort of our own beds without bedbugs and nice, clean showers. Saturday morning I played soccer with CO Minnesota for the last time which was so awesome to grow in community with them. I was so thankful for that this summer and having some people to enjoy being on the pitch with.

The last few days of project were hard and tiring with meeting after meeting and talk after talk but I made it through! Unfortunately I got sick Saturday night and 3 days later I'm still roughing a stomach bug in bed. Prayers for good health so I can start fitness again! 

And another side note--I was able to pick my car up from the shop after a 3-4 week body repair.Thankful that insurance paid the $5000+ for the wreck with a big fat $0 beside customer pay. And I even got a chance to ride a moped! . Dreams do come true... (:

Here's a few photos I have with many more to come! 

Last day spent with the Gravley's. I can't thank them enough for their service to us in SO many ways.

Done with last day of work excitement!

Joseph and Reid on the moped

Saying goodbyes to the guys we work with and got to know the best. Can't wait to see them all again soon!

Unnamed Rap

Mind's attention, heart's affection
My life I'm living for the resurrection
Of Jesus my revelation
Now I'm living as a new creation.
Every new day I fight these identities,
image of Christ is a new variety.
Not so famous, not so known,
but my faith in Christ is in Him alone!
Romans 6:23--do you see me preach?
He died for my sins,
Christ is in heaven, not out of reach!
Call him to you, praise his name,
On the court or on the field glorify the same.
It't not for my fortune and it's not for my fame,
I repeat again "It's all in His name!"

Coming to a Close

So we only have 13 days left on project! I sit here and think how fast it seems it went by but then I realize it has only been 6 weeks and I suddenly change my mind and think it's been slow. However, I am thankful that the summer is ending soon. It's at the point where I am seeing so much of my own sin and the sin of the girls in my room so much that I can only ask for God's strength at this time. It's about to get to the point where I am so worn out that I just can't take it anymore. We only have 5 days left of work!

This past weekend we joined our host family for an after church lunch at their house and as always they served us so well in so many ways. Then, following the lunch we had our employers banquet at the church. Only 2 ladies came from our Bi-Lo, both of whom work in the bakery. Props to my girls Anna and Erin for making such a beautiful impact on those ladies. Today I can check two things off my bucket list: writing a song a performing it in front of a large crowd and singing opera in front of a large crowd. I performed both during hipster night at the Fresh Brewed coffee house. There were a good 65 people there!

My family is in Pawley's for vacation and I am SO thankful that tomorrow I get to go visit them. My room as well as 6 guys from another room are joining us on a dinner date at the beach! I've ironically been very homesick the past few days--I think it's from seeing all of the Instagram posts from family together and Snapchats from my sister who I haven't seen in months either. So, I'm super excited to see them!

Also, today at work one of the guys from project that works in the Deli with us was off but was just doing some grocery shopping. He ordered a cake and came to pick it up. Erin went to the cooler to retrieve it and came back to give it to him. He calls us all over and asks us what is wrong with it. I'm sitting there criticizing the grammar and I really didn't see anything wrong. My whole room understands and is like, "what's wrong with it?" Eventually, I finally got it and realized the cake was for us and they were asking us out on a group date! It was so sweet and our co-workers got to experience it for themselves!

Sunday night after prayer and worship at the church, I rushed back to project to take my test for statistics. I knew the material very well and thought it was all very easy. I get back and I'm working on it and I get to problem 27 out of 33. I begin missing every single problem and each number has 2 parts. I was getting very discouraged because I knew my grade was just dropping but I didn't understand how I was missing all of the problems. I was about to just call it quits but Anna encouraged me to finish it strong even if I was missing the questions. After the test I emailed my teacher and asked for an explanation for the problems at the end that I missed. I am so thankful for Anna and her persistence to keep my eyes focused on success because had I not, I probably wouldn't have finished the test and definitely wouldn't have gotten a 25 point addition from at 62 to an 87 because I actually did get all the problems right, it was just computer errors since decimals aren't always exact! Pure joy in my heart in the moment I saw my grade. And, I'm very thankful for my teacher's time and effort that she put in to look over the test.

There's a lot I can praise Jesus about today! And, here is a memory verse that my room learned together this week: "As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, as you have been taught abounding in it with thanksgiving." -Colossians 2:6-7

O Lord, You are a shield around me

I had never really known what it was like for God to really control my life and feel it until yesterday. On the way home from work a mini van tried to turn into a gas station from a busy highway from the middle lane on my side of the highway. I happened to be coming up beside them on their right so they turned into my car while I was still going pretty fast and they had some speed too. God definitely took over and during the wreck as we were bouncing around, was probably the calmest I have ever been. They knocked us off the road into a shrubbery area where we were inches from hitting a telephone pole. We ran over all the bushes and some box thing connected to the ground. We pulled over into a parking lot and thankfully everyone had their seatbelt on and was okay. It quickly lead to tears as Jennifer called the police and ambulances and fire trucks showed up. Unfortunately, the other car ran off and so it's a hit and run on my insurance. It's not listed as my fault but hopefully insurance can cover most of it. The gas station where it happened has film to catch the car and there were several witnesses to the scene. One made a statement with the police. Some of the guys we work with were on the way home but a few miles back. I called them and they pulled over to meet us. It was very serving of them to come be with us make sure that we are alright. My car window won't roll down and I honestly can't explain how it didn't bust except God's grace. My side mirror was ripped completely off and my hubcap exploded everywhere. The driver door won't open completely but I was able to drive home. The policeman cut a piece off under my tire that was blocking my steering but it still crunches when I drive. The boys followed us back to project and the police went to go find the car that hit us. They were leaking a lot and witnesses said their tire was busted so they couldn't go far. God had his hand on us today. Praising him for his might and power and love!!

Here are some pictures of my car:

Hills and Valleys

AThe past 2 weeks have been a whirlwind of ups and downs. We are past that halfway point of project and it's seemed like summer has flown by since today is the first of July but I also feel like I've been here forever!

As I mentioned before, I had some test difficulties but finally heard from my professor that she had sent the info to the proctor. Well, I got there the next morning in a great mood and ready to ace the test and they didn't have it. I frantically called my professor and left a message and emailed her. I say in the proctor center hallway waiting for some kind of response. After an hour of waiting on what seemed like never would happen finally I got an email with the instructions to take the test. Praise Jesus! Of course he came through. Why I doubted, I don't know!

Parents weekend was really good and refreshing. I got to spend a lot of time with my mom and rested in a real hotel with a bed to myself and a nice shower. We went out to eat a lot and took a walk on the beach. We finished the day with church and prayer training at Faith. My friend and old teammate who is a staff wife at Clemson gave the talk at prayer training. It was really awesome! She talked about praying big prayers because our God is LIMITLESS! So true! She asked us all to draw a picture of the biggest prayer we could ever ask God that we feel like might not ever happen. I drew a picture of every player on our team coming to Christ. Funny story is, right after Mo shared her biggest prayer and it was equivalent to mine. We want to build a team of laborers for Christ! It was a short weekend, or so it seemed, but I was very thankful for groceries, a tank of gas, and some time to rest with my mom. 

Last Sunday we also met our host family, the Gravley's. They are amazing! They invited us for a cookout and to swim in their pool at their house. It was a great day spent with them and they served us so well! David, the father went to PC and so did the son who graduated a few years ago. It was just really awesome to spend my sabbath with them. We also visited this Sunday for lunch and plan to make it a weekly habit! 

Some other things that have been going on: we switched churches this Sunday to Trinity Episcopal which was sooooo good, Anna gave her testimony tonight at our theme meeting and it was super encouraging and awesome, my friend Meghan is getting married this weekend, we just had a theme talk on relationships which was really awesome, and tonight I lead the skit team for the theme meeting based on identity and it went really well! Well, have a blessed week! 

Sunday at the Gravely's

Dinner on the porch at their house

Our crazy room in the pool 

Timone and pumba

Our room snuggling on the top bunk

Animal theme meeting with Rachel!

Rough Days

It's been some rough few days here at LP. I'm just trying to survive through work tomorrow and then there will be freedom. 

Yesterday I was VERY busy! I had ADP bible study at 8am and then immediately after I went to Leader's/Servant's training. From there I rushed back to project, ate lunch, studied, and then went to evangelism training. Instead of going on the beaches yesterday to share the gospel we stayed at the church and got into groups with the people we work with from LP and prayed for our coworkers and prayed for our service to them. We got done a bit early so I had the opportunity to study a bit more for my test which was set to be proctored at HGT at 5pm. I got there about 25 minutes early and I had a bad feeling before I left. Well I got there and they didn't have any of my testing information. I bawled my eyes out in the proctor center which was rather embarrassing. Haha! But the lady there was very helpful and nice and is allowing me to just drop in whenever my test becomes available. She also allowed me to use their computers to contact my professor to get the info sent as soon as possible. So I cried my eyes out the whole way back to project. 

I got back and started helping the girls prepare for our group date. We cooked them a wonderful dinner served in the garage on project and gave them white tshirts with their names on the back. Then, we went to Market Common and played Never Have I Ever with paint and squirted each other. In the end it turned into a paint war. And for the finale we went to Coldstone and got ice cream! We met a lot of other Campus Outreach groups while we were there from Charlotte and Minnesota which was awesome. It was the best group date I've been on including all of them from last year. And let's just say I may still have paint remnants on my body from last night. 

This morning I woke up early to spend some time with God and studying a few verses. After my time with him I studied a bit for my class just in case I was going to get the confirmation that morning. I was planning to leave ADP early to do so. As I looked into my book bag a thought hit me: I didn't have my calculator when I went to take my test the first time! And a calculator is very crucial for my test. By the grace of God I didn't take that test. I was suddenly excited but still anxious because I hadn't heard from my professor. The day went by and still hasn't heard. I even called and left a message for her but no response.

Just a bit ago after curfew I was sitting with one of my girls at the table in our room just talking and I was about to draw some tears again, because it was so late and tomorrow is my last chance, and then I got an email from my professor! She apologized and said I had slipped through the cracks. Erin had already offered to work my shift tomorrow afternoon if that's what it took. However, I soon came to realize that the testing center is only open 8am-noon on Fridays. But it still works out well even though I will have to miss part of my Leaders D Group and bible study training. Our team leader, Sara, is being such a servant to help out and be there for me to help my girls during training tomorrow. God has his hand on me even when I'm having trouble finding good in things. I'm extremely thankful for what he has given me.

Tomorrow my mom is coming for parents weekend so I'm extremely excited to get away for a bit and relax. It's perfect timing. God's timing. Prayers for me and my room for this weekend would be greatly appreciated. 

Dinner prepared for the gentlemen

Before picture

And after...

Sunset at Market Common

Anna and I splattered with paint!

Sabbath

Today was a beautiful day spent in the sun. The group of room leader girls headed out and we rested in the Lord on the Atlantic intercostal waterway. After about 1 hour of driving we stopped and spent time resting or reading our Bibles. I got really sunburned but still enjoyed the day.

This morning my team went to Faith Presbyterian. It was a very confusing and historical sermon. The pastor lost everyone in the crowd after the first 15 minutes. He realized later that he ran way over on time and just stopped mid-sermon. It was really interesting and there's not much else to say about that.

Tonight I finished the last section of my math homework for this unit. I hopefully am taking the test on Wednesday. I'm very nervous but I'm sure everything will work out just fine. After I finished the last section, some friends and I went for our first official Roo Run of the summer! I'm hoping that I don't gain too many calories. Off to bed because tomorrow starts a new week in Proj!

 

Boating for the day! 

Roo Run #1