I'm Home

Leadership Project is over. It was extremely fast and I can't believe I'm sitting on my couch right now. Sunday night there was no curfew and we all packed up our cars and hung out for the night. Several people pulled an all-nighter but I went to bed around 2. The guys were in charge of making sure our cars didn't get broken in to so they were put in pairs to protect them for 1 hour time periods during the night. There were 3 or 4 locations and each one had a pair during all hours of the night. The girls bought boxes of doughnuts to bring to the guys before their shift so around 4:50am my alarm went off and I had to go deliver doughnuts. I woke up to find my friend Steph wide awake listening to her iPod on the steps. She had tried to go for a run but a sketch man was walking around. Typical Dyrtle. The next morning we were up early to be ready to leave at 8:30. I gave out some hugs as I told my roommates and new friends goodbye. I followed Stephanie until Columbia where my friend Hunter and I grabbed lunch before both going home. Then I continued to Augusta to hang with Steph at her house before spending the night with Catherine at her house. I'm really sad it's over but I'm excited to go back to school and be fit for preseason and to see all my friends. Steph, Jordan, and I plan to get the team and some others from campus together to worship during preseason and our friend Shelby from Wofford is going to come visit too. Thank you so much for taking the time to read my blog over the course of my journey and I really hope you enjoyed getting to be a part of my experience. here's the video from this summer!
http://vimeo.com/46561370

Recent Photos

 Nick, Heather, Julie, Me, and Thomas jumping in on the last day of work!

Nick works at Ridemakerz and the rest of us work at 38th Avenue McDonald's.

 Russell and Hunter, both work at Jimmy John's, jumping in after their last day

 Thomas and I celebrating!

Nick hanging in the pool after jumping in.

Return Training

Today is the first day of return training. Yesterday everyone finished up work and we also had our last day of ADP. We also finished up praise and worship Sunday night along with theme training Monday and evangelism training Tuesday. I missed the last Bible study training while at camp last week. Last night the Campus Outreach students who were doing Urban Project in San Diego arrived in the Dyrtle to join us for return training. This morning we have 2 hours of personal reflection time and I just wanted to spend a few minutes blogging since I haven't I awhile. I'm in the beautiful sanctuary at Trinity Episcopal which is where all of our meetings are. I seriously can't believe how fast this summer has been. We only have 4 days left and I know its gonna seem like time flew whenever I'm leaving Monday morning. We are extremely busy the next few days with campus time meetings and training to help us cope with the situation of going back to a normal environment filled with non-believers. Saturday will be the last concert (Not sure if I mentioned this before. There's concerts every Tues, Thurs, and Sat nights down on the strip and we always go dancing) and I'm sure everyone from project will be there. During the day Saturday girls clean all of the rooms and the guys unbunk all of the beds. Sunday we have church and prayer training and then we pack up our cars. That night we party by the pool until really late and its gonna be a rough Monday morning. We have to leave at like 8:30am. It's all gone so fast. The days are long but the weeks are fast. And now its almost over!

My Little Silver Cross

A couple months ago, back during the spring soccer season, I had just finished my first collegiate game and it was against Anderson University. I left the field in an awkward stage with a little bit of disappointment. Our previous assistant coach is the new head coach at Anderson but she was a part of everything involving my knee and camp last summer and inviting me to be part of the team. Even so, I didn't feel like part of the team after my first game as they all hugged her and spoke with her. We lost that game and it was embarrassing, I won't lie. But if anyone who has seen me play before would have felt fooled if they saw me play that night. My knee brace lobbed around and beat me up. I ran in circles aimlessly and confused. I'm not sure if it was the excitement of stepping on that field or just pure loss of skill over a good 7 months. Either way, I looked to God in that moment in desperate hope for an answer. See, God answers all prayers but he answers them on his time and not ours. He knows what is best and its hard to see as humans that the plans he has set for us are beyond comparison to our own plans.

After the game I trudged to the locker room, dragging the heavy sound system box with me. I sat there waiting for all of the players to return with their laundry so I could start a load. Impatiently waiting for two players to return, I walked outside to drag them back in. I hated to break up their conversation with the former assistant coach but I needed to get my job done. Finally, I had all of the laundry collected in the bin and made my way to the gym laundry room. I put the 2 loads in the washers and departed back to my dorm in the dark.

I began to think deeply into the game. I felt like (at the time) that I hadn't been given a good enough chance to prove myself worthy of playing time on the field. I was upset and I cried in the shower wishing I hadn't screwed up my knee and wanting things to be normal. I was beyond burned out on doing soccer laundry each day and I was ready to actually play. I got my chance and well, I screwed up. So after my shower I walked back to the gym to move everything over to the dryer. I quickly moved everything over so I could get back to Belk and get some much needed sleep. I shut the washer door and began to walk away when I noticed an object left laying inside. I opened it back up to find a small metal cross with 'God Loves You' engraved on it. I suddenly felt a feeling of relief because I felt God surround me, hug me, and remind me that he was listening to my prayers. He was there the whole time but I doubted his placement.

Now, months later I've been living in Myrtle all summer but currently in Panama City for the week. I've been going through a lot in my head and fighting with idolizing soccer and such. Fighting injury after injury (sprained foot, shin splints, busted toe... the list is continuous) I wonder what God's plans are for me, especially this fall for my first season. Then there are other things in my life I've been fighting with and I've been constantly looking to God for answers but they are still yet to come. Today I opened my backpack and pulled out my bag of letters from friends and family that I keep with me. Inside was that hopeful, little silver cross I had once found all lonesome in the washing machine. And so now I feel God is listening as he always is and he reminded me once again that his plans are better than I can even imagine.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Last Day

It was a bittersweet moment walking to my car after work today. Thoughts ran through my head about my summer. It just went so incredibly fast. I truly enjoyed working at McDonald's, I'm not kidding you. Then again I was just ready to get away for a bit and relax. I don't see how people have McDonald's as their main job. I just couldn't be on my feet doing the exact same thing everyday.

In a bit I've got to head back to Project to start packing up for Bigstuf. It's going to be a totally different environment. At LP I'm busy doing something all of the time but it's very relaxed. BigStuf is a bunch of off-the-wall, crazy stuff. I'm excited to be around kids and use what I've learned here at LP all summer. I'll be back for just a week and a half but I won't be working any longer at McDonald's. In fact, I looked at the schedule for next week and I'm not even listed as an employee anymore but I'll come back and visit some of our people who will be around for the 3 days after I return from BigStuf.

This was a good refresher week for me with only 2 days of work and time spent with the family. That nice single bed at home sounds nice along with my good ole shower! Please pray this coming week for me as I lead these kids from my church and that they will be impacted while in Panama City Beach!

The Beach at Pawley's

"I have no one else like him, who will show genuine concern for your welfare. For everyone looks out for their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ." -Phil 2:20-21

Meet the Parents

I'm just chillin' in McDonald's. I was going to sit here and eat lunch and hope that some of the workers would go on break so I could sit and talk to them. We have our employer social Friday so all of the companys workers at LP are invited and we have skits and food and all kinds of stuff planned. I was really hoping to convince some people to come. However, there's only one outlet in the lobby so I'm stuck in the corner. But I've talked to Alberta and another girl and they plan to come. I have the day off (again) and so I'm just hanging out here. I spent some time studying the word earlier and after this I'm going to pick up a friend so we can go visit some of my friends at Ridemakerz. I already know you don't know what that is but their slogan is "It's like Build-A-Bear but with cars." You basically just build a car and pick out detail and stuff. Anywhere from push cars to remote control.

Last night I was able to go to Pawley's with my friends Steph, Danny, and Joe. We had a great time, did laundry, had a real home-cooked meal, and just relaxed for once. It was much needed. It felt great to get away from Project for awhile where everything is so fast-paced. I'm going back tomorrow after ADP to visit again so I can get a chance to see Catherine while she's here.

God certainly answered prayers of support. I paid rent Monday and it was my last payment. Then God came through and provided more support money for me. It was good timing because some of the girls I carpool around don't understand the cost of gas. But I'm thankful for what I do have. Welp, I'm gonna go order a smoothie so I can get a chance to talk to one of the girls I work with and convince her to come to the social. I'd love to see God make some changes in her life. Have a great day!

Week 6

Well it's week 6 and I'm sad to say that I only have this week and then week 8 left at LP. I only got scheduled to work Friday and Saturday this week. Ridiculous scheduling but I have learned from Philippians 2:14, "Do everything without complaining or arguing."

Last week I was partnered with Avery for beach evangelism. We spoke with a mother of 2 boys, Stephanie for the entire time. She had some strong points but a few things were a little off on her beliefs of Christ. She said she had studied a bunch of religions including Buddhism. Then she kind of suggested that I replace the word 'God' with 'love' because God is love. Well, in some ways yes, that's true but then again she way she said it was pushing God away and she also said she didn't like the adjective 'Christian'. It was really weird and seemed like she was shying away from God. But we each told our testimonies and then she offered hers and we accepted. She just said that her parents had gotten divorced and they were shunned from their church so she grew up with a bad view. She kept saying that everytime she is convicted of something she is born again and went through specific examples. She told us she had been praying for two sisters to speak to her today and that we were the two sisters. She also explained how the man in her life, their 2 children, and she were told by a rabbi, a medicine man, and 2 priests told her and husband to only hake $25 on their journey to Jamaica. So they did. And they made it all the way there somehow and went through tough times until one day the man in her life told her to trust him and she did and suddenly the next morning there was $800 in her bank account. That I was a little concerned about. $800 doesn't just appear in your bank account. So while they were there, they studied Rastafarian religions. I'm not sure she knew exactly the gospel or what religion she even pertained to but we were running out of time so I left her with the bridge tract.

Friday we had our Sadie Hawkins and the boys randomly were given girls room assignments. Then they had to perform a skit or dance for each room and everyone watched as our Friday social. We were given Brett's room which included 2 PC guys as well as some others. So we planned a date for them. We decided to make it ninja themed! However, we had a chicken fiasco and Julie and I were over an hour late for the date. Walmart only had 1 rotisserie chicken so we found a Bojangles on my GPS. Too bad when we got there 15 minutes later, it was boarded up and closed. So we went to Piggly Wiggly which didn't serve hot foods in the deli and meat section. Chickfila saved us. Love that place. Anyways, we all wore black and died bandanas over their faces to blindfold them until we got to Market Common. There we had a great dinner/picnic prepared and we played Catch Phrase, Ninja (of course), and these exercise light games in the park. Then we returned back to Project where we served them dessert and then we worshiped on the beach until 12 o'clock curfew. It was a great date even with the chicken problems.

This is my last week of ADP :( Definitely sad. Morgan Bentley and Meagan Snyder from PC came to visit for a few days and tomorrow I'm going to Pawley's to visit the family and have dinner with them and some friends from LP. Well, I'm off to a dinner date with my roomie Julie!

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests but also to the interests of others." Phil 2:3-4

 Back L to R: Turner, Brett, Nick, Danny, Julie

 Front L to R: Teresa, Avery, Me, Allie Jo, Clif

PC Soccer Girls on the 4th!