Killing the Giants
The theme of this week of project is Killing the Giants Week. Giants meaning spiritual giants that we face as we go out sharing our faith, things that scare us a bit and challenges for us to overcome. We all put down a number on a card of how mant people would be out of our comfort zone for us to share with this week and also put our giants on that card. So monday and tuesday I had opportunities to go out and share on the beach with my discipler Amber and with a girl in my bible study and each person we approach those 2 days all I got was flat out rejection. It was so discouraging because the first 2 weeks here everytime I went out it was so good and now when I am trying to actively go out and share as much as possible, Satan was attacking me like crazy and not wanting me to even get the opportunity to share with anyone. Tuesday night teh girls in my bible study prayed over me for no more rejection in sharing my faith, and I was still hopeful and certainly not down and out about it yet.
So last night we had our Impact groups and my group went out to Huntington Beach, another beach about 10-15 min away from Newport, to share there before our Impact dinner. I got with an amazing girl here Caellin whos a year younger, but very wise beyond her years, and with a boy here named Sung-Yoon whos 23, Asian, and from Boston......I felt great about going out with these two, still fearing rejection a little bit, but trusting God completely. To make a long story short we got to talk with 2 different groups of 3 people in each group and we went through the 4 spiritual laws booklet both times and got to pray the prayer with both groups of people! We arent sure if all 6 of them accepted Christ or not, but by the way they responded for sure 3 of the 6 did! and one of those 3 was a Muslim girl named Sarah! It was so good. God was totally faithful to let us talk to them. I was so encouraged, I dont know if I wholeheartedly believed that I would actually get to see people come to know Christ while I am here, I think I just thought how cool taht would be, but that if all I did was plant seeds and get people thinking about spiritual things than that would be ok too. But Luckily God is bigger than I give Him credit for and showed me that He can and will do what he wants and I'm so thrilled He let me be a part of that!
I also got to share the gospel with a man at work today and had a great conversation with him! Which one of my giants is sharing with older people, and he was 41! These last couple of days have just been amazing. It was my roomate Jen's 19th birthday yesterday so we got up early and decorated the apartment and made her a cake and stuff and then after sharing last night we went to eat at Olive Garden for her birthday dinner choice! It was so fun. I'm so loving all of these people here and building some great relationships. Growing and sharing so much with people cant help but make you close. Will write again soon, hopefully having lots more sharing stories and more giants defeated!***A
They do exist!
So the other morning the girls here on project all awoke to find peices of paper taped to our doors. The boys in one of the apartments took it upon themselvesto write these notes and they were all different and here is what ours said:
"
To the Lovely Women of apartment #5, Us guys feel like we hit the jackpot after our first week of getting to know y'all < esspecially =")"> Praise God for women who love the Lord. Praise God for your hearts being dressed like the flowers of the fields. It's such a magical thing to see women pursue the Lord, draw close to Him, and walk with Him. Be encouraged our sisters. We Love you. We want you to know that you make our day. Each day. Day by day. Your sweet smiles and gentle spirits spark a fire in us guys. You girls Rock. Jesus Fill room 5 with your love and spirit. Continue to shine in their lives. Bless them. Help them to become the women you desire them to be. Praise you for them Jesus. We love you girls, Room #2 guys, Your brothers, protectors, Warriors, and spiritual Leaders. Proverbs 31:10, 30, 31 "Yea AMAZING I know, I couldnt believe it either. It was so sweet and we all swooned for the whole day. All part of the perks of Project I suppose, surrounded by some of Gods best! All is well i will write back soon! -Amanda
Fun Surprises and Mysteries Revealed
So Friday night all we were told was to get all dressed up and meet downstairs at 7:00 to go to the surprise dinner thing. We all split up into cars and head to the unknown location, still all dressed up mind you. I happend to be in the car with the guy who helped coordinate this event so we were the firsts to arrive and I look as we are pulling into the parking lot and we definitely were having our semi formal dinner at Chuck E. Cheese. Its was hilarious seeing nearly 60 college students all dressed up eating and playing at Chuck E.Cheese! So fun!
Saturday was my first day of work and it was a long day, but went really well. I got to interact with a lot of locals and I worked with my new friend here on project Dawn. Saturday night we went to the Church that we are going to be attending as a project and it was so great!! Its a really young and contemporary up and coming church here in Orange County. It reminded me so much of my church from home. After church we went to the Calfornia treasure known as In and Out, a local hamburger place that absolutely met all of my expectations and more!
Sundays are outreach days for us, so at 1:00 we split up into 2's and went out with surveys to do beach eveangelism. I went with a girl here Danielle and we have one really great encounter that was really encouraging, and a little bit of rejection, but all in all it was a very fruitful time I felt. Then that night at 5:30 we had to have a dinner packed and ready to go for our Date with Jesus night. It was one of the best times I've ever had with the Lord! They told us we couldnt come back to our apartments until 8:00 so we could go anywhere but we had to be alone and we had to be spending the whole time with the Lord in whatever way we wanted. So I started at the Park done by the beach, but on the grassy part. I read and Journaled and prayed and before i knew it it was 7:00! It was such an intimate amazing time of talking and listening to the Lord. Then I went and grabbed a cup of coffee because It was getting very windy and very cold!
So I decided to move the remainder of my date to the Balboa Peir which goes out into the Ocean, with my coffee, all bundled up, and i was listening to Praise music on my mp3 player, while watching the sunset! It was SO ROMANTIC! Seriously, I will never ever forget that night and it really made me see how romantic God is and how He longs for us to have sweet times alone with him like that all the time! I was completely in Awe of the Lord for that whole last hour. just watching the sun go down into the Ocean and the waves were huge and crashing into the shore, It was one of the most beautiful, memorable things I've ever done!
I'll write back soon from Sunny California!--A
A day at the beach...and another, and another =)
Greeetings from The OC! The last few days have been good, but full of prayer and bit stressful. We have had these last couple of days to do job hunting and some people got them on the very first day, but the rest of us applied to a million places and nothing was looking good. Not having a car here has been a bit of a challenge, not to mention the fact that I am a control freak and just would like the freedom to leave when I want, but I guess thats all part of suffering for Jesus, huh!? hahaha So anywho, This morning I got a job, I'm working with another guy and girl from project at the Balboa Beach Treats. I will be making corn dogs, funnel cake, hot dogs, Ice cream and balboa bars, which are quite the treat here! I'm really excited. I start tomorrow so for the rest of teh day today I layed out on the beach with a bunch of people and it felt amazing. It was Sunny and about 75 high, perfection! Tonight we are all going out for a semi-formal dinner thing, its a surprise so i dunno what to expect but i'm excited. Tommorrow I am working at 7:30 in the morning! EEP! Goodbye for now! In Him, A
Loving Newport
I've been here on project for only 3 days now and things are going so well! This place is amazing and beautiful and I honestly couldnt picture myself on project anywhere else! My apartment where I am living is so close to the beach that you can throw a rock from right outside my apartment and hit he beach! its so awesome! The weather has been very cool here, not over 70 at all since Ive been here and very breezy and even very cold at night! I'm loving that as well. My 9 roomates are all wonderful! Yes 9...well 5 in my room and 5 in the other room in my apartment. We are all very different and I'm one of two people out of te 60 here who is from Texas. My accent is rubbin off on my roomates! They hate it but they love it! hahahaaha WE have all gotten so close so fast, its all very surreal. Its been a whirlwind and very fast paced these first few days but today was a bit more relaxed and weve had a lot of time just to hang with everyone and get to know each other better. I can aready see the Lord is going to do amazing things through this place and these people, it feels like i've been here forever! I'm eagerly looking for a job so if you read this please pray for me in that search that I would be exactly where the Lord wants me in my job. I will write back soon! Much Love and many blessings, A
California Here I Come
It has finally arrived, tomorrow morning around noon I fly out to Summer Project in the O.C. I have to say that my nerves and emotions are all over the place right now. I talked to Corrie and Kim Bies who have been at their projects for about 2 weeks now and they both pretty much told me the same thing. They said that the first couple of days are weird and not very fun because I wont know anyone and it will be very much of out of my element and comfort zone, but that after that second day everything will change and the relationships will already start to be built. I know that there will be 60 other people in teh exact same boat as me, which is somewhat comforting, but my fears and the insecure girl within me has gone into overdrive. I want them to like me. I want to be confident in who I am and in my faith and not feel inadequate in anyway. Satan is trying to get me where he knows I am weak and unfortunately these last few days its been working. I have been praying like crazy for peace and comfort about this whole thing, but I found myself yesterday questioning , "Why exactly am I doing this again?!". I know that this is right where the Lord wants me to be this summer. Every bit of this up until now has fallen into place and I should not be doubting God's goodness and sovereignty in any way. It's just the uncertainty about the people, the place, finding a job, where I will be living.......and it all just kinda hit me at once. I do know without any uncertainty that the Lord is good and faithful and will meet me in Newport Beach and will take care of me no matter what. If you read this, please pray for traveling mercies, for me in finding a job, for continuous peace and comfort for those first couple of lonely nights and for all the people at Newport Beach that my team and myself will be sharing Christ with and for boldness in that.I'm excited for this whole experience to begin and have huge expectations of the Lord and what He will do in and through me in these 2 months. Hopefully I will be able to write and talk to you soon with a fantastic report back from Cali! Love and blessings to you all! ~A
Camp in a nutshell...
This past week was amazing. After a 12 hour bus ride through the night, we arrived to Gulf Shores Alabama on Monday morning with 450 high school students eager to get off the buses and begin this long awaited week at the Beach. While the God-factor of being at church camp was probably not consuming most of their minds at this point, little did they know what all the Lord had in store for them for the rest of the week.Here's the highlights: I helped to lead and organize a girls prayer time that grew each morning, it was so encouraging to see so many girls that were eager to start off their days, so early each morning, to get focused on the Lord first thing. My Condo was Fabulous! It was myself and 10, tenth grade girls who I got to bond with ALOT throughout the week. Each night we would have a time for all of us to talk and share what God had done in their lives that day or just about things in life in general and to pray together, it was so great. I had the best time serving those girls this week. Not to mention how incredibly nice our condo was( 3 bed, 3 bath, living, kitchen, and huge balcony over looking the Ocean, doesnt get much better than that!).On Wednesday night 74 high school students accepted Christ. I was in Awe. The message was so powerful and hit home with a lot of them, and the Angels were partying like crazy that night!The beach was beautiful. It was the perfect intro for me spending the next 2 months living at the beach. Everything from the sounds of the waves crashing in, to the sand against my bare feet, to the sunsetting and the stars looking brighter than ever in a sky that appears to have no end, parallel to an Ocean that appeared to go on forever, I felt very small around it all, and it reminded me just how big God is. I'm in the process of washing and re-packing all of my stuff for California. I'll write a little more about that tomm. But all in all Camp 05 was great! I came back feeling exhausted physically and a bit sleep deprived, but very spirit-filled and humbled, and confident that the Lord is definitely at work in my life. Goodnight for now!~A
It's not Goodbye......just See you in September
Last night was so great and so sad all at the same time. Kim, Katie, Abby, and myself all got to hangout and it was the last time all 4 of us will be together probably until Kim's birthday in September. It's the sad but true reality that we will all be in separate places for the summer, much like we are all school year. I love these girls, it was so good this past week to just get to be real with each other, and pray with each other, and laugh and just share as much of what's been going on in our lives with each other as possible. Though we are 4 very different girls personality wise, we are so alike in many ways. The 3 of them have most definitely had a hand in making me into the person that I am today. We bring out the best in each other and I love that. I love not only sharing in the fun and wonderful things with them, like Katie falling head over heels in love!, but also sharing in the hard things, Kimmy losing her daddy to cancer and Abby trying to figure out where the Lord is taking her and how to be patient in the midst of that. They prayed for me and my summer project before we parted ways. They are rare and precious treasures and blessings straight from the Lord and I will miss them alot, as I always do.
I am leaving for camp tomorrow and praying for good weather in Gulf shores Alabama for this next week. Also for the kids that will be in my group and the 10th grade girls that will be in my condo with me about 9 of them. I have huge expectations of what the Lord is going to do this week through the speaker and the worship. Camp is always a highlight of my year and I cant wait!
I am also of course praying for all of my friends from school that are already at their summer projects!!!! Corrie if you read this I miss you SO much and can't wait to hear how things are going! Love you!~A
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
Last night Kim, Abby, and myself finally met Travis, the boy who has quite evidently stolen the heart of our friend Katie. I have nothing but great things to say about this boy. He is literally Katie in boy form, and I adore her, so how could I not like him as well! He fit in with the 4 of us so well it was scary. Anytime I even think about the idea of dating any certain guy I always consider if He will get along with my best friends and will they like him?! Next to my family, these girls are right up there on the importance scale and their opinions mean so much to me, and I know Katie feels the same. So Trav scored major bonus points for spending time with the 4 of us together all being very much ourselves and getting along with our dynamic perfectly. I honestly have no idea what the Lord has for Katie, but if Travis happens to be part of that plan, I will be thrilled! =)
Today we went and saw The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, a precious movie, a chick flick of course,but great acting as far as chick-flicks go. It reminded me a lot of my friends I grew up with. I saw parts of each of us in these characters and it made me laugh and cry and still feel good walking out of it! I would recommend it to all girls, and to all boys who wish to take a girl to see a movie she will love! =)Corrie and Kim Bies have already left for their summer projects! I cant believe its actually happening and we are all really going now! We've all been anticipating this, and raising money, and thinking about it for SO long that it almost started to feel like it wasnt really going to happen and now here we are in june and it is happening for all of us slowly but surely. Grace and Marisa will leave for theirs on Sunday, and Corrie and Kim are there as we speak, getting to know their new roomates for the summer, and people who will inevitably become great friends of theirs by the time it is all said and done. By the time I leave for project on the 13th these girls will already be settled into their new summer homes, jobs, and routines and will have already built these great relationships. SO weird! I'm pretty nervous, not gonna lie and I will continue to pray for some peace for me about all of this because the closer it gets, the more nervous I become. Can't worry about it too much right now though. I only have a few more days with my family and friends here at home before leaving for Camp on Sunday and then for Cali. How did June get here so fast!? where does the time go!?~A
