Whoops, been a while

Hello All!

WOOF! Sorry for the long delay between blog posts once again! Things here have continued to be busy, but I know that's a pretty lame excuse so forgive me for not keeping this updated as much as I would like to.

There have been quite a few things going on since last time I wrote, so I will try to remember as much as possible. Starting two Saturdays ago (the 19th I believe) was one of the coolest days since being down here I think. On Saturdays we always do some form of evangelism as a group and usually we split into groups of 2 or 3 and go out on the beach with some of the skill sets we are learning. That Saturday I went out with my Bible Study leader Jeff Knapp (aka Jeffthro Knappster). To be completely honest, I just wasn't "feeling it" that day. We decided to take a little time to role play and pray and our prayer was that we would get into a good long conversation with someone that went deeper than we had been experiencing. After we prayed, we came across a guy named Alex sitting by himself and decided to use Soularium (a picture survey that creates a window for sharing the gospel). Alex was 15 and was really open to talking with us. Right about the time we started to get into the gospel with him, his family came back and kind of interrupted things, so I pulled away and began talking with the dad so Jeff could continue with Alex. The conversation with the dad was interesting to say the least. He was a Marine (retired I think) and was pretty hard core. He talked a lot about justice and how he had no problem seeing justice served to "bad people" in a military sense. This led perfectly into our relationship with God and how He is both the Just AND the Justifier (Romans 3:26)! I explained to him how as people who have broke God's laws we are guilty and deserve justice (death) but God provided a way for us to have grace and since that grace came from Him as well, He is the justifier and uncompromising of His character! The dad was open to what we were saying but was not ready to make a decision, but did say he needed to get in touch with his pastor back home to ask some questions. As for Alex, Jeff led him through the KGP (Know God Personally booklet) and left it with him. It was amazing to see how God answered our prayers so quickly and it was so encouraging to get in a good conversation with someone!
After beach evangelism, we had our Saturday night social. It was another list topper for me I think. We went to see the local minor league baseball team, the Clearwater Threshers play the Tampa Bay Yankees. Not only was I excited about seeing a baseball game, but they had an awesome deal going on that night with all you can eat food! They deal was for the first 2 hours it was all you could eat: cheeseburgers, hot dogs, peanuts, popcorn, chips, drinks, and ice cream sandwiches! It was my kind of night to say the least and definitely took advantage of it haha! After we got back from the game, we still had a little bit of time before curfew so a few of us went down to the pier. On our way we stopped and parked at the CVS and bought some bubble gum, which Kristy and Nicole decided to have a competition with to see who could chew the most pieces at one time! Both of them reached TWENTY pieces! It was ridiculous...and a little disturbing haha. After that we walked the rest of the way down to the pier and watched some people on the beach twirl around sticks with fire on them and then we headed back to the car to find a slight twist in the evening. As we were approaching the parking lot, I heard a car horn going off, when I realized that it sounded similar to my Jeep’s horn, I started running, only to find my Jeep being towed off the lot and down the street, while Nicole’s car was in the process of being towed! My heart immediately sunk and thoughts consumed me when they said it was going to cost $120 to get it back! They told Nicole that they would drop her car on the spot for $50 but since mine had already left the lot it would be the full price. I had no idea what I was going to do so on my way to the impound lot I called Christopher to ask him to look up the nearest bank so I could withdraw the money. He asked how much it was going to be and then refused to look up a bank. My friends who were with me decided to pull their money together and pay to get my car back!! This blew my mind even more than my car getting towed! I was practically speechless the rest of the night. I could not believe that my friends who, at that point, I had only known for 4 weeks did such an amazing thing! I went to bed that night not praying “God, why did you allow my car to get towed?” but rather “God, why did you give me such amazing friends?!”
I also continued my job at Celebration Station which has been going pretty well. I’m getting to know some of the guys that I work in Go Karts with but some days it’s hard to stay focus on my real purpose for being there. It’s easy to get caught up in just doing my job, and getting caught up in thinking about how hot it is or how tired it makes me. Also, last week the staff assigned everyone their leadership roles for the summer. They left on Thursday for their leadership retreat which also gave us a trial run on running project on our own. I was asked to be one of the co-leaders for the weekly meeting team. I’m looking forward to working in this role because that’s what ministry I will be working with back at App in the fall! The people in the weekly meeting team are all great and always have great input and ideas each week. The staff leaves for good on Thursday I believe and I think for the most part everyone is ready to take on our roles and keep project going! It’s mind blowing to think that we have already been here for a whole month, but also just as crazy to think we still have a whole month in front of us!
Welp, this is already super long so if you’re still reading thanks! Haha! I am currently writing this in a word document because our internet is down here once again. So here are a few things I wanted to mention but don’t want to take up too much more space for your sake haha. First, my family is coming down in less than two weeks! I am so ready to see them and show them around Clearwater! I have missed them like crazy and have only got to Skype with them a few times. Second, I think I am going to be able to work a week of Kindercamp when I get back from Florida! Kindercamp is by far one of my favorite things on earth to do so I am suuuuper excited! Third, I can’t get over how God provides. He has blessed me with some of the most amazing friends in my lifetime and He continues to be good. I have met some amazing people here on project that I hope to be friends with for many years to come. He also provided a fellow App guy to come to summer project with me and through getting ready for project back in the spring and being on project here in Florida, Christopher has quickly become one of the best friends I have ever had. I won’t say too much more because I know he’ll probably read this at some point, but I’ll just say God is definitely good! Fourth, I have continued reading Forgotten God, but haven’t been able to read as much this week. What I did get a chance to read though still played an impact in my life this week. I was reading about some of the promises that we have in the Holy Spirit and how one of them is that He will give us words to say in times of need, such as in evangelism. This past Saturday, we visited a homeless shelter and had the opportunity to serve around 200 people dinner and then eat and talk with them. After dinner I sat down with a guy named Brian who had been in the shelter for about 3 months and was just trying to get back on his feet. We had a good talk and spent most of the time just getting to know him a little. I asked him about his view of God and he replied that he thought He was “creator of heaven and earth” which I agreed with obviously. He then went on to talk about some of his other thoughts. He mentioned how He knew the Bible said that man was made from the dust of the ground and when we die we will return to that form, but he said that’s where it stops. I told him that he was right about part of the story but there was so much more left in the story. I shared the gospel of God sending his son to die for our sins and that we could have forgiveness now instead of hoping that we will be good enough to earn God’s favor. He had mentioned that he was pretty sure he would get into heaven but just had to hope God would forgive him then. After sharing with him I could tell he was giving it some thought but didn’t say much more so I continued to learn more about him.
All in all things are going pretty well. There are still a lot of things I want to grow in while I’m here so your continued prayers are needed and appreciated. Some things to pray for would be:
-Our transition here on project after the staff leaves
-For us to be courageous and bold in our jobs
-For Alex, his dad, and Brian..as well as the others people on project have had a chance to talk to
-For spiritual growth
Thanks again for reading and for all the prayers! I miss all of you and hope you are all doing well! The King is on the move!