This morning at 5am after a LONG night of packing, cleaning, celebrating, and DVD watching, all 62 Santa Cruz Summer Project "crusaders" departed on a bus for the San Jose airport...minus the ones driving back, and those who left early.
This has been an amazing summer. Every moment has been packed with something to do, some way to serve, some way to show Christ to the community of Santa Cruz. There is absolutely no way to describe it with words. It has been hard and exhausting, but one of the best summers of my life. I am going to dearly miss the friends I have made, and especially those who have encountered Christ for the first time because of our group.
Thank you, all you faithful readers. I will try to post some more later now that I am on my way home and will have a week of free time before returning to school. I'll also try to add some videos and pictures!
I can't wait to see all of you and tell you in person all that God has done.
Now boarding NWA 12:10 to Minneapolis, then to Raleigh! YAY!
-Dana
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Home Stretch
So we are now entering the last "real" week of project. I have really mixed emotions about things winding down. Today was my last week at my job, at Whiting's Foods. A Random fact: if we sell 50 "beach bottles" (huge souvenir cups with Pepsi in them at 5.99 a pop) over the summer we get a $10 gift card to best buy, and if we sell 100 we get a $25 gift card. Well I ended up with 93 for the summer (not bad for only being there every other week) but I was 7 short of my goal. I'm thinking about taking up an extra shift next week to get the last 7 :)
I am kind of relieved about being done with work though. It was a good job, not too hard, depending on the location. Serving dippin' dots all day is easy, while deep frying twinkies and shrimp get kind of old and icky. All in all I have been able to form pretty good relationships with my coworkers, though not as well as I'd like since I'm only there every other week. God has really given me peace about it though. They know who we are and refer to us as "The Crusaders." We have made real open relationships with them, they love hanging out with us and coming to eat dinner with us and have told us they are really going to miss us when we leave. We have shared the Gospel and our lives with them and they have seen a difference in us.
Tonight was also our last official outreach. It went well and there were many successful stories shared afterward. One person decided to accept Christ and even came back to share time with Erika! Praise God for him!! He flies back to Dallas (where he lives) tomorrow so pray God puts someone in his path to disciple him when he gets home.
Tomorrow is the last day at our respective churches. We will serve in our different areas (I help with the coffee shop at Vintage Faith church) and then we say goodbye. Vintage has been an interesting experience. Most people are bothered that the "sermons" are not really sermons at all, but more like peptalks, talk shows or movie reviews...literally. I think the church really does have a good heart and good intentions for reaching the community and are trying to do it in a way that's relevant and inviting. While this is really important I hope that they can start basing the message off of passages of scripture and then relating culture, not vice versa.
This week will also be my last week cooking for the team. I am really excited to come up with some tasty meals for my great new friends and to finish out with a few classics.
I have a lot of work to do before this whole thing is over. The project DVD is basically all in my hands, and I haven't begun editing. Luckily I have all the footage (except for a few random clips I may need after starting the editing process) and have all week to do it. I kind of feel like it's pointless though, since we arent handing out hard copies of it this year. Oh well. The three minute shorter one will be fun to make. I'm just kind of dreading the longer one.
The last week of project (Aug 2-Aug 8th) will be spent with a group trip to Yosemite, followed by our appreciation banquet for our employers and a dance party just for us, then a few days of breaking down and cleaning up.
Mom's coming a week from Friday to fly me back to NC! Hooray, Boo and everything in between to that.
I'll try to post a few more times before leaving! Thanks for faithfully following my adventures in Santa Cruz!
I am kind of relieved about being done with work though. It was a good job, not too hard, depending on the location. Serving dippin' dots all day is easy, while deep frying twinkies and shrimp get kind of old and icky. All in all I have been able to form pretty good relationships with my coworkers, though not as well as I'd like since I'm only there every other week. God has really given me peace about it though. They know who we are and refer to us as "The Crusaders." We have made real open relationships with them, they love hanging out with us and coming to eat dinner with us and have told us they are really going to miss us when we leave. We have shared the Gospel and our lives with them and they have seen a difference in us.
Tonight was also our last official outreach. It went well and there were many successful stories shared afterward. One person decided to accept Christ and even came back to share time with Erika! Praise God for him!! He flies back to Dallas (where he lives) tomorrow so pray God puts someone in his path to disciple him when he gets home.
Tomorrow is the last day at our respective churches. We will serve in our different areas (I help with the coffee shop at Vintage Faith church) and then we say goodbye. Vintage has been an interesting experience. Most people are bothered that the "sermons" are not really sermons at all, but more like peptalks, talk shows or movie reviews...literally. I think the church really does have a good heart and good intentions for reaching the community and are trying to do it in a way that's relevant and inviting. While this is really important I hope that they can start basing the message off of passages of scripture and then relating culture, not vice versa.
This week will also be my last week cooking for the team. I am really excited to come up with some tasty meals for my great new friends and to finish out with a few classics.
I have a lot of work to do before this whole thing is over. The project DVD is basically all in my hands, and I haven't begun editing. Luckily I have all the footage (except for a few random clips I may need after starting the editing process) and have all week to do it. I kind of feel like it's pointless though, since we arent handing out hard copies of it this year. Oh well. The three minute shorter one will be fun to make. I'm just kind of dreading the longer one.
The last week of project (Aug 2-Aug 8th) will be spent with a group trip to Yosemite, followed by our appreciation banquet for our employers and a dance party just for us, then a few days of breaking down and cleaning up.
Mom's coming a week from Friday to fly me back to NC! Hooray, Boo and everything in between to that.
I'll try to post a few more times before leaving! Thanks for faithfully following my adventures in Santa Cruz!
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Being a Chef
Last night we had our big meeting, sort of like the weekly meeting at Crusade back home where we all get together and worship the Lord with song, have a speaker, fun games, announcements, etc. Well instead of a speaker this time we just had share time, where anyone could get up and share what the Lord has been teaching them, or how they feel about Project so far, basically anything you wanted to say.
So I got up and shared something, something that went like this:
Before coming on Project when I was sitting down and deciding what job to apply for, I felt the Lord calling me to the job as the "Project Cook." I didn't really know why He was doing that, cause I've only really cooked for a maximum of maybe 10 people at a time, and there were going to be 82 people + guests to cook for out here in California.
As I was praying about it, I felt like God was really challenging me to do it, despite my self-doubts. I told God I'd take on the challenge and started getting excited about this neat opportunity to serve the other team members.
Well now that it's halfway over, I must say. It was a lot harder than I expected. Basically I will start preparing about 5 or 6 hours in advance, depending on what the meal is, and do as much as I can ahead of time. The problem is, you usually cant do a lot ahead of time, because all the food needs to be kept hot or warm somehow. Meats and pastas therefore must be cooked no earlier than about an hour before dinnertime, which is 6pm. The staff had been really awesome because they would just come in and ask what needed to be done, even if their group wasn't scheduled to work. With them gone, kitchen duty enthusiasm has drastically died.
At 5pm, two helpers come early, which is a really good thing, but typically still not enough hands to get everything ready. Then at 530, about 8 -10 more people show up to help wipe down tables, chop veggies and fruit, set up the salad bar, make drinks, take out paper goods for guests, etc. This crew also cleans up the dishes after dinner (praise God that's not part of my job).
Around 530, things start to get hectic. 15 people start asking me where things are, what they need to do, what needs to be set out, how to slice bread, what knife to use...you get the point. Just read my mind people, it's not that hard. Food starts coming out of ovens and frantically wrapped in foil to keep it warm, people start getting anxious cause they'd rather be outside eating than inside helping prepare. I don't blame them.
I have hit the point in the summer where I am just tired. I started getting frustrated with the job. Hearing people talk about how they wish there was more food, that it was warmer, that there was different dressing or cheese; it's kind of hard not to take it personally. I want everyone to like the food and enjoy what I make for them! On top of that, there is 1 vegetarian and 1 lactose intolerant who have to have separate dishes made specially for them.
I started complaining to the Lord. "Why can't people appreciate me more?" "Why can't there be two cooks instead of one?" "Can they pay me more?" And then He reminded me of a familiar story...
In Luke 10:38-42 Mary and Martha have Jesus into their home. While Mary sits at Jesus' feet
listening to Him and being taught by Him and just enjoying His presence, Martha is distracted with much serving. Probably in the kitchen. She asks Jesus why He doesn't tell Mary to help her. Basically Jesus says that Mary values Him as the most important thing in life, and that He is the only thing that is necessary, and nothing will take that away from her.
This is not a command to be lazy and unproductive. Nor is it a command not to help out others in tasks they are assigned. It is Jesus reminding us that He needs to be our priority, our ultimate desire, the thing we pursue before anything else.
I had been so caught up in getting things done, grocery lists, making menus, ordering food, preparing it, and trying not to get stressed out that I began to allow that to take priority in my mind and in my actions over the Lord. But as always, He lovingly pulled me back reminding me that He will take care of all my needs.
I only have 1 and a half more weeks to cook for my wonderful friends I have made out here, and I am so thankful for the opportunity to make the meals and to exemplify Christ in humble service.
This week's menu:
Monday dinner- Chicken Fettucini in a creamy Alfredo sauce, with garlic bread and garden salad
Tuesday lunch - Philly Cheese Steaks, potato chips, and fresh watermelon
Wednesday dinner - Camp (Roast Beef and Vegetable) Stew, dinner rolls, canteloupe and honeydew, with carrot cake for desert
Friday lunch- Chilli cheese dogs, potato chips, red delicious apples, and snickerdoodle cookies
Saturday- Chinese night! Orange chicken, sweet n sour chicken with chou mein noodles, white and brown rice, carrot sticks celery with veggie dip, and fortune cookies!
Bon Appetit
So I got up and shared something, something that went like this:
Before coming on Project when I was sitting down and deciding what job to apply for, I felt the Lord calling me to the job as the "Project Cook." I didn't really know why He was doing that, cause I've only really cooked for a maximum of maybe 10 people at a time, and there were going to be 82 people + guests to cook for out here in California.
As I was praying about it, I felt like God was really challenging me to do it, despite my self-doubts. I told God I'd take on the challenge and started getting excited about this neat opportunity to serve the other team members.
Well now that it's halfway over, I must say. It was a lot harder than I expected. Basically I will start preparing about 5 or 6 hours in advance, depending on what the meal is, and do as much as I can ahead of time. The problem is, you usually cant do a lot ahead of time, because all the food needs to be kept hot or warm somehow. Meats and pastas therefore must be cooked no earlier than about an hour before dinnertime, which is 6pm. The staff had been really awesome because they would just come in and ask what needed to be done, even if their group wasn't scheduled to work. With them gone, kitchen duty enthusiasm has drastically died.
At 5pm, two helpers come early, which is a really good thing, but typically still not enough hands to get everything ready. Then at 530, about 8 -10 more people show up to help wipe down tables, chop veggies and fruit, set up the salad bar, make drinks, take out paper goods for guests, etc. This crew also cleans up the dishes after dinner (praise God that's not part of my job).
Around 530, things start to get hectic. 15 people start asking me where things are, what they need to do, what needs to be set out, how to slice bread, what knife to use...you get the point. Just read my mind people, it's not that hard. Food starts coming out of ovens and frantically wrapped in foil to keep it warm, people start getting anxious cause they'd rather be outside eating than inside helping prepare. I don't blame them.
I have hit the point in the summer where I am just tired. I started getting frustrated with the job. Hearing people talk about how they wish there was more food, that it was warmer, that there was different dressing or cheese; it's kind of hard not to take it personally. I want everyone to like the food and enjoy what I make for them! On top of that, there is 1 vegetarian and 1 lactose intolerant who have to have separate dishes made specially for them.
I started complaining to the Lord. "Why can't people appreciate me more?" "Why can't there be two cooks instead of one?" "Can they pay me more?" And then He reminded me of a familiar story...
In Luke 10:38-42 Mary and Martha have Jesus into their home. While Mary sits at Jesus' feet
listening to Him and being taught by Him and just enjoying His presence, Martha is distracted with much serving. Probably in the kitchen. She asks Jesus why He doesn't tell Mary to help her. Basically Jesus says that Mary values Him as the most important thing in life, and that He is the only thing that is necessary, and nothing will take that away from her.
This is not a command to be lazy and unproductive. Nor is it a command not to help out others in tasks they are assigned. It is Jesus reminding us that He needs to be our priority, our ultimate desire, the thing we pursue before anything else.
I had been so caught up in getting things done, grocery lists, making menus, ordering food, preparing it, and trying not to get stressed out that I began to allow that to take priority in my mind and in my actions over the Lord. But as always, He lovingly pulled me back reminding me that He will take care of all my needs.
I only have 1 and a half more weeks to cook for my wonderful friends I have made out here, and I am so thankful for the opportunity to make the meals and to exemplify Christ in humble service.
This week's menu:
Monday dinner- Chicken Fettucini in a creamy Alfredo sauce, with garlic bread and garden salad
Tuesday lunch - Philly Cheese Steaks, potato chips, and fresh watermelon
Wednesday dinner - Camp (Roast Beef and Vegetable) Stew, dinner rolls, canteloupe and honeydew, with carrot cake for desert
Friday lunch- Chilli cheese dogs, potato chips, red delicious apples, and snickerdoodle cookies
Saturday- Chinese night! Orange chicken, sweet n sour chicken with chou mein noodles, white and brown rice, carrot sticks celery with veggie dip, and fortune cookies!
Bon Appetit
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Mixed Emotions :-/
So Project is halfway over. Last night we had a meeting to send the staff off, and it was really sad! Every action group (Bible study) did a farewell skit or song for their leader, and I ended up making the staff appreciation video. I'll post a link to that soon, but I'm really happy with how it turned out! On a side note, Mihn's computer is fabulous and I really want a Macbook Pro.
Anyways, this morning we all got up to see the staff drive off forever. Some of them (the four directors) will come back at the end of the trip for the appreciation banquet, but most of them I doubt I will see again! :( SO SAD! So I wrote them all a haiku and gave them to Collin (one of the staff) to hand out once they get to Yosemite for their fun little trip.
So the 62 students are now on their own. Leaders have been appointed in their place to do the jobs that the staff were in charge of before they left, and I have every confidence in our team to step up and keep this Project going for the glory of God!
I just can't believe that the 20 new friends I made are gone. Being an older student, I kind of feel like I related to the staff (who are all in their mid-late twenties) more than most of the students...
Some of the numbers so far for our project:
400 + spiritual conversations
115 + opportunities to share the Gospel
12 decisions to trust Christ
Incredible! I can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for the last half of the summer. Staff, I better see you all at the reunion!
Thats all for now,
Dana
Anyways, this morning we all got up to see the staff drive off forever. Some of them (the four directors) will come back at the end of the trip for the appreciation banquet, but most of them I doubt I will see again! :( SO SAD! So I wrote them all a haiku and gave them to Collin (one of the staff) to hand out once they get to Yosemite for their fun little trip.
So the 62 students are now on their own. Leaders have been appointed in their place to do the jobs that the staff were in charge of before they left, and I have every confidence in our team to step up and keep this Project going for the glory of God!
I just can't believe that the 20 new friends I made are gone. Being an older student, I kind of feel like I related to the staff (who are all in their mid-late twenties) more than most of the students...
Some of the numbers so far for our project:
400 + spiritual conversations
115 + opportunities to share the Gospel
12 decisions to trust Christ
Incredible! I can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for the last half of the summer. Staff, I better see you all at the reunion!
Thats all for now,
Dana
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Building the Kingdom!
So today we went to church, had lunch on our own, and then had outreach on the beach. To be honest I was really tired and kind of wanted to just take a nap. Before the outreach, my Action Group (Bible study) went down to the beach to pray. I prayed silently that the Lord would give me strength and a desire to go out and share my faith with a good attitude. Specifically, my prayer went something like this:
Lord, I'm so tired right now, and I really just want to take a nap. Please just let me pray with one person to receive Christ.
Well I ended up doing soularium, a picture evangelism survey, with a woman. Turns out she didnt speak very good English, and had come to the States from Mexico 5 years ago. I ended up sharing the Gospel with her in Spanish, through the power of the Holy Spirit, and she prayed to receive Christ...in Spanish... HECK YES.
So needless to say I am pumped. The Lord is faithful and amazing and He gets all the glory from today! He has added another to His Kingdom and answered my prayer :) WOOOO HOOO!!!
Off to women's time!
Til later,
Dana
Lord, I'm so tired right now, and I really just want to take a nap. Please just let me pray with one person to receive Christ.
Well I ended up doing soularium, a picture evangelism survey, with a woman. Turns out she didnt speak very good English, and had come to the States from Mexico 5 years ago. I ended up sharing the Gospel with her in Spanish, through the power of the Holy Spirit, and she prayed to receive Christ...in Spanish... HECK YES.
So needless to say I am pumped. The Lord is faithful and amazing and He gets all the glory from today! He has added another to His Kingdom and answered my prayer :) WOOOO HOOO!!!
Off to women's time!
Til later,
Dana
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Thoughts
Hello Faithful Blog readers!
So I thought I would treat all of you who enjoy the more stream of consciousness style writing with a few thoughts I have formulated about California and Project in general.
- It’s cold here. Much colder than I expected it to be.
- Project has definitely surpassed my expectations. I had my doubts that it could be as good as people say it is.
- I said I’d be done with Cru after college, but I’m about 95% sure I’m doing an internship for a year with the Jesus Film Project
- cutting down the story of what God has done in your life to 3-5 minutes is HARD
- serving ice cream and making 8.50 an hour = way easier than selling bikes and making 7.14 an hour
- we found a slug in our bathroom tonight, not a banana slug though…too bad
- I heard the original singer from Santana perform live tonight with his tribute band, sounded AMAZING and I got paid at the same time
- Michael Jackson died a few hours south of me. I wonder if he ever had the opportunity to accept Jesus……
- I love little Summer and Collin (some of the staff kids). We went on an adventure and colored with chalk today.
- Just ordering food for the next week takes about an hour. Crazy
- I think I like cooking better than working at Whitings. It’s less stressful and somehow it’s less tiring…….
- I get 50% off all Whitings Foods (ice cream, pizza hut, cotton candy, churros, icees, free sodas, burgers, mexican, dippin dots… I’m gonna be 30 lbs heavier when we leave)
More thoughts later. I have work 10:30- 5:30 tomorrow and it’s already 1am…. Very little free time here.
So I thought I would treat all of you who enjoy the more stream of consciousness style writing with a few thoughts I have formulated about California and Project in general.
- It’s cold here. Much colder than I expected it to be.
- Project has definitely surpassed my expectations. I had my doubts that it could be as good as people say it is.
- I said I’d be done with Cru after college, but I’m about 95% sure I’m doing an internship for a year with the Jesus Film Project
- cutting down the story of what God has done in your life to 3-5 minutes is HARD
- serving ice cream and making 8.50 an hour = way easier than selling bikes and making 7.14 an hour
- we found a slug in our bathroom tonight, not a banana slug though…too bad
- I heard the original singer from Santana perform live tonight with his tribute band, sounded AMAZING and I got paid at the same time
- Michael Jackson died a few hours south of me. I wonder if he ever had the opportunity to accept Jesus……
- I love little Summer and Collin (some of the staff kids). We went on an adventure and colored with chalk today.
- Just ordering food for the next week takes about an hour. Crazy
- I think I like cooking better than working at Whitings. It’s less stressful and somehow it’s less tiring…….
- I get 50% off all Whitings Foods (ice cream, pizza hut, cotton candy, churros, icees, free sodas, burgers, mexican, dippin dots… I’m gonna be 30 lbs heavier when we leave)
More thoughts later. I have work 10:30- 5:30 tomorrow and it’s already 1am…. Very little free time here.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Support Update!
Hey everyone!!
Sorry it's been so long between posts! We have been super busy, but I finally found time to sit down! Yay! The Lord has done so many amazing things, and I'll try to write about them soon.
For now I would like to say how awesome the Lord is. He has provided $3104 out of $3200, leaving me with only $96 left to go! How AWESOME is that!
on top of the last awesome support story, for dinner last Monday night, two passersby joined us for dinner. We learned they met on a summer project and married later, and currently support Crusade staff with their finances. She complimented me on the meal, and asked me if I had raised all my support. At that point I still had about 500 dollars left to go, and she said to write down my name and address. When I got to the church that night for our main meeting, she was there waiting with a check for $100.
It is so amazing how God divinely appoints people to come into our lives for His master plan. I would never have expected the next 300 dollars to come in in the next couple days as well. I am so grateful that He has surpassed my expectations for support raising and thank you all who have supported me so much for allowing Him to use you in that way!
More soon,
Dana
Sorry it's been so long between posts! We have been super busy, but I finally found time to sit down! Yay! The Lord has done so many amazing things, and I'll try to write about them soon.
For now I would like to say how awesome the Lord is. He has provided $3104 out of $3200, leaving me with only $96 left to go! How AWESOME is that!
on top of the last awesome support story, for dinner last Monday night, two passersby joined us for dinner. We learned they met on a summer project and married later, and currently support Crusade staff with their finances. She complimented me on the meal, and asked me if I had raised all my support. At that point I still had about 500 dollars left to go, and she said to write down my name and address. When I got to the church that night for our main meeting, she was there waiting with a check for $100.
It is so amazing how God divinely appoints people to come into our lives for His master plan. I would never have expected the next 300 dollars to come in in the next couple days as well. I am so grateful that He has surpassed my expectations for support raising and thank you all who have supported me so much for allowing Him to use you in that way!
More soon,
Dana
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Jehovah Jirah! [ The most awesome project story ever....]
Today the Lord turned a joke of a postcard into $102.
Today I got up, went to the gym, came back, did my Quiet time, had breakfast, took a shower, went to work, came back, had dinner with my project, had Bible study, prayed for the rest of my support to come, and went to go check my mail.
Heather, my roommate from back home, sent me a postcard with nothing but 2 Kings 2:23-24.
"From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some youths came out of the town and jeered at him. 'Go on up you baldhead!' they said. 'Go on up you baldhead!' He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled 42 of the youths."
"Haha, this is funny" I thought. So I asked my roommate here, Sofia, to grab the bible that was on the shelf nearby (we were in the libary/mailroom). When we turned to 2 Kings 2, $102 fell out.
WHAT?!!?!?!?!!
only God could be hilarious, faithful, generous, and loving all at once. What a Friend :)
That is all for today :)
-D
Today I got up, went to the gym, came back, did my Quiet time, had breakfast, took a shower, went to work, came back, had dinner with my project, had Bible study, prayed for the rest of my support to come, and went to go check my mail.
Heather, my roommate from back home, sent me a postcard with nothing but 2 Kings 2:23-24.
"From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some youths came out of the town and jeered at him. 'Go on up you baldhead!' they said. 'Go on up you baldhead!' He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled 42 of the youths."
"Haha, this is funny" I thought. So I asked my roommate here, Sofia, to grab the bible that was on the shelf nearby (we were in the libary/mailroom). When we turned to 2 Kings 2, $102 fell out.
WHAT?!!?!?!?!!
only God could be hilarious, faithful, generous, and loving all at once. What a Friend :)
That is all for today :)
-D
Monday, June 8, 2009
Week One!
Ok
Sorry about the huge lapse in communication, but our internet has been down , and the owner of the Peter Pan motel JUST came today to reboot the router.
ANYHOO
Week one of project is done! I am having a blast now and know pretty much everyone here! Since my last post , I have gotten my bike back, which is now officially everyone’s fave, probably almost even better than Justin’s bike, which is a piece of junk =) (Carbon fiber? Full Ultegra? who needs that?)
Also since my last post, we had a group scavenger hunt at the Boardwalk, which my team, the Raging Semicolons lost. We won the prize for the best name, but lost in all other events, including dodgeball on the beach. It was a really fun day.
We had a lot of training on Friday, including how to share the Knowing God Personally booklet, which I’ve been trained on at pretty much every Crusade event (lol) and how to give a good testimony. We also had job training. YAY! Actually I am really excited about working at Whitings’ Food company and being the cook. Whitings Foods, which owns almost every fast food thing at the boardwalk, gives their employees 50% off of food, which means I can eat cheap. We also make 850 an hour, which is way more than minimum wage in NC. Furthurmore, if I sell like a bunch of these boardwalk souveneir cups, I get gift cards to Best Buy based on how many I sell. You can get a 1,000 gift card!
Saturday we actually started our jobs. At Whitings you get placed at random stations, and I worked at Pizza Hut. Hah. Then Saturday night after dinner we did our first official outreach, going downtown and experiencing the true bizarreness of Santa Cruz. My and my two other s got to share the Gospel with 5 or 6 different people. Awesome! None of them accepted Christ then and there, but they have the Truth now %3A) Nothin’ like sharing some Jesus. While initiative evangelism is great, it’s really awesome to work out here and minister to your coworkers. I’m a huge fan of natural, relational evangelism. Already I’ve gotten to share with some of my coworkers about why we’re out here and invite them to dinner with us at the Peter Pan! I can’t wait to get in to deeper conversations with them and really get to know them better.
Today we went to our different churches for service and then to help serve the churches in various ways. I went to a church called Vintage Faith, which was really incredibly cool. It’s really artsy, cool and relaxed. More on that later.I have many more stories from today, but it is already after midnight, so they will have to wait til later. I had no idea I would be so busy.
Love and miss you all
D
Sorry about the huge lapse in communication, but our internet has been down , and the owner of the Peter Pan motel JUST came today to reboot the router.
ANYHOO
Week one of project is done! I am having a blast now and know pretty much everyone here! Since my last post , I have gotten my bike back, which is now officially everyone’s fave, probably almost even better than Justin’s bike, which is a piece of junk =) (Carbon fiber? Full Ultegra? who needs that?)
Also since my last post, we had a group scavenger hunt at the Boardwalk, which my team, the Raging Semicolons lost. We won the prize for the best name, but lost in all other events, including dodgeball on the beach. It was a really fun day.
We had a lot of training on Friday, including how to share the Knowing God Personally booklet, which I’ve been trained on at pretty much every Crusade event (lol) and how to give a good testimony. We also had job training. YAY! Actually I am really excited about working at Whitings’ Food company and being the cook. Whitings Foods, which owns almost every fast food thing at the boardwalk, gives their employees 50% off of food, which means I can eat cheap. We also make 850 an hour, which is way more than minimum wage in NC. Furthurmore, if I sell like a bunch of these boardwalk souveneir cups, I get gift cards to Best Buy based on how many I sell. You can get a 1,000 gift card!
Saturday we actually started our jobs. At Whitings you get placed at random stations, and I worked at Pizza Hut. Hah. Then Saturday night after dinner we did our first official outreach, going downtown and experiencing the true bizarreness of Santa Cruz. My and my two other s got to share the Gospel with 5 or 6 different people. Awesome! None of them accepted Christ then and there, but they have the Truth now %3A) Nothin’ like sharing some Jesus. While initiative evangelism is great, it’s really awesome to work out here and minister to your coworkers. I’m a huge fan of natural, relational evangelism. Already I’ve gotten to share with some of my coworkers about why we’re out here and invite them to dinner with us at the Peter Pan! I can’t wait to get in to deeper conversations with them and really get to know them better.
Today we went to our different churches for service and then to help serve the churches in various ways. I went to a church called Vintage Faith, which was really incredibly cool. It’s really artsy, cool and relaxed. More on that later.I have many more stories from today, but it is already after midnight, so they will have to wait til later. I had no idea I would be so busy.
Love and miss you all
D
Monday, June 1, 2009
Everyone's HERE!
So day one is over and all 62 college students have arrived for Santa Cruz Summer Project 09!! I have already met a good deal of them and made some great new friends!! My roommates are all really sweet, one is from Ohio, one from New York, one from Texas me from North Carolina and one from an unknown place because she is asleep right now!
Today I hung out with the people who were here early, moved in my stuff, met all the new peeps, had a large group dinner and went grocery shopping. I am pretty much all settled in now!
I am super excited about this summer, but I think the cook job is going to be harder than I thought. Oh well, I like a challenge.
In the morning I am going to a bike shop to purchase a new set of wheels! This bike shop is AWESOME, they have the most colorful variety of bike components I've ever seen. www.thebicycleshopsantacruz.com
I can't wait to see how the Lord uses us this summer.
"Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things. Blessed be his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory! Amen and Amen! "
Ps. 72: 18-20
Today I hung out with the people who were here early, moved in my stuff, met all the new peeps, had a large group dinner and went grocery shopping. I am pretty much all settled in now!
I am super excited about this summer, but I think the cook job is going to be harder than I thought. Oh well, I like a challenge.
In the morning I am going to a bike shop to purchase a new set of wheels! This bike shop is AWESOME, they have the most colorful variety of bike components I've ever seen. www.thebicycleshopsantacruz.com
I can't wait to see how the Lord uses us this summer.
"Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things. Blessed be his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory! Amen and Amen! "
Ps. 72: 18-20
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Last Day of Travel
Well, we saw LA yesterday, which was really fun, but Satan was definitely attacking hardcore. Multiple frustrating things happened to set both Johnathan and I off, beginning with the wheels being stolen from right off my bike. It's funny how Satan knows exactly how to hit you the hardest without ever physically destroying you. It's also funny how these attacks, in my experience, always coincide with the beginning of a mission trip, or some sort of venture designed to build the Kingdom.
Well get this, Satan. I'm not going home. I'm not giving up. You can take everything I have but you won't take my Salvation or my Jesus away from me.
2 Cortinthians 4:7-11
But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
Today is our last day driving and we should arrive in Santa Cruz tonight.
-D
Well get this, Satan. I'm not going home. I'm not giving up. You can take everything I have but you won't take my Salvation or my Jesus away from me.
2 Cortinthians 4:7-11
But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
Today is our last day driving and we should arrive in Santa Cruz tonight.
-D
Friday, May 29, 2009
Safely to Kingman
So yesterday we made it from Arkansas to Albuquerque, NM. We saw some pretty interesting stuff, including the "Largest Cross in the Western Hemisphere" in Groom, TX, and the "Bugg Ranch" in Conway, TX. Pretty cool stuff. I was lucky enough to grab this shot of a man reading the inscription from Mark in front of the recreation of the Crucifix.
for more pictures from today, go here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2299040&id=11831006&l=f2f84e1dc9
This was a long day of driving met by an instant unavoidable journey to sleep as soon as I hit the bed on my part. Hence the lack of update yesterday. Tomorrow I will add updates from today about our trip to the Rio Grande and the Grand Canyon.
Til then,
D
for more pictures from today, go here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2299040&id=11831006&l=f2f84e1dc9This was a long day of driving met by an instant unavoidable journey to sleep as soon as I hit the bed on my part. Hence the lack of update yesterday. Tomorrow I will add updates from today about our trip to the Rio Grande and the Grand Canyon.
Til then,
D
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Day 3
Hermitage, TN to Russleville, AK
Today was pretty chill, we drove through Nashville to Memphis where we ate lunch at the hard rock cafe. It reminded me a lot of Detroit: dirty, full of homelessness, but buzzing with life and culture. After a delicious lunch and a quick rest stop, we made it to Arkansas, which incidentally, contains absolutely nothing of interest. Apparently there is a zoo in Little Rock, but we aren't planning on spending money on anything that costs more than free. Now we're chilling at the Quality Inn in Russleville, along with about 5 other people.
Tomorrow is a long day of driving so it's time for some QT and bed!
Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.
Phil 3:8
-D
Today was pretty chill, we drove through Nashville to Memphis where we ate lunch at the hard rock cafe. It reminded me a lot of Detroit: dirty, full of homelessness, but buzzing with life and culture. After a delicious lunch and a quick rest stop, we made it to Arkansas, which incidentally, contains absolutely nothing of interest. Apparently there is a zoo in Little Rock, but we aren't planning on spending money on anything that costs more than free. Now we're chilling at the Quality Inn in Russleville, along with about 5 other people.
Tomorrow is a long day of driving so it's time for some QT and bed!
Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.
Phil 3:8
-D
Monday, May 25, 2009
Day 1: successful travels
Well I am safely tucked away at the Suburban Inn and Suites in Hermitage, TN. Jesus, Nickel Creek, Jack Johnson and many others got us through the beautiful and treacherous Smokies. After a 14 hour drive starting from Raleigh going to Wilmington (you have to go coast to coast...duh ! :) ) to Asheville for a nice hippie lunch, through the mountains and finally to rest here just outside of Nashville; I am sitting down to enjoy room service and burn some more music for tomorrow!
The extra hour we gained is going to be CRUCIAL. For 59.99 a night, these rooms aren't bad at all. Tomorrow we're exploring, so now it's time for rest!
-D
p.s. our car is completely packed. There is no possibly way we could have brought another person.
The extra hour we gained is going to be CRUCIAL. For 59.99 a night, these rooms aren't bad at all. Tomorrow we're exploring, so now it's time for rest!
-D
p.s. our car is completely packed. There is no possibly way we could have brought another person.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
The Final Count[down].
This is my last night in North Carolina! I am all packed and ready to go and in about 7 hours I will ship out t0 CALIFORNIA!! I seriously can't wait. I know God has great things in store! He has provided....
$2,717.00
out of the
$3,200.00 that I need to raise for the trip by July! AWESOME! However, to have every single expense (including food and the like) I would love to get to at least $4,200. We'll see what the Lord's plan is! :)
If you all still would like to contribute towards the cost of my project, you can send any and all checks (made out to Campus Crusade for Christ) or cash to
712 Tadlock Dr.
Raleigh, NC 27614
PLEASE SEND THESE BY JUNE 15th!
It will make its way out to me =) Thank you all so much for your support and your prayers! I will do my best to update this blog at least every other day during the project. For the next week I will be driving across the nation, so entries may be few. Glorious pictures of the USA to follow....
Best,
D
$2,717.00
out of the
$3,200.00 that I need to raise for the trip by July! AWESOME! However, to have every single expense (including food and the like) I would love to get to at least $4,200. We'll see what the Lord's plan is! :)
If you all still would like to contribute towards the cost of my project, you can send any and all checks (made out to Campus Crusade for Christ) or cash to
712 Tadlock Dr.
Raleigh, NC 27614
PLEASE SEND THESE BY JUNE 15th!
It will make its way out to me =) Thank you all so much for your support and your prayers! I will do my best to update this blog at least every other day during the project. For the next week I will be driving across the nation, so entries may be few. Glorious pictures of the USA to follow....
Best,
D
Friday, May 22, 2009
Preparations
It is kind of sad, I have already said my goodbyes to many close friends for the summer! Today Sarah went home, and Kerianne and Jessica went to the beach. When I get back, we won't be roommates anymore! :( I know you will all have a great summer in Raleigh and I can't wait to see you all again in the fall!
I'm starting to pack up for my trip! I can't believe I leave on Monday. Ridiculous! Keep praying that the Lord will send the funds my way so that I can make it out to CA [AND BACK-- haha!].
Tomorrow is my last day at work, so that is cause for rejoicing! I'm going to ride my bike to and from work just for kicks!
-D
I'm starting to pack up for my trip! I can't believe I leave on Monday. Ridiculous! Keep praying that the Lord will send the funds my way so that I can make it out to CA [AND BACK-- haha!].
Tomorrow is my last day at work, so that is cause for rejoicing! I'm going to ride my bike to and from work just for kicks!
-D
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Speaking tonight!
Tonight I am sharing about my trip to Santa Cruz with my home church of Mt. Vernon Baptist! I am praying for the Lord to grow my support team and to really move in the hearts of my church family.
-D
-D
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