A Whirlwind of Days

The purpose of posting frequently is so I don't forget things.

I have already failed at that.

Where to begin?!?

Thursday: 

Job search begins. We split up into teams of cars and divided and conquered Jacksonville.

We got apps, talked to people, went around. Very exhausting. 

We had dinner at the Boathouse, then went to Ritas. 

Ritas is a local ice cream (frozen yogurt) place.

After that, we went back to campus and had some team bonding. We made individual and team goals, along with a bucket list that we want to get done. I'll post that later. :)

We then played spicy uno and headed for bed.

Friday:

Back on the hunt for jobs. Today we went out and began at Starbucks online.

Then we continued on and just went into places. 

I spent the afternoon back at Starbucks skyping Brandon and searching for nannying/camp jobs online.

It was nice and relaxing after a draining morning.

After dinner at the Boathouse, we went to the beach as a whole to take a group picture and have a sandcastle building contest. 


 Here is the Dordt team (and some photo bombers in the back). :)
Praise Jesus for the lives he has claimed.

We always look good.

This is Courtney and I. :) Sisters in Christ.

It was quite fun, but we didn't win. :)

We then all jumped in the ocean, and braved the waves as the sun went down. 

Saturday:

Up early to go to E-Training. (Evangelism training)

Talked about why we need the gospel, and practiced the bridge. 

We ate a quick lunch around 1 and my group of 4 teams headed out.

We had the privilege of going to a beach that we got to take a ferry to get to!

We drove our cars onto the ferry, then onto the beach. So cool.
This is the view from the ferry. And those, my friends, are pelicans! 

Needless to say, as soon as we opened the door of the van to get out on the beach, I got a stomach ache.

There's just something about cold evangelism that is nerve-wracking. 

But, we got to it anyway, because we had a short amount of time.

I went first (I was going around with Liz). 

The first lady I approached ended up not speaking english. That worked out really well. :)

But God was faithful and gave me a yes the next lady I asked. 

I shared the bridge with her, and although no real sign of interest was shown, it is my place to be faithful, and God's place to do the work.

Liz went next and shared with a girl our age. She knew about Jesus, and was nice and listened, but again no real interest. 

I then got rejected four times in a row, but spotted two girls our age laying down together, so I walked up.

They were really friendly, and agreed to see the illustration. I shared the bridge, and we had some good conversation. They didn't seem to be Christians, but they were the most engaged and interested. One of them gave the reason that she wanted to be open to all things, and the other had no idea what was holding her back. 

Praise Jesus for such a good day! 

We then debriefed, and went back to campus. We went to Angie's subs for dinner with a mishmash group of kids, and had a good time. As soon as I got back to campus, I went to Starbucks with Jason and Ethan (Dordt boys) and we worked on Bible study as we just relaxed and made friends with the baristas and fellow customers. 

This is Becca and I at Angie's. :) 

Sunday:

Got up for church (service at 11) :) :) :) Sleep = so good. 

Went to a small mobile church called River Town.

When I say small, I mean like, we made up 1/2 - 2/3 of the congregation. 

They were so friendly, however, and adopted us right into the family.

We ate lunch with them, and signed up for different ministry opportunities. 

We then went to the beach for the afternoon, and got some sun :)

Dinner and a run finished out my night.

God is working in crazy ways already! He is definitely stretching me with my trust for him in providing a job. I am a prime example of 2 Corinthians 4: 7-9. I'm doing my best to not be discouraged, because my God is so much bigger than finding a job.


Today (aka: Monday):
Oh today. Again out on the hunt for a job. Looked/applied/got rejected for jobs from 8:30 this morning till 5:30 tonight. Phew.


Praise Jesus. I have the opportunity to trust Him more than some others do.
Also praise Jesus. I have an interview with a nanny service on Thursday. 
Pray that someone needs a full time nanny. :D


After dinner, it was RALLY NIGHT! :D 
Rally night is basically a kick off to the week. We have praise and worship, a skit, and then a message. Tonight was by Mike Jordahl on intimacy with Christ. It was great. 


Before we got to the message, however, we had some drawings from the bowl of horrible. Let me tell you a bit about the bowl of horrible.
It is a bowl that has horrible things in it, for people who break rules. :)


In this picture, we see Kurt being a human mic stand, because he was out past curfew. 
:)

This is Liz. :) She got the bowl of horrible for also being out past curfew. Her punishment is to wear this stylish hamburger shirt (XL) and leather pants to dinner tomorrow.
She'll rock it. She's classy like that.

:)

Anyway, just a few take aways from rally night...

1) I must count everything I have as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus. There is nothing on earth or in heaven that is worth anything besides him.

2) There can be no seeking Jesus and. It must be only Jesus. 

Prayer Requests:

- That my team would continue to grow together as we grow in our relationships with God

- That those of us who don't have a job yet would not be discouraged, but that we would trust God with  this wholeheartedly, and that God would prove to be faithful.

- That we would find jobs.

Thanks so much for your prayers and support! I am so blessed. 

If someone were to send me a Starbucks card I would not be sad...haha.

That will be my weakness this summer, I can already tell.

Have a great day! :) Love you all! Ashley!