And the Faithfulness Abounds

So. God has really shown the people in my life how faithful he is this week, and i want to share it with you too!

First off, Kayla, my teammate, was planning on having a host home all summer, until Tuesday night. The man who coordinates the housing at her nursing school said he didn't get her a host home because 6 potential parents dropped out for various reasons.

So, she has not enough money to finish paying off the program, she needs a new computer, and she now has to pay for an apartment and food. We all prayed for her during team prayer, and whatnot, but there wasn't really much we could do at this point. 

Literally the next day, she got a call from the guy who had told the church about her need, and a woman had responded. She offered Kayla a little house in her backyard for $400 a month including utilities and such. (up to this point 550 was about the lowest without utilities)

She also found out when she went to pay her bill, that instead of $600, she now owed $68.

God is doing work.

So, this second picture of God's faithfulness is from Brandon's life. I (and many people) have been praying that God would go before Brandon and work to raise up a team of supporters for him. So, Brandon has been faithfully doing face to faces, but was only at like 48% with three weeks left to go.

Wednesday, God provided enough funds to reach him to 65%. YAY! Getting closer to campus each day!

So, there are many other stories I'm sure, but those are the two super exciting ones I've been experiencing. 

So the rest of the week was pretty good. God got me through the work week, and even gave me some time alone with him to process things. 

However, on Wednesday night, we got asked out on our last group date! We were really excited and  hoping to get a super fun last group date. And we were not disappointed. We got a note from the Hammer (the discipline man) and it said:

Shalem-

It seems you have left some clothes in the dryer. Please get them asap.

-The Hammer

None of us had been doing laundry. We ran downstairs, and looked in the dryer. We found one white shirt that said...

At Last

You'll see 

The Lights

On the front.

Then on the back it said:

Will you come on a group date with the Dream Team? (Sky lanterns included) Check Yes or No

We excitedly checked yes.

The dream team is a really cool guys team.

Sooooo.

Knowing that we had that date was the only thing that got me through Friday.

Got home from work, and took a shower.

We ate together at the boathouse, and had a great time. They're fun.

We stopped by Ritas to get ice cream then went to the beach, and actually got in the water and swam.

Once it was dark, we got ou of the water and attempted to light a sky lantern.

For those of you who don't know what that is, watch Tangled. It is a GREAT movie.

The wind by the beach was pretty strong, and they're made of light paper, so it was not working.

We packed up and went back to campus and tried the parking lot.

We began our fun with our left over sparklers from the 4th of July, since we spent it in the ER.

We light painted, and  took fun pictures, which I'll show you later when my teammate puts them on facebook. 

We then got the lanterns out, and began our second attempt.

The basic concept is like a small hot air balloon. 

We lit the first one, and as it floated up into the sky, it was magical. 

We then proceeded to light the other 10, and it was REALLY pretty.

Picture perfect date. Even though we didn't get to do it on the beach, it was still fantastic, and the best date yet. :)

So, today was the employer's banquet. 

We got up and got all dressed up to have breakfast with our employers. 

It was a good time. I then went to Starbucks with Crystal, and we had a good chat and I got to spend some time with God.

After that I played some sand volleyball in the tournament, and that brings me to now.

It's been a great week. Hard to believe this is the last week. At this point in one week, I'll have everything packed up, and be saying goodbye. 

Crazy.

Anyway.

There is nothing much else to say.... I might go shower before dinner.

Who knows.

I'll post some pictures hopefully later tonight of our date/banquet. 

:)

Thanks so much for your prayers!! I'll be home before you know it! :)

Exhausting Orlando Weekend Fun

Holy Cow.

As the summer goes on, the busier I have become. 

Needless to say, I am absolutely exhausted, and it's only Monday.

Quick update...

Last week passed with nothing crazy.

The theme of the week was fantastic: Faith, Prayer, and the Promises of God.

I loved it!

Spent a lot of time in the Word looking at God's power and how he will always keep his word.

Friday night was the talent show. It was pretty good..

We were all glad it was a sit down chill event, because we had about no energy left.

Saturday morning came quickly as I packed my bags and got ready to leave for Orlando. 

We started the day off good, but quickly things didn't go as planned.

We passed a fello Nav car that was on the side of the road, broken down.

The thing about it is...most of the Nav cars that come down are pretty beat up already. Florida doesn't do them any service.

So this wasn't much of a surprise.

We went a few miles down the road and turned around to go back.

After some phone calling and a few minutes, we had 4 Nav cars pulled over, and everyone out of them on the side of the interstate. 

Chaos.

Eventually, we packed in the cars, had the tow truck called, and were on our way.

We arrived at Wycliffe 45 minutes late, and missed most of the first presentation. 

We then ate lunch and listened to an old man talk about his work in translating the BIble into a language. 

It was fascinating. But I feel like it would be stressful.

After another talk, we had time to sign up for praying for a language around the World that doesn't have a Bible. 

We left Wycliffe at 3:30 and drove to the hotel!

Emily and I took a semi-nap that got interrupted many times

Then we went to dinner at TGIF

Got to spend some time talking to the UNI folk that were with us,

then we broke apart after dinner and had campus time!

It was sooooo good to hang out with the guys again. This whole living with girls thing is fun, but sometimes I'm just ready to talk to the guys.

So, we talked about our excitements and fears for the upcoming semester.

Then we just spent some time in prayer.

Here are some pictures from the past week.

This is Jason and two of his boys. Temporary tattoos for everyone!

This is Emily, Me, and Ethan driving down to Orlando.

This is an animal cracker. Thys thought it was a unicorn....or is it a donkey?

 This is Thys craining. :) The bird is huge. Like up to my shoulder pretty much.

This is Emily and I in our hotel room. 

Jason and Jon, lookin' fly. 

This temporary tattoo has lasted almost a week. Manly huh? 

This is known as ghosting. Aka: walking very closely behind someone. 

Jason and Jon again at the Spider Man ride. Are you seeing a theme? They really like being together.

Dordt crew by the T-Rex at Universal Studios.

The Harry Potter castle. So sweet. 

So. 

On Sunday as you can see from this, we went to Universal Studios. Harry Potter world was the bomb. 

I have missed riding roller coasters. 

I had an awesome time with the boys again, and we had a great mostly relaxing day.

But, we got back late, and therefore I began my week tired.

But, God is good. He gave me strength and energy to get through Monday.

Rally was also VERY good.

This week's theme is the Nations. :)

I think my favorite quote from the night was "You don't retire from the great commission"

Prayer Requests:

1) Kayla (teammate) needs a place to stay in the fall. She is transferring to a nursing college, and her plans for a host home have fallen through. She has very little money, and just to be able to afford an apartment she would need to work 30 hours a week on top of school. Pray that God would show himself faithful in a big way.

2) Energy and Motivation and a good attitude. Week 7 is here, and I have much to do with little energy and time to do it.

3) That God would be breaking my heart for the nations even more than he has. 

4) Pray for Dordt. That God would be preparing men and women for us to pour into this semester.

5) Brandon's fundraising. He is at 44% with only a few weeks to go. Prayers that God would bring in funds and a support team for him.

I am learning so much, but don't really have time to process very much. I am spending all of tomorrow night with Jesus (I hope).

Thanks so much for your prayers!!

Week Six

Well, week six is off and running, and I'm feeling behind already.

Here are your updates from the weekend:

Friday we were out of the hospital around noon, then went and got Chipotle. Came back just in time for me to make the Dordt meeting. We talked about leadership things, and dubbed Jon our leader for the school year. :)

I showered and got ready for dinner, and then we had our group date. The theme was Christmas in July. I wasn't overly excited (sadly). We made gingerbread houses, wrote Christmas cards to the staff, went around the Crossings singing carols and handing the cards out, and then drank hot chocolate while making snowflakes. It was an okay night.

Saturday came, and we got up for our last E-Training of the summer! How crazy is that???

Had our last beach evangelism as well. I went out this week with a guy named Cody. We had some cool conversations.

For those of you who might not have any idea what this could look like...here is a snapshot of one of the conversations we had....

Walk up to random person we choose.."Hello, we're students staying at UNF campus, and we're on the beach today sharing an illustration that sums up the main theme of the Bible in one verse. Would you be willing to hear it and give your opinion?"

Person says..."sure". And we sit down and introduce ourselves. 

We then share "the bridge" illustration. It goes through the verse Romans 6:23, asking them basic questions such as what is sin, what is eternal life, who is Jesus. 

(I'll show it to you sometime if you would like)

Then you basically connect with them where they're at, and have spiritual conversation. 

We talked to a man's man. Like I'm talking...Navy, Swat team, police all in the same lifetime.

He was probably 45?

We shared the bridge, then just got to talking. After he started talking about his work, he was in tears, which is a new experience for me. We had a good conversation encouraging him. He seemed to know about the Christian faith, and he genuinely seemed saved, but I can't be sure. 

Soo, after that, we went back to the Crossings, and got ready for dinner.

I swear all we do is eat.

We had planned to go to Taco Lou. Everyone recommends it. But, in the Navigator community, you don't go anywhere without like more than seven people. We had twelve. The wait was over 50 minutes. We left.

We went to Angies again. And that was A-okay with me. 

I had another Dordt meeting with all the boys this time, and we just talked fall ministry.

It was good.

Sunday began with Church and lunch at First Watch (a breakfast place). I then came home and took a nap, and when I woke up it was time for dinner. I was mostly not hungry, but Amy's mom was buying dinner at Salt Life, so off we went. 

I got a really good fish sandwich. 

After dinner, I had my one on one and did laundry. 

Then headed to bed.

Monday morning came very early.

Work was nothing new.

Rally was really good. This week is all about God's power, Prayer, and Promises.

I'm excited.

Today was also normal. I finally have a free night, and believe me, I'm pumped. I'm very torn with what to do though. I want to play soccer, a lot. But they scheduled it at 8...

I NEED to do Bible study, and that would interrupt my time.

Sigh. Choices.

Well that's about all I have for now.

A few prayer requests:

1) Energy.

2) Attitude. It's really easy to get down on situations right now. 

3) A friend of mine from college is in the hospital with leukemia. :( His name is Jake. 

4) That God would continue to grow me, and I would be willing to grow, even if it hurts.

Thanks so much guys!! :) 

Fourth of July Without Fireworks

So, it has been an interesting few days...

Monday rally was so great. The theme of the week is others centered living, which everyone needs to focus on. It's been a great week of service on every level.

Anyway...Tuesday came with nothing exciting. Just work then workshop night.

Wednesday is the day of fun. We all had work off. It began with sleeping in till 9!!! :) :)

It felt So good. Kayla and I went to Starbucks to spend time in the Word until noon. We came back, and got ready for the beach with our team. We loaded up the struggle bus with half of our team (Liz, Kayla, and me) then two boys that go to church with us (Sam and Jesse). We got about five minutes down the road and realized we forgot Olivia. Fail. So we went back to get her. Then we finally headed to the beach. It was a beautiful day with sun and a breeze, and the ocean felt SO good.

We played in the ocean, and saw dolphins!!! :)

We then laid out and took a small nap until we couldn't handle the heat anymore and headed back to the water. 

This time, we were just chilling, and the boys found a dead catfish. They brought it over and we touched it and whatnot. Super exciting. Kayla and I floated back into the ocean, but Olivia, Liz, Sam, and Jesse stayed in shallow water. Jesse slapped Sam with the fish in the face. :) 

Hilarious.

Then Sam decided to throw the fish at Liz for her to catch. Expect Liz is not the most athletic at catching things...so she just turned and it ended up hitting her in the leg. Somehow...she was bleeding, and part of the fish got stuck in her leg.

No idea how.

So, we walked to the lifeguard, and she couldn't do anything except put a band-aid on it. We then decided to take Liz to urgent care, just because it was a dead fish and it might have bad bacteria and whatnot. So we drive there, and she goes right in. Only it took hours for anyone to actually see her. 

So, after a half hour of waiting, it was about...4:30. 

We decided to leave Kayla with Liz, and take the rest of us back to get ready to go to St. Augustine for the 4th festivities. 

Went back, gave the van to our other teammates Jill and Amy. They went to see Liz and pick her up, only instead of bringing her back, they had to take her to the ER after doing x-rays, because they couldn't remove the piece there. She got admitted to the hospital, and Liz and Amy came back to us who were at the crossings. Everyone had left to go to fireworks, except a few people.

So, Amy, me, the boys went out to dinner at Bahama Breezes (SO GOOD), while the others went and chilled at the hospital. She ended up needing to stay the night so she could see the specialist in the morning. 

We went to bed, and got up Thursday morning for work. Work was slow as usual, and it consisted of me txting Jill every break to see if any updates came. The surgeon didn't come see her till 6 at night. So by that time, we were off work and driving to the hospital to eat dinner with Liz and do Bible study.

Basically the surgeon said that because of how deep the barb was, and the condition of the muscle, and the chance of actually removing it, he said he didn't want to remove it.

So, we had Bible study with Liz in a fairly good mood, only a little down, because they wanted her to stay one more night.

We had a great Bible study talking about serving others, and Jesus in her hospital room. :)

Super fun.

Finally we ended, got word that we were allowed to miss work tomorrow, and went back to the crossings. I had a quick meeting with the Dordt boys about leadership, then packed my bags to go spend the night with Liz. :)

I got to talk to two really sweet girls on the way to the hospital. They're just visiting us here in Jacksonville for a week or so. 

Got to the hospital, chilled and talked to Liz for awhile till we fell asleep. 

SO!

This morning, we got woken up multiple times by nurses taking her vitals, then Megan (one of the staff here) came to hang out. She brought Starbucks. :) So, we've been chilling here talking to a few doctors, getting opinions. NOW, FINALLY, we have the go-ahead to get discharged!! :)

We're just waiting for papers so we can get her out of here! She's so pumped. I'll post some pictures later.

So, you can pray for her that the barb will just not be a big deal. Pray that Liz will not be overwhelmed by everyone asking how she is. Pray that she won't be in pain, she isn't in much currently, but she hasn't been walking around much. (The barb is in her right thigh).

So, we're pretty excited. We're going to get Chipotle after we check out of here, and then we have a group date tonight!! :D

Thanks so much for your prayers! 

Since I haven't had pictures for awhile, here are a few random ones from the past week that were not taken by me.

This is of our group date at the landing. The ferry is right behind us, with downtown Jacksonville in the background.

 Group date again, but later in the night. 

This is me on the group date in a toy store we strolled through. 

Team Shalem at the Morp. lookin' good.

This is Courtney and I at the dance.

This is Olivia and I at the dance.

This is a bunch of us at Angies Subs. Saturday night rules. 

Well. Saturday was good. I got to sleep in till 7! We had E-Training, and this week instead of doing evangelism on Saturday, we were scheduled for Sunday. So after E-Training, we just went to the beach for fun. It was glorious. We then got sonic limeades since it was happy hour.

After everyone was back at the crossings, we went to Angies Subs for dinner, as seen above. Also, very exciting, was I got to drive!!! Thanks to Joe Robb. He has basically the same car as I do, so I enjoyed myself immensely. After subs, we went and did a little shopping, then I had my one-on-one.

Sunday began with sleeping in till 8! I am loving all this sleep. We went to church as a group, then some of us broke off to go eat faster, because we had beach evangelism. We ate at Chipotle. SO GOOD. Then changed and went to the beach. I went out with Olivia, and we had a good time sharing with 4 different girls around our age. 

After a quick debriefing, we all loaded the cars back up, and went to the waterpark!!!!! Some of the Jax kids work at a waterpark, and they gave us all free admission for one day. It was So relaxing, and so fun. Also, really nice to be in clean water that didn't taste like salt. :D

We left there around 7:30, and headed back. We ate at a place called Crispers, which was alright. I did some Bible study to finish off the night and went to bed.

Then came today. I woke up at 5, and got ready then had quiet time. We knew that we would be moving our department today, but boy was it more stressful than I figured. We got there only to have our fears confirmed that there was about half the space from our previous spot. That translated into putting all the white girls in a different spot, and taking away all perks of being in special projects. :(

We got our chairs taken away, our ladies, we now have no one really telling us what to do which sometimes makes for awkward confusion. But the day is over. And I'm ready for rally!