Prayer week!

Tori started off the new week on speaking about prayer sunday night. One thing she said which really stuck out me was that prayer is never not answered, if its not God's will what your asking for wont happen but he always answers prayer one way or another. We need to learn how to pray in everything we do. We must learn to have a full conscious of God in everything. Also she reminded us that only the prince of peace can give us peace in any situation and we need to learn to go to him first. That night as I was thinking about my life I came to realize a few things. The verse "to whom much has been given, much will be demanded" kept coming into my mind. I realized that we dont even what tomorrow will bring, our lives are so short in light of eternity. Why would we want to spend out time chasing after earthly things when God has given us all of eternity? The least we can do is lay down our short lives here and spend them serving him. The second verse which really hit me hard that night was romans 1:16 which says I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone. I refuse to ever again be embarrassed of my faith and to miss an opportunity to share the gospel because I care too much about what others think about me. The rest of the night turned out to be an interesting one we had a little bit of a housing crisis with the keynote band which was supposed to be here to preform a concert tuesday night. We found out we could be losing out on over 400 dollars. After much scrambling and calling staff members we decided there wasnt much we could do that night and we headed to bed. Monday after work was bible study, and then a group of us went to watch the fireworks at barefoot which turned out to be better then the ones on the fourth of july. The next morning was concert day so the crazyness began by about 10 in the morning. We sent chris to get the trailer while me kelly and jenna headed to walmart to get some last minute food. While there we ran into some kids from campus outreach in NC and we had a pretty good conversation about how their project was going. Then after that me and chris went with brandon and james t to go get the stage from the church. Then we got back and had about an hour and a half before we needed to get back together and start getting things ready for the band. I ended up going to grab so food quick and then we all met up to pray for the band. The band arrived and we helped them move all their stuff in before heading to park to set up. It was so sweet to hang out with them and hear how their project was going and how touring had been. The concert that night went really great and it was cool to see people being able to go through the Kgp and the gospel with their co-workers. That night we had worship on the beach and it was cool because at one point there were about 25 of us out there. Wednesday morning I also had the day off and we went to bring the band breakfast in the morning before they headed out. It was a little sad because I know if those people were on my project some of us would have been pretty good friends and it was hard to say goodbye even though we had known them less then 24 hours. Then after that I headed with megan kat and emily to find our outfits for 5 dollar prom. Our entire project had been told to go spend 5 dollars on a crazy outfit for our prom on saturday night. We had a great time shopping and had so many great laughs at the ridiculous outfits. Then I hit up the beach for a couple of hours to work on my tan. then of course it was date night as usual. After date night I had d-ship and then because it was 24 hour prayer day I ended up praying until about 2 in the morning. Thursday nothing out of the ordinary really happened just roommate dinner and then cru, where katlyn talked about the power of prayer. Friday night we played some soccer in the park where it was like 100 degrees and so hot to even move. Then me katie brian and mike went out to dinner and had a fantastic time. Then me and katie got the chance to just sit and talk for like 2 hours before she went and met her cousins who were here visiting. I loved the chance to just get to know her and hear more of her story. Saturday was kinda a blurr because right after work we had to start getting ready for prom. We had olive garden catered to us which was amazing and then we all headed to the shak where there was cake other food and a dance party waiting for us. The community team did a fantastic job setting it all up and planning it all out. I loved everyone's outfits and the night brought so many laughs. Then after the dance we had a rave where everyone got glowsticks and we danced with the lights off and disco ball spinning. Which turned out to be almost more fun then the actual dance. Sunday we had sunday school and church as usual. Then I went with brian to steak and shakes to meet up with a few of his friends from the U who were down here with campus outreach. It was cool to have a chance to talk and hear how their project was going. After that it was sharing time and then after that our impact group decided to make breakfast for dinner. We made scrambled eggs pancakes cinnamon rolls, crepes and bacon and afterwards it was hard to even move. Then we had sunday night cru where we were introduced to the new theme of the week which was walk it out. This past week on project has taught me so much and im sad to know that I only have 2 more weeks left. It's crazy how fast the summer has gone and weird to think about not being here anymore. But two weeks in God's time is enough time for him to do so many more cool things and I can't wait to see what he has instore for us in these last few days at NMB.

Dare you to move!

So begins another week on project at NMB. The theme of the week was dare you to move. This week was a pretty big week for us in that our goal of the week was to allow God to move in our lives and give us to do the strength to do things we couldnt do on our own. Beau started the week sunday night with a fantastic talk about how if we live in the spirit we have nothing to fear. What is impossible with men is truly possible with God. He also talked of how comfort in our lives is not a good thing. When we feel comfortable we feel no need to do anything or help anyone else out. We were dared to lay our hearts, our prides, and our lives down for the gospel just as Jesus gave up his life for us. Monday was work and bstud like any other week. In bible study we had some really great conversation and were able to be open and honest about some things which had been going on in the past weeks. We also ate big cookie which has become the desert to have on project and will probably always be a reminder of nmb 2010. Tuesday after work a group of us went to play soccer in the park, which has become one of my favorite things to do on project :) Tuesday night we had group meetings and our outreach team quickly began making lists of what we needed to do in the last week before the concert. After me kelly jenna and chris went to walmart to go and get bandannas for the bandanna crew. There will be a group of 20 people at the concert who will be wearing bandannas so that if anyone has questions about anything especially after the band gives their testimony they will quickly be able to find someone to talk to. Wednesday night before date night me and joanna went out for dinner together since it was her birthday that day and mine was the next day. We went to the barbaque house and tried huspuppies for the first time. We had a really great time and I really enjoyed the opportunity just to sit and talk with her for a while. After that we went to ABC for date night with Jesus which has become one of my favorite places to go. After date night we all met back in the GK to pray for JP who was leaving to go home the next morning. I couldnt believe how fast the summer had gone and that it was time for him to leave already. That night after our group talked we decided for some odd reason that getting up at 5:30 to go to breakfast would be a great idea. So after going to bed at 12:30 I woke up at 5am on my birthday to go to the waffle house to eat breakfast with some of my impact group before jp left at 6:30. We had a pretty great time probably because it was so early everything was pretty hilarious. After saying goodbye to jp, me liz lee and liz lindquist decided to it up the beach for some quiet time before the day actually started. It was so peaceful being out there at 7 in the morning when there was hardly no one out there yet. Its interesting how beautiful it was at 7 though because for the rest of the day it rained harder then it has so far since ive been here. At 12 a group of us were supposed to go sharing with a group of college students who were here with their church and who were wanting to learn how to share their faith. As we set under the porch though we realized sharing wasnt going to happen today because everyone was going to be inside. So instead me sherry cassy liz tori and michelle decided to embrace the rain. We went running out into the road and jumped in the huge puddles which had formed. Sherry kept kicked water at all of us so I attempted to shove her to the ground. Ha in the end we decided wrestling in the street was probably not a great plan. Then joanna and paul drove by in the car and sprayed us by going through a puddle. Which turned out to be one of the funniest things ever and we motioned them to come do it again. Sitting out there in the rain and just enjoying Gods awesome power was for sure one the coolest things ive experienced on project so far. After drying off me cassy liz and tori had lunch together in tori's room. Then it was time for d-ship with berta :) I love the fact that I have to have scheduled time with berta during the week! Then after that I took a short nap and then it was roommate dinner. Casey Alison and Jen made me pancakes, eggs and bacon for my birthday which was so very sweet of them and I loved it. Then what could be better on my birthday then getting to go to cru and get to praise the Lord who is the real reason Im even here anyway! Michael gave the message and did a great job of illistrating that we need to be obedient to God even when we dont know the whole plan because God knows the outcome. What ever it is we need to believe He can do it for us. He also talked about the possible tables in our life which we arent allowing God to flip over. Friday I recieved 5 birthday cards in the mail which pretty much made my day. After that I went to the international dinner where we brought food to some of the internationl students who live next to us. I was part of a group who was able to have a really great conversation with this Christian woman from Jamaica and we were able to learn a little more of her country and about her life. Staurday after work was project dinner as usual. We all met up in the park and ate pulled pork and just got to talk with eachother. Then after that our entire project project headed over to the soccer fields for a huge game of capture the flag. We had four teams with a little over 20 people on each team and all with bandannas to tell who was on what team. The game was a really fun way to have community with each other and even though people got a little competive we all know in the end we are all part of Gods family.And we could end the game knowing we still all care about each other and our opinions of eachother havent changed and there were no hard feelings. Sunday morning we had sunday school as usual and matt and rachel talked about trials in our lives. They talked of how we cant depend on community to get us through trials only God can do that for us. They talked of how God allows us to go through trials in order that our faith is refined. They also talked of how the devil is the accuser and wants us to question God and doubt him. One of the things which really stuck out to me was that we need to be living in light of eternity and we need to realize that we are more then just the here and now. After sunday school my group headed to barefoot church because we had been assigned to go that week. Then after barefoot I was able to go lay on the beach for an hour which I was very thankful for because it had been almost 2 weeks since I last had gotten to enjoy the fact that we live 200 meters from the ocean. The outreach team decided to split up impact groups for the day so my bible study and another guys study went together to myrtle beach to go sharing. I had the opportunity to go sharing with nate which was fun to go with someone new. We got the chance to talk about our lives and just get to know each other a little better. Then after outreach my bible study headed to barefoot landing for a little while to do some shopping. I got one shirt which I am pretty excited about and of course we all had to buy ice cream because its so hot here theres really nothing else to ever eat. After that we had dinner with our new/temporary impact boys and then went to sunday night church. This week was an interesting week especially at work. I was able to see God working in some pretty cool ways. One being typically in a day it is very rare for the phones to stop ringing for more then a min at work. But this week there were multiple times when the phone would be silent for 5 mins at a time. This was cool because it finally gave me a chance to actually talk with some of my coworkers and have more then a 30 second conversation. I was able to invite many of them to the concert at the park and many of them said they couldnt wait to come. My boss also let my print 120 copies of our fliers for free for us to give out to people. God also helped me to have patience with people one the phones this week and I realized when I go to him for strength he loves to give it to me! God has taught me so much on project and Im excited to see what he shows me this next week with the theme of the week being prayer!!

Whose the greatest?

Monday started the 6th week on project where the theme was whose the greatest. This week was our first week without staff and I'll admit things seemed a little different. Monday night was our first bible study without melissa, which was sad a little bit of a change. That night though our group got to talk about some things which had been going on in our study which turned into a pretty good conversation. We were also able to have some great discussion on things we had read in mark 10. Tuesday night we had group meetings so my keynote group got together and began talking about the concert. we were a little flustered because we felt like there were so many things to do and no where near enough time to do them all. But by the end of talking for about an hour we had a plan laid out for how we planned on accomplishing everything. Wednesday night was date night as usual, I went to shag and joes this time and it was a great time. I listened to a serman called "lukewarm and loving it" and it really opened my eyes to a lot of things including how comfortable I really live. 53/100 live on an average of 2 dollars a day and yet we make 100 times what the avg person makes and still feel like we never have enough. The problem with money is that it really gives a false sense of security the more you have the less needy you feel, basically the less you feel like you need God. It goes on to talk about how weve been so blinded by what we have it ends up being like we are comparing all the stuff to God and asking if he's really better then it. This makes God sick and makes him basically want to spit us out of his mouth. If God gave up his entire life for me you'd think I would be able to give up the things of this life that in the end wont even matter. I would encourage everyone to watch this serman on youtube because I think it holds a lot of truths we as Christians need to hear. Thursday night was my day off and me and Chris got up in the morning to go measure the stage for the concert. After walking around the entire church we finally found the door which we could get in and we went to look at the stage. It turns out the stage would be big enough but it was also too large to fit in stephans car so we had to come back and try to figure out trailer rental. Suprisingly the cost wasnt too much so we decided that was the way we would have to go. Then I came back and met with berta for our first d-ship together. It was a little odd having her disciple me but she already has a lot of wisdom and I know I will learn a lot from her in 4 weeks. Then I went to hang out at the beach for about an hour which was a lot of fun and nice to be able to get some sun even if it was for a short time. Then we had roommate dinner with me casey jen and allison, which was so much fun. We made chicken fajites and had a great time just getting to know eachother. I love those girls so much and have loved every one of our late night cookie dough dates. I feel like the past two weeks Ive really gotten the chance to get to know jen and allison and it has truly been a blessing because weve had some great conversation. I love seeing God continue to build community among us and its been cool knowing that even though we wont probably have a chance to see eachother much over the years, in the end we will all stand in heaven together and be able to enjoy fellowship together for eternity and with that perspective in mind suddenly it all ok :) Friday after work a group of about 40 of us went out for rachels birthday to the yellow mushroom. Then a group of us went to walk around myrtle which was a lot of fun! Saturday night was men and womens night which was also a ton of fun. Three of the girls went up and shared with us and then we played hotseat which was pretty funny. Then we decorated picture frames which was a great idea and turned out to be a lot of fun. Me and alison had a great conversation that night and ended staying up talking until like 1 in the morning. Sunday was our last day with whole impact group so us girls had planned the day out. After church we went and cooked up some Chinese food for about an hour and a half. Then brought it to the boys and realized we had made way too much rice. Me and liz lee atempted to make wanton soup but that was a little bit of a failure. Then right after we went sharing at myrtle beach which was sweet because it was the first time I had been on the south myrtle beach. Then after our group came back me and liz went and set up a disk golf course in the park. We split up into four teams of two and had just an amazing time hanging out. Hole number 7 we had a little incident because me and liz had set it up to throw over the pond. We told the boys we could throw around but as soon as they saw where the hole was they had made up their minds to throw over the pond. Well to make a long story short both jp and brian ended up in the pond. I was a little terrified they would be bitten by a snake but they both ended up alright so I guess God was watching out for them. All in all it was a pretty great week and I cant believe we are going home from project in less then a month!

agapa week aka Gods love week!

Monday night began staffs final week with us before we were given complete control over project and they all headed back home. Monday night our bible study decided we needed to celebrate our final week with melissa (our study leader) so we went out to dinner at fudruckers and then to barefoot to walk around. It was a great bonding time and we had lots of laughs including our drive through at MickyD's where we used our balloon hat which looked like a snail and a super high pitched voice to order our food. It was pretty funny and by the end of it those of us in the backseat were in tears because we were laughing so hard. Then we came back to project and did a short bible study in which berta was able to lead. It was a little bit of a change from melissa leading but I know she will do a great job and Im really excited for her to be able to lead our study for the next five weeks. After study the boys in our impact group came up to us and asked us if we would join them for dinner friday night at 5:45. They wouldn't tell us where we were headed only that we would have a choice for places to eat and that we needed

to dress as nice as we possibly could. Tuesday night our group was assigned to do homeless ministry instead of going sharing so our impact group headed up to the church. We werent really sure what to expect and we ended up singing 2 songs for the group and then some of us helped serve the food. They had quite a few people helping out so im not sure if they really needed our help but it was cool to have to opportunity to be there. Wednesday night was date night with Jesus as alway which is the perfect night of the week to have it because we all really just need some down time. Thursday I went with steph to breakfast because she was leaving to go home for a wedding for the weekend. I really enjoyed just getting to sit down and talk with her and hear how her life was going :) Then I had dship with melissa for the last time which was a little sad because I dont like having to say goodbye to people. That night all of project went to the church and had dinner sitting on blankets on the floor with the staff for the last time. Then we had a message and afterwards we turned off the lights and had a candle lighting ceremony symbolizing them leaving and us taking over project. There were many tears all around and it was hard to say goodbye to those who had given us so much for the past 5 weeks and had truly impacted our lifes. After they all left we had a talk just about how the rest of project was going to go and it was cool to see the excitement begin to form even in the midst of sadness. Friday at night we went with our boys to go take pictures with tina and toms family and say goodbye to them before our dinner. Mike's girl friend megan and her friend casey were here for the weekend because it was mikes birthday saturday so they were able to join us that night making us into a party of ten. The boys took us to a sweet mexican restaurant and then after that they took us to the palace theater. I couldnt believe when we got there thatthe boys had bought tickets already for us to see a show. It was one of those circus ones where they do all the really cool acrobatic stuff. It was awesome and I still can't believe the boys would do that for us because those tickets arent cheep especially for ten of us. That night was probably one of my favorites nights on project so far.

Saturday night is project dinner so we all got together and ate sandwiches in the GK before heading up the church for more food and a movie. A group of us ended up leaving to go see the movie Ateam in myrtle beach which turned out to be a really cool action movie. Sunday school was the first meeting we had since staff left and it seemed to go smoothly enough. Sunday afternoon my impact group and 2 others were assigned to go to barefoot church after our sunday school instead of going to OceanDrive church. We went to the service at 9:15 and then after we helped out greeting people for the next service and directing cars out of the parking lot. It was

an interesting change of pase and it was cool to see how much they appreciated us. Our sharing time was moved from tuesday

nights to sunday now that staff is gone and the beaches are filled with many more families especially on sundays. Since it was the forth of July sharing was from 1-3 and dinner was from 4:30 to 5:30 and our sunday night meeting started at 6. The meeting went really well with Liz and Matt being the first leaders other then Todd to share a message with us since staff left. After that everyone went back to grab blankets and towels as we headed to the beach to watch the fireworks as a project. We walked for about a mile down the beach towards the pier. We had some great fellowship just getting to know each other and getting to all hang out as a project. The fireworks were a little bit of a let down but we still had a great time and I was able to have some great conversation with a few of the girls I havent really had a chance to get to know yet. Last week really taught me about Gods love. It was really cool to see how we only have the ability to truly love each other because Christ loves us. It's only by that vertical love from him that we can pour out love horizontally to others. I really enjoyed seeing God work through us and help us to learn to really love each other and offer grace to one another

missions

Last week was missions week here on project. As we kicked off the week with the international dinner God quickly began to open our eyes to whats going on the world. That night after the dinner we had a talk and one of the staff members shared a little of her heart for missions. One of the things which really stuck with me is when she talked about when she went was in Asia on a vision trip and a boy there asked her if God even spoke his language. To know that there are so many people who are thirsty for the truth in other countries and yet we are so concerned about our own desires and needs we dont even see them is eye opening. That night I decided to go sharing with some of my friends and our plan was to hit up some of the parties. However apparently thats not what God had planned for us because we didnt make it past the end of the road. We met a few guys and were able to just chat a little bit about life with them. Then we walked across the street and ran into another group of people. I started talking with this girl named erika who had just graduated from highschool the day before and we had some really great conversation. She was with a group of girls and the Liz's had already talked to some of them. We invited them to thursday night and they were really excited about it. Then I gave Erika my number and told her to text me if they wanted to hang out on thursday before cru. The next morning I was a little bummed because I hadnt gotten her number and in the past the last few people ive given my number to have never texted me. Two hours later though she texted me saying she wanted me to have her number. Monday night was dinner with bstud and our discipler made us amazing pasta and we had some great fellowship. Tuesday was sharing night and our group was sent to the pier for the third time. We were all a little irritated because we wanted to go some where else but we decided to make the best of it. I went with brian and jp and we got in a pretty good conversation with these 2 boys and were able to give them a kgp even though they didnt have time for us to go through it with them. It was interesting though because we were walking behind them as they left and we saw one of the boys open up the kgp and start to look at it. Then we shared with another guy who was fishing and he said he was a Christian but we were still able to talk with him for alittle while and ask some questions to get him thinking. Then our group all kinda met up by accident because we all had been heading in the same direction. Megan shared with us that her and berta had seen someone come to Christ and I'll admit I got a little jealous. I still hadn't seen someone accept Christ yet. I knew that it wasn't that i had been doing something wrong and God had still been using me but it was hard. Then me berta and Megan decided to go sharing and see if we could talk to one last group of people before we had to go. Berta picked these girls out and it was a little funny because they started walking away from us and berta pretty much started chasing them down. When we finally caught up with them they were willing to go through the survey and also the kgp. One of the girls actually told us she wanted to pray to accept Christ and a second one told us she didnt want to right that second but wanted to think about it. So that very night that I had started to feel insecure about sharing and not seeing someone come to Christ God allowed me an opportunity to see what I had desired. That night I was able to talk with one of my friends joanna and I got to hear a little bit of her story and it was really cool to see how much we could relate to each other. Wednesday night was date night with Jesus which is always a great time! After date night we had an ice-cream social we could go to where we were able to learn about all the partnerships our region of cru has in other countries. I went to the 4J one and also the France one and it truly opened my eyes to the need for the gospel in other countries. Thursday on my day off I went sharing with my discipler and it was kinda a struggle. We literally walked the beach for 45 mins trying to find someone to talk to and although there were hundreds of people we didnt really feel drawn to anyone. Finally Melissa said we were just going to talk to these two girls on the way out. So we walked up and met the girls and it turns out someone had shared the survey and kgp with one of them last week and she had accept Christ and was really excited about it. So I got to share with her friend and go through the kgp and at the end the girl looked us in the eye and said yes she wanted to become a Christian. It was so cool to see how God had worked through my imperfect words to lead this girl to him. Then after Dship my friend Tori called me up and asked what I was up to. She said she had just gotten off work and was possibly going to go sharing. I told her that sounds like a good plan. After talking to her I texted Erika to see what they were up to for the day and found out they were just hanging out on the beach. So me and tori went and met up with them. Tori shared some of her story, which was really powerful and the girls invited us back to their place for food and we both were able to share our testimonies with them. They were already Christians but it was so cool to see their excitement for what we were doing. They told us there was obviously a reason we had met them and one girl even said our stories were making her feel really emotional. It was such an encouragement to talk to them and for them to say that they hope the college they are going to has cru. We were also able to bring them with us to Cru that night and it was really cool to see how much they enjoyed it. I know they touched mine and toris hearts and lives just as much as they told us we touched theirs. Friday night was just a good hang out day after work I went and played soccer with some people for a few hours and just got to relaxe a little bit. Saturday was just a blur and im not even sure exactly what happened but suddenly it was sunday morning. My roommate woke me up by singing/shouting and jumping on the bed that I needed to get up because we had to go to church. I couldnt even really be mad at her because all I could do was laugh. Then sunday after our church I went with a group to the bearfoot church which is another church we are trying to partner with. It was a pretty cool church and the worship band was pretty good. After that I had ameeting to go to and then dinner with impact group. We went to sticky fingers which had really good ribs and wings. That night we had our sunday night cru meeting and found out the topic for the next week was agapa love (Gods love for us) Last week was a really cool week, I was able to see God working in so many different things. I also was able to have some great conversation with people on project and was able to learn some of their stories. The friendships I have developed here continue to amaze me and show me what a true community of believers can look like. Its been great to see all the guys and how protective they are of us. They all treat us like sisters and show us more respect then I have seen from almost any guy Ive ever know. I am so thankful for this fellowship with other believers and how God is already using us in each others lives!!