outreach #2!

today we went out for our second time of initiative evangelism! using a spiritual background/interest survey as our way to start conversations, our group split up and went to various locations in daytona beach. i went with my discipler, shannon, to the boardwalk. we had four conversations with different people. the first spiritual conversations we had were with two women from turkey; they told us about their new age, humanitarian beliefs but weren't really interested in having a deeper conversation with us. we also talked with a catholic family from new orleans and a christian mother/daughter-in-law pair. we were about ready to call it a day when we decided to head over to a group of kids that were skateboarding. we met a bunch of them: calla, a teenage girl who said she goes back and forth in believing in God; savannah, a tough girl who claimed atheism and wouldn't talk with us; "hazy", a semi-interested kid; mark, a super cool teen that shannon and i got to talk to for about half an hour. it was pretty sweet. he was totally responsive to all of the questions we were asking him and he allowed us to go through a "Knowing God Personally" booklet with him (this booklet contains the four basic spiritual laws of christianity: 1) that God loves us and has a plan for our lives, 2) that man is sinful and therefore cannot be in fellowship with God by his own efforts, 3) Jesus Christ is God's only provision for man to enter into the kingdom of God, 4) when we accept Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior by willfull faith, we become children of God). he was really excited about all of the things we were telling him and he ultimately came to make a decision for Christ to be his lord! Praise God! we gave him some of our contact information and invited him to our weekly "deeper" meeting on monday. PLEASE pray for his heart, for him to take hold of his salvation and be strong in the face of peer pressure from his friends. i don't know his full story, but i'm pretty sure he's gone through a lot with his family and friends. as any new believer, he really needs to be supported, so please...pray! while you're at it, pray for his witness to his friends and family, for his courage and for the softening of their hearts to the message he now has to bring them. i hope to see this kid again!! angels are rejoicing in heaven!

our first day off...gone to blue springs park!

today our team took a day off from ministry and training in order to relax, take in some florida sights, and build community among us. we spent the day at a nearby state park called Blue Springs; just like it sounds, this place was a natural spring of fresh water, held at a constant 72 degrees. all of us grabbed intertubes and floated down the spring. apart from the area where we swam (which i had to make VERY clear to my mom;)) we got to see some quintessentially florida things...ALLIGATORS and MANATEES!! they were really cool to see...from a distance :)

some photos of us sillly rafters...
from left to right: krista, my roommate melissa, me :)
some of the girls working VERY hard to inflate those tubes!

afterwards, we came back to the el caribe and experienced another element of the real florida...stormy weather! we've had thunder and lightning storms every day we've been here so far. i wanted to capture some lightning for you, but as you can imagine, it was pretty hard to time! check out these ominous clouds though!!
while i'm at it...the closest thing to a sunset over the atlantic that i will ever see!
tomorrow we return to the ministry field. pray for our outreach ministry...i'll be sure to report cool stories!

meet the team!

as promised, here's an introduction to a few important people this summer! meet my roomies, Daphne, Melissa and Elda :)
meet daphne! she's my bed-mate this summer. she's going to be a senior at the university of kentucky. she's super sweet!this is melissa. like me, she just finished her sophomore year. she attends east tennessee state university where she is on the track team!
and this is elda. she just finished her freshman year at chico state. she is the goofiest one of the bunch :)

the four of us have a lot in common! our room is full of four easygoing (sometimes indecisive) girls who want to spend our free time running down the beach, who hate rollercoasters, and who love the Lord (binding us together better than anything else ever could!). i'm excited to share this adventure with them and know that they will be great friends by the end of this summer.

lastly, here is my Bible study group--aka my Discipleship group, my D-group, my girls. it consists of room 702 (yay!), a super sweet girl named Erin from Marshall University, and our staff discipler, Shannon. this is us on the first night, enjoying breakfast-for-dinner at IHOP!
from left to right: daphne, me, elda, melissa, shannon, erin <3

project begins!

i woke up this morning to the light of the rising sun. it was gorgeous! (and kind of weird that the sun rises instead of sets over the ocean...) today, our first full day of project, began with an orientation session in which we learned our summer project weekly schedule; i'm excited for what we'll be doing--every day, we'll be spending our time in activities designed to deepen our spiritual roots and further the kingdom of God through community outreach. during the days, all project students will be at their jobs-their ministries sites--seeking to honor the Lord through diligence and service to their coworkers. in the evenings, we'll be spending quality time at dinners with various groups of other project students (Bible study group, "family" group, the whole project). to wrap up each day, we'll have a project event--a teaching session, a prayer/praise session, Bible study, etc. a lot of our community outreach will happen on the weekends; this is what most excites me. on saturdays, we will be going out sharing, doing ministry in youth correctional facilities and serving the community in whatever other avenues we find. on sundays, we'll be going to church with our Bible study group and then serving the church (most likely through leading their childrens' ministry programs). our weeks are full!! project has been described to me as a "greenhouse for spiritual growth", and after seeing the schedule they gave to us, i know it definitely will be!

after orientation, i went to lunch with my family group; again, i love these guys. we are going to be really close by the end of the summer :)

next comes the really exciting part...we went on our first outreach this afternoon! the goal of this was for students to approach people and start up conversations with this. my group--my friends jessica, robert, and myself--decided to walk down A1A, the main street in daytona, and try to talk to people. here's a picture of the three of us...
on the way back, we wanted to walk down the beach to get back to our hotel. as we were walking, a huge storm came and lightning literally struck about 50 feet away from us. first we screamed, and then we ran as fast as we could to get to the nearest bus stop!! it turns out the lightning that changed our course was totally from God. when we got to the bus stop, we met a man named Ron. i got into a 20 minute spiritual conversation with him while we all waited for the bus. it was so cool, a total answer to prayer that God would bless and encourage us through this first step of faith in outreach!

the day is far from finished and i am exhausted! still to come...our first teaching from our project director, our first Bible study, and more quality time with my fellow students!

Greetings from Daytona Beach!

I’M HERE!! I just arrived in Daytona Beach this afternoon. After a few days visiting family in St. Simons, Georgia and Inverness, Florida, my dad and I drove to Daytona this morning. You may have heard about all of the rain Daytona has gotten lately—more than 20 inches this storm!—but God has blessed this first day of project with nothing but sunny skies :) I’ve met a few other project students so far. They are super nice and super southern—I can’t wait to do ministry alongside them (and kind of hope that smooth southern drawl will rub off on me… ;) ) It’s pretty funny…I’m with so many students from South Carolina that I have to explain that I go to “the other USC”—but wait, we were the original!! Here are a few photos from the past few days with my dad as well as a couple of my new surroundings! Please be praying for the relational foundations that are being laid these first few days of project, for my job hunt (happening this week!), and for all of our hearts to be radically inspired for God’s work this summer. I can’t wait to share stories as they happen…look forward to an introduction to my roommates in my next post!!

Starbucks breakfast in hand and travel-ready sweatshirt from "the real USC"...there's something about LAX at 7am :)

The Cloister Hotel at St. Simons, GA

my dad and i got to spend a couple of days with this cool man... his favorite uncle and tourguide extraordinaire...Uncle Jerry

The Cloister Hotel hosted the G8 Summit of world leaders in 2008...

I got to sit in President Bush's chair from the summit...so cool!

and.....my first photo from summer project! here i am in front of my home for the summer, the el caribe resort in daytona beach!

this is the best. check out the view from my room...it's awesome. i'm living on the top floor in the corner and our room is spectacular :)

this is my balcony, the future place of phone calls, quiet time, sunrise watching, praying, reading, painting, etc... i can't wait to enjoy this spot!

our kitchen

our room! i'll be sleeping in the spot closest to the window...and closest to the air conditioner...i take after my dad, apparently!

i think that's it for now...i'm excited to share about my roomies in my next post. they are great and we have so much in common already! look forward to a later introduction to my "family" group. we met tonight for the first time to share all about what God has been doing in our lives recently. there was instant trust and focus among us. we ended with a really powerful time of prayer together...i can't believe it was only our first night! i am so encouraged by all of these people and can't wait to write all about them. they are awesome! until next time, greetings from Daytona Beach!

2 days until i jet away!

i've been preparing for my trip all week, running through my mental checklist of last minute errands and making sure everything is ready to go in t-minus 43 hours! my time at home has totally flown by...i knew it would. i am so excited to get to daytona, though! as you can see, i have begun the packing process. that mountain of stuff holds the contents of the next 10 weeks of my life! i'm hoping it all fits in my suitcases... ;) as i'm getting ready for summer project, please pray that i will be spiritually readied too. pray for my heart as i anticipate the growth, challenges, and adventures that this summer has in store... i want to hit the ground running with vision and purpose, ready to do work for the Kingdom!


also, some spiritual food for thought...my project director asked us to read through this article about the Spirit-filled life. i found it to be really insightful and relevant to everything i have been learning lately. interested? here's the link...http://www.transferableconcepts.org/english/spirit/index.html

stay tuned for my next post...arrival in florida and an introduction to my fellow summer project students!

welcome to my daytona beach blog!

summer has officially begun! i just moved home yesterday and can hardly believe another whole year has gone by. this has been a great year filled with lots of learning and fun (for a recap, check out my regular blog... melodiesunheard.blogspot.com ;) ). As crazy as it is that i'm now a junior in college (woah, that's crazy), it is even more crazy that in 11 short days I will be en route to Daytona Beach, Florida! these past few weeks have been a complete whirlwind...God has totally challenged my type-A, planning personality. i found out i was going to go on this summer project on April 18th, i mailed letters to my family and friends on 20th, and....drum roll, please...i have since met my financial goal of $3500! in less than a month, my summer has been decided and provided for. it's going to be great!

since this is my first blog post, i would love to tell you (my generous and encouraging supporters!) more about what i will be doing this summer. summer projects are a ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ that take place at different locations around the world. you may remember that my brother, Austin, went on a summer project last year to Tokyo, Japan; as an international project, his trip was focused on doing initiative evangelism on college campuses. the U.S. projects (like Daytona Beach!) are designed a little bit differently. we, too, will spend a lot of our time doing initiative evangelism on the beach and at local hangouts. we will also learn to make ministry a lifestyle by getting a summer job, one of our primary mission fields; the idea behind this is that students learn how to build relationships with their coworkers with the ultimate goal of sharing the love of God that is the Gospel. relational evangelism...a practical mindset that i will definitely be bringing back to SC. i can't wait...it is going to be excellent training and a huge challenge for me. our other outreach activities will include serving churches in the community. beyond the evangelistic element of U.S. projects (which is a HUGE part), Daytona Beach Summer Project will sharpen my leadership abilities (i will be assigned to a ministry team that serves the other students on our project), deepen my knowledge of the Word of God through Bible studies and discipleship, and provide long-lasting relationships with believers from across the country (most of the students on my project are from the south y'all ;) ). this is truly going to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience!

i am so excited for what's in store this summer! i know that i will return a better-equipped student leader, ready to lead, challenge and love the students of USC! i am so grateful to have your support...really, it means a lot to me. i will be updating this blog as frequently as i can with news, stories and pictures! i love to write and i love to share...so check back frequently for updates ;) soon to come...the job hunt, the packing process, and departure (may 23!). here's to the adventures ahead!!

if you're curious about Campus Crusade's summer project, more information is available at www.gosummerproject.com :)