a busy weekend of ministry and fun!

this past weekend was awesome! it was jam-packed with ministry, outings and quality time :)

i'll start with the ministry part...on sunday, my d-group began our day at church. i am really starting like the church we attend...the traditional worship style is definitely growing on me, the older people there have so much wisdom, and i love building friendships with the high school students that i'm going to be teaching. i would have never expected how God would use this particular church to bless me so much! He taught me so many things through sunday school and the teaching and really just set me up with a worshippful heart for the rest of the day's activities. a really nice couple from church hosted our group for lunch afterwards. here's a photo of them! this is tom and marge schlageter and their two granddaughters Emma Jean and Lily. they welcomed us into their home so graciously and offered themselves to us as pseudo-grandparents while we're here. i had a great time talking to them...Tom used to be the athletic director at daytona state college and is a huge florida state fan. we talked some college football and then he showed me his collection of sports cards. his best one...a mickey mantle rookie card! this is a photo of my group at their house:)

after church, we came back to do ministry on the beach. this time, we used an event to attract a crowd of people with the hope of opening individual spiritual conversations with them. some of our guys and girls got dressed up in ridiculous--RIDICULOUS:)--clothes and played a game of slow motion football. through their stunt, i got to have four different conversations with people about the gospel and Campus Crusade. my first conversation was with a woman named Barbara; she was really interested in/supportive of Campus Crusade's ministry and wanted more information on our organization. the next conversations i had were with a latino couple from texas, Willie and Ana. i talked to them with my friend leo; together, we got into a spiritual conversation with them and ultimately got to present the entirety of the gospel to them (using the 'knowing God personally' tool). it was pretty sweet...they kept the booklets we gave them and told us they wanted to think more about it at home. finally, the two of us talked to a man named josh; he was on his bike (a three-wheel, homemade chariot) and stopped to watch the game. our conversation with him was really natural and low-key. he told us his life story and we got to tell him what we're doing down here in Daytona. we invited him to come to our weekly gathering on Monday nights...hopefully we see him tonight! if we don't, we'll be looking out for him on the beach (he said he rides every day) and in the newspaper (he's about to bike cross-country from Key West, Florida to Tacoma, Washington on a homemade, solar-paneled bike!).

i can't tell you how encouraging and exciting it is for me to be doing ministry like this! God is really developing my heart for people and evangelism. it is such a blessing to just get His word out there. i've been clinging to the promise of Isaiah 55:11... "So is my Word that goes out from my mouth: it will not return to me empty but will achieve the purpose for which i sent it". i know God is using all of these conversations i've been having to advance His kingdom in some way. it truly is exciting!!

the rest of my weekend was spent in team-building and plain old fun! here are a few photos from the things we did together...

friday night adventure to the lighthouse and jetty! L to R, top to bottom: Brandon, Will; Abby, Melissa, Keely, Kayla, Katie; me, Allison; Chandler, Wilson.
some of the girls being silly.... :) L to R, top: Abby, Keely, me; bottom: Allison, Kayla, another Katie! that's a katie tower right there!
staff hunt! our staff disguised themselves in costumes and hid throughout the boardwalk. we had to find as many of them as we could in an hour!
mac n' cheese party! from left to right: daphne, melissa, abby, me and brandon. none of us wanted to eat out, so we had a rockin' mac n' cheese party and then played some beach frisbee:)



worhsip on the beach...this was really a great way for us to refocus on God and come together as a team.this week we're focusing on conquering our giants. this is a photo of us throwing rocks (David-style) into the ocean as a symbolic way of killing giants.
this was really another great weekend! every time i write on this blog, i love this place and this calling more and more. God is so good! i can't wait to write again!!