This last week here in Long Beach is going to be the fastest and slowest week of my life.  There is so much that I have planned and a bunch more that I want to do before I leave.  If I do get around to it all I will almost always have something important going on.  It is such a bitter sweet time because I’m gonna miss southern California and all the friends and relationships that I have built here, but I’m very excited to take what I have experienced and learned here back with me and apply it to my everyday life at home.  I’m also excited to see my family and friends and tell them all about what I have experienced this summer!

Anyway, lets briefly list the things I have going on this week and see if I can get to it all.

• Student Banquet tonight
• Covenant Presbyterian today and Thursday
• Staff talk Friday night
• Family Night Wednesday
• One last shift bussing at Islands
• Have lunch with a few of my friends on project to say goodbye
• Make my talk for my roommate Dave
• Date with room 112 Thursday night
• Get presents for my family
• Say goodbye to the friends that I have made in Long Beach
• Get together with Greg one last time
• I’ll probably drive a bunch of people to the airport
• Go to a beach one last time
• Go to signal hill one last time
• Reflect for a good while on this project and what its meant to me
• Play a final game of beach volleyball with the guys
• Go on the Queen Mary
• Bridge Jump/Bay Swim
• Go for a run on the beach in the morning
• Say goodbye to my fellow students/missionaries in the Beach Plaza Hotel

I’m probably missing some but thats at least pretty complete in all the things that I want to do before I leave.  Thank you for all of your prayers and support.  I really appreciate it and have felt God use me and the others on this project in mighty ways.

For the first half of project I’d say I grew considerably personally, but didn’t feel like I was accomplishing anything for God’s Kingdom.  Sure I was working at Islands, was spending time volunteering at Covenant Presbyterian, and went out occasionally to talk with the people of Long Beach but I found myself often thinking I’m not doing anything worthwhile.  Lately those thoughts have ceased because I have seen God work considerably in my willingness to step out.

My discipler Ray and I met a very cool woman, Jenni, doing solarium about a month ago and we wanted to follow up with her but every time we tried to meet with her fell through at the last second.  This was discouraging but this past Thursday I figured that I would give it one last try to meet her for lunch and just as I was about to call it off because she hadn’t returned any of my calls she called me back and told me that lunch still worked and she would see me in about a half hour at the mexican restaurant we agreed on earlier.  I brought Kylie along with me who is an incredible woman of God since I felt it necessary for a girl to be there so Jenni would be able to connect better.  The food was great, but the conversation started out a little slow.  We got to know more about Jenni and hear what she is going though.  When that conversation was dying I saw the opportunity to bring up some of the spiritual stuff she had said a month back when Ray and I met with her and all the sudden the conversation was alive again!  She opened right up with what she believes and why!  It was so cool because she isn’t a Christian and doesn’t claim to be but she does consider herself very spiritual.  Her beliefs are right on with so much about what I believe and even a lot of the things regarding the Bible like creation, love, sin, lessons that can be learned from it, and even a lot of what Jesus did and is.  She just doesn’t see Jesus as God and having the power to forgive our sins.  Kylie and I were given a great opportunity to tell her the whole gospel story and did!  She heard what we had to say but respectfully disagreed with Jesus having the power to forgive sin and bring us back to God.  Having had such a good time with her and communicating the Gospel with how we acted and with what we said I hated to leave in disagreement so I recited two encouraging verses to her that I felt applied to her life.  Romans 5:3-5 talking about tough times and the character and hope that come out of them, and 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 about love.  We wished Jenni well and even made another date to meet with her later next week.  God has definitely been working in her heart and revealing himself to her in such powerful ways and I know we were used by God to help her continue to move toward a saving faith in Jesus Christ.  Praise God!

Another powerful story has to do with a homeless man I met named Darren.  I haven’t had a too much of a heart for the homeless ever because of a few reasons that I can see.  For one I’m so separated from them and different that I can’t relate. Another reason is that I don’t ever feel like I can trust them because I have heard a considerable amount lie to me.  I had been praying for God to break down the walls that I have built up in regard to the homeless and he definitely answered me with Darren.  He approached me asking for money but I didn’t have any.  Instead I was able to spark up a conversation.   At first we just had a good talk about what we like and he showed me some of his favorite AC/DC and Guns N’ Roses music.  It was fun and I could tell that he really enjoyed having someone to talk to and that would listen to what he had to say.  Then the conversation got a lot deeper and he started to talk about his past.  He was drafted at the age of 17 to fight in the Vietnam War and still holds a lot of those memories and images in his mind.  He is saved by his faith in Jesus Christ as his savior and hope, but he still worries that Jesus might not save him from the terrible things he has done.  The people that he killed in Vietnam haunt his thoughts still so he has turned to alcohol to numb his pain.  He wants to turn from it but right now can’t find the strength to overcome his addiction.  It will be hard to overcome but I know that though Jesus’ grace and power he can do it.   I showed him a video on YouTube of the Lifehouse Everything skit.  It is very powerful to me and it obviously had an impact on him because it made him cry.  I was then able to give him some encouraging words and then went back to where he camps every night.  Since I know where he stays at night, I hope I’ll be able to talk to him again before I leave.  All together we talked for about 3 hours and I consider it an incredible blessing and answer to prayer from God that I was able to meet and talk to Darren.  God continues to amaze me!

We had the staff banquet last night and it was a blast!  Even thought the food wasn’t so great, we had a great time honoring and saying goodbye to the staff of our summer project.  This marks the halfway point of the project which is hard to believe.  It seems like just yesterday I was arriving here, and now I’m already saying goodbye to the staff and am on the back half of the project.

So far I have had so much fun with the people here it is incredible.  I built a very strong relationship with my descipler and student intern, Ray.  He was so great and it was really sad to say goodbye to him but I know we will keep in touch.  He was so open and fun to talk to.  I feel like I really grew a lot with hearing his words of wisdom and past experiences.  I was so glad to be discipled by him and will miss him  a lot.  

I will be leading the Bible study for my room which will be a great challenge for me.  Since I am leading a small group in Corbett next year at CSU I think this will help prepare me well.  I have led a small group in high school which was really fun and a great experience so I know leading Bible studies is something I enjoy.

Hooray Summer Project!

So this week for our social event we planned to have a Hawaiian luau.  It is something that we put a lot of effort into and it turned out to be epic!  Not just good or fun but it will be one of the more memorable moments on project.  We had good weather, an entire smoked pig, limbo, Hawaiian music, a treasure hunt, war paint, leis, and full bellies!  Combine that with the beach, friends, and the community of Long Beach and you have a winner.

I have also been enjoying working at Islands.  Having a source of income is great and I love the laid back atmosphere of the place.  The people I work with are fun as well as my managers.  They are fine with making work fun and not all stressful as long as you are getting your work done.  It is walking distance from my hotel which makes going to work easier.  I am still learning peoples names at work because there are over 20 people that work there.  I have had the opportunity to get to know a few better but haven’t been able to hang out with anyone yet outside of work.

The Beach Plaza Hotel or BPH or The Plaza has been a lot of fun.  Movie nights in peoples rooms, pool sessions, and other random gatherings are really enjoyable and I have continued to get to know others better.  It has been fun to get away from the hotel by making day trip to various locations around Long Beach like Hunnington, Laguna, Hollywood, and Bolsa Chica.  I still want to go to Newport, San Diego, and Six Flags Magic Mountain.  Having a car has made taking trips a lot easier to set up and do so I’m definitely glad I drive it out here, although I do get asked often for rides which sometimes gets annoying but at least most people pay me for gas.

I was challenged for the first time in a long time in my discipleship time with Ray.  He had me read a really deep and intense 2 chapter section of Hebrews and then had me go through it verse by verse and tell him what was going on there and how 3 aspects of the reading related to each other.  The first time I skimmed over it I was a lost but after I reread it and meditated on it I gained a much better understanding of it.  This experience was very weird for me and kind of bothered me because for the first time in years I was unable to fully explain what was going on in a passage of scripture.  Maybe God was humbling me and reaffirming to me that I don’t know everything but it was certainly different for me not to grasp the meaning of something I read.

So I’m still loving and enjoying Long Beach and growing in understanding of our awesome God.

In Long Beach I have learned a lot, and continue to learn but one thing that really stuck me is true community.  What is it really?  It gets thrown around a bunch along with words like fellowship but have we ever experienced it?  What makes community and how does it strengthen and grow?  Let me share my thoughts on the subject from past and present experiences as well as a talk that was given last week.

It is something that we all strive for and as Christians and is very important to experiencing growth.  I have come to learn that it requires a few things.  

1. Work.  Relationships take work from all people involved.  As humans we will do things that get on each others nerves from time to time and we need to settle these disputes timely and in an understanding way.  Often this isn’t the most fun part of friendships but thats why its called work.
2. Time.  Time builds trust as we slowly learn more about each other and open up more and more to others.  Trust is build slowly, but can be completely undone so quickly.
3. Love.  This is the most important aspect of any relationship.  If we don’t have love for each other than nothing we do will have any meaning.  Everything we do with each other would be for our own selfish gain and purposes.  With love we care for others as we do for ourselves.  We show this by sacrificing our own desires and time to help one another.
4. Fun.  In order to have community with others we don’t have to have a bunch in common but it does help.  We have to enjoy each others company so that it is fun when time is spent together.  

I am so thankful that I have just this at CSU.  A strong community of friends that I enjoy spending time with and that I truly love.

So I’m at that quiet time where you have a job but haven’t started working yet.  While most other people are out looking for jobs or working, I’ve just been spending a lot of time hanging out.  I have had a good amount of quiet time each day, spent some time tanning on the beach when the sun has been out, been trying to run every other day, have also gotten to know more people on this project better, and of course spent hours at my ministry locations.  I went to Hunnington Beach last Tuesday with a couple friends on my project.  Since the ocean here in Long Beach isn’t very good to swim in that was my first time I had actually spent time in the ocean swimming.  Then on Friday I went to Bolsa Chica where I went surfing with a staff intern, Matt.  Saturday some of us went to Hollywood and it felt surreal because we went to the same places that I was at over spring break just a couple months ago.  As you can see I have had a lot of leisure time recently and am enjoying it.

My first day of work will be tomorrow.  I’m working the 9AM shift, which is a little early for me but I’m stoked to have a job.  I’ll have to go shopping today to get shorts and shoes that are acceptable for the Islands uniform.  

I guess I should also update you all on the real reason that I’m here this summer and that is to serve God.  My ministry location at Covenant Presbyterian has been an enjoyable experience.  I am working with their kids ministry and it is fun to love on the kids but they are a handful.  Most are just in need of that love and attention that they don’t get at home.  This is fun and pretty easy to do with most of the kids but there is one that is really testing me.  He is a 4th grader and is really violent and constantly hitting and cussing.  I am trying my best to correct him with love, while still showing him he can’t be doing that stuff strictly.  He is the type of person that is going to push the rules as far as he can and get away with as much as he knows is possible.  If you could pray for me in dealing with him I’d be thankful.  Although he is tough to love, there are many kids that I love to be around.  Teaching them the sunday school lessons, kids worship songs, doing crafts and playing sports with them has been so much fun!

I’m also being convicted of having the right motives for everything that I do.  That is acting out of the love that I have for God, and trying to bring him glory.  Not for my personal gain or enjoyment.  This is something that I know I will struggle with all my life, but I am glad that God has made me aware of this.  I’d say that my patience is being stretched as I’m living with 40 other students and of course there are those one or two that annoy me.  I also know that I need to put more of my trust in God.  I have had to do that a little more in two conversations that I have had with homeless people, and I will have to do this more when I share solarium and the 4 spiritual laws booklet very soon.

Looking for jobs has been draining, but I did get one at Islands and am just waiting for a call from them to confirm things.  It was really hard going from place to place and hearing we aren’t interested in a variety of ways such as…

• We aren’t hiring
• We just hired last week
• Business has been really slow and we are cutting back hours
• Come back in a month
• Well we are always accepting applications but we aren’t needing help

Having that over with is great though.  I also have an interview with Banana Republic this coming Monday which will hopefully go well and maybe I can have two jobs.  

Getting to know the area of Long Beach and the people on my project has been a blast.  My ministry location at Covenant Prespretarian is really good and I love what they are doing there as well as their vision.  At Cov. Pres. I work with kids from first to fourth grade and they are so much fun to spend time with and love.  The families that they come from are not the best, but the family that Cov. Pres. provides is amazing and effectively teaches them life lessons and the Gospel.

I am really loving getting to know my friends here at Long Beach as well as the interns.  The interns are really cool and have been giving me plenty of advice and wisdom.  Having free time on the beach is awesome where I can enjoy the sun and ocean breeze as I spend time with God.  It is so peaceful and refreshing to spend time by the vast Pacific as I look how amazing God has made the world.

Alright so I’ll be in Long Beach for the next 10 weeks on Summer Project with Campus Crusade for Christ.  So far I have been here three days and have been getting settled in and taking Long Beach in.  I have also been meeting the other students on my trip where we have 26 girls, 16 guys, and 17 staff.  Yesterday I figured out that I’ll be on the Social team planning fun group events for our group.  We have also had a couple big group meetings in some local churches and heard from local pastors about Long Beach and various ministry opportunities.  Tomorrow I will figure out what ministry team I’m on and will also begin looking for a job.  

Oh jobs… This will definitely be an adventure finding a job in the current economy where California’s unemployment is at 12%.  I’m hoping to work at a restaurant but I will take whatever I can get.  Islands, Famous Dave’s, California Pizza Kitchen or Chillis would be awesome.  Also the segway store or aquarium would be really cool to work at.

Thats all for today but I’ll keep you posted!

Wow so I have done a lot since my last post so let me quickly recap…

1. Camping Trip where I went “snipe” hunting and we almost lost Mark.  Very wet night with the rain but still a lot of fun!
2. Polished up on my racquetball skills a few times at the rec center.
3. Countless meal swipes to my upperclassmen friends as I was trying to use all my meal passes.
4. Went on the best “MANVENTURE” ever!  Included killing a rattle snake, swimming across the icy cold Poudre, Jumping off a 25 foot wall into the Seaman reservoir, climbing a pipe over the rushing river below, a flash mob rave, and skinning, gutting, and cooking the rattlesnake over a fire!
5. Finished finals successfully and my freshman year at CSU!
6. Finished raising support for my mission project this summer.
7. Had an amazing time at Ft. Fun and mad props to Kyle’s put-put skills.  Go-carts was also a blast!
8. Grad parties, and goodbyes for the summer.
9. Home to see my family and friends.

As I look back on this past school year I am amazed at how fast it went by.  It was such a blast, I met so many great people, and I did well in school.  What more could I ask for?  God has done amazing things in my life and in others around me!  It’s so encouraging to see others so excited for what God is doing!  

Sadly I’ll be unable to see everyone for the next 10+ weeks because of my Long Beach summer project, but I had a great time this year and made some amazing memories that I’ll never forget.  I hope you all had as much fun as me this year and hope you have an awesome and safe summer.  Look forward to seeing you all in August!

So this weekend I spent most of my time saying I needed to study but whenever I sat down my mind just wondered immediately to anything but homework or studying.  I have 3 pretty difficult tests this thursday as well as a 5-7 page research paper due that day as well.  Today I had a macro economics paper due where I had to analyze the current economic crisis.  Tomorrow I have the research rough draft due and another accounting homework due.  

It has come to my realization that I can’t do work seriously or timely until crunch time.  That is the night before its due.  This has been true about the research paper which I just finished about an hour ago and about my macro paper due today.  As well as with every major project that I have done over the past 12 years of my school career.  I can only hope it will be the case for my tests later this week.  

What you can take out of this is…

1. If you ever ask me to hang out with me and I say I’m busy doing homework that isn’t  due the next day, I’m not busy.
2. If you can relate, I will try my hardest to pull you away from all school work until the night before.
3. Don’t get stressed when things pile up, just finish each thing like its the only thing due for the next day.
4. Don’t get overwhelmed to where that helpless feeling creeps in, then nothing gets done.
5. Live, love, and enjoy life like today might be the last day you have.