Summer Project Update 1 (The Lord's Definite Affirmation)

FOR THE ULTIMATE EXPERIENCE, PLAY THIS SONG WHILE YOU READ THIS UPDATE! :)

As most of you know, I arrived in North Myrtle Beach, SC on Sunday evening to begin a summer long journey on summer project. Summer project is essentially like a missions trip, and it's through an organization called Campus Crusade for Christ (Cru). I first became involved with Cru when I got to UW River Falls a year and a half ago. Cru's vision statement is to win people to Christ, help students in their relationships with the Lord, and sending them into the world prepared with how to effectively live for the Lord and do His work. If there is one side of ministry that Cru focuses in on most it is evangelism. Bill Bright, the founder of Cru, had a huge heart for sharing the gospel with the world. It's no coincidence that the Lord brought me into being involved with Cru when he did because sharing my faith was something I had never practiced or even attempted before arriving at River Falls.

Before I left for Myrtle Beach I really didn't know a whole lot of what to expect from project. I knew I was going to be working full time, doing ministry and building relationships with other students in the time in between, but aside from these things I had no idea what to be expecting. I think it's also important to note that my friend Zak Branham got married last week and I served as his best man. It was so much fun to be Zak's best man and take part in all the festivities and traditions that come with filling the role. But at the same time me being the wedding meant that I would have to be 4 days late to project. All the other students on project arrived on time or a day late, so it was inevitable that I was going to be behind upon my arrival. I can easily say that last week was one of the most stressful times of my life. With all the things with the wedding and preparing to move halfway across the country for the summer I certainly had my hands full and then some. Somehow I managed to get all the preparations done for both the wedding and project, and there's no possible way that I did it all under my own power and strength. So after a beautiful wedding (and successful one as best man) I woke up last Saturday morning and began my 23 hour drive to North Myrtle Beach, SC. 


The first day of driving I nailed out about 14 hours of driving and found myself at a hotel in Lexington, KY to spend the night and get some rest for the reminder of the trip. I was amazed at how smooth the first portion of my trip went. I didn't have a single issue with my 11 year old Saturn or with traffic all the way to Lexington, which was such and incredible blessing. The hotel, by the way, was a new experience for me as I checked out a room on my own (I felt so old!). So I then woke up early the next morning and headed out with the plan to make it to NMB by early evening time. Once again, the second portion of the trip went just as smooth as the first day. Not only was it smooth, but it was also unbelievably beautiful. A good chunk of my trip on Sunday took me through the amazing and breathtaking Smokey Mountains that are located in Tennessee and North Carolina. The scenery made the trip easily about ten times more tolerable. I ended up rolling into project at about 6:45pm. When I got there, I tried calling the staff guy that I was supposed to and he didn't answer. Thankfully, a group of guys from project happened to be walking by and they took me under their wing and immediately brought me straight to the first large group meeting. It was a bit of a shock after sitting in my car all day, but it was great to be able to jump straight into the flow of things and to start meeting the some 100 other students that join me this summer. 


Since my arrival things have been going great. I've now put in two days at my job at the local grocery store and I'm really loving it there. The management is great, all my coworkers are fantastic, and despite the fact that most my shifts will be starting at 5:45am (pray for me!), I know I'm going to love it there! It's been so neat to meet all of the students that are here with me from campuses all across the midwest. Each one of them seems to bring something unique to our team and I have loved to start to get to know them in my first few days here. I've also met with both my bible study and my impact group which is a group that joins together on a weekly basis to go sharing. My bible study is filled with 5 other top notch guys that truly have a deep passion for the Lord and are in hot pursuit of Him. Here on project we've also been separated into specific ministry teams that exist to give us and opportunity to use our special gifts from the Lord to do His work while we are here. I found out on Sunday that I had been chosen to be apart of the worship team that plays for our Thursday night weekly meeting which was the team I was really hoping to find myself on for the summer. I just can't seem to be able to come up with anything that hasn't gone well since I've been here and it's very apparent that God has me here for a reason in this season of my life. Which brings me to the last and most important thing I wanted to touch on in this update.


I have just been in complete awe of how God has blessed me in abundance and prepared my heart for the summer. There are numerous testimonies just from the past week that show the work the Lord is doing to affirm to me that NMB is without a doubt what He has had planned for me for this particular summer and season of my life. First of all, my support raising for project went better than I could of ever imagined. With just a few days left before I left, I needed about $700 more to meet my goal. I came home to find that I had received two letters in the mail that day. I opened them both and had received $735 total. Absolutely incredible. Sure enough, the the always faithful God of the universe came through in a huge way again for me. The same day I got a call back from the grocery store in NMB. After days of worrying about the difficulties of finding a job arriving late to project, the Lord came through again for me and I was hired over the phone. Also, a very similar thing happened with how I ended up on the worship team. I had put on my application for project that I played drums and was hoping to have the opportunity to play as I stated before. I got an email from the staff worship leader last Friday and I was told that I was going to miss out on the auditions that were going to be held for the team on Saturday. I shared with him my drumming experience and shared some of music I've recorded which was about my only hope of getting in. I wasn't feeling all too confident that I was going to get in, but on Saturday night when I checked my email at the hotel, I received an email notifying me that I had made the worship team! Wow. I was just so overwhelmed by the Lord's work in my life at this point. It was this point where I really began to realize all that He had been doing to create the perfect conditions for me to effectively serve and grow in Him over this summer. His plans for His children are so specific and intricate and I've been seeing it first hand. He's made his plans so clear and obvious to me and it's indescribable how it feels to know of the assurance that His plan for me is PERFECT and FLAWLESS. He has affirmed to me that I am in the place I'm supposed to be this summer and I can't even begin to count the amount of times and ways He has blessed me just within the past week.


With all these incredible testimonies, I can't even begin to imagine what God has in store for me during this summer let alone the next few days. I plan to consistently keep y'all (I'm catching onto some southern slang already!) updated on what happens throughout the rest of my summer here on project. Please keep checking back to see new entries and catch up on more amazing testimonies of how the Lord works through me and my project mates. I pray that all who read this will be encouraged and blessed by my life stories from the past week and also for the well being of you and your families. I love you all and can't wait to share more with you in the coming weeks! Please also continue to pray for me and my summer, that the Lord would continue to do amazing things in my life. Be blessed!

P.S. Below are some pictures from project so far!