God Is Good ALL the Time!

Well another week is over and I can not believe how fast this summer has went! I have been here for a month and have less than a month less. I pray that time will SLOW down! This past week truly has been awesome. Seeing God at work in many lives is such an exciting thing! This week was a long but a great one! And these past two days off have been much rejuvenation and relaxation for everyone! We were needing the pick me up boost! All day today we went to the beach on Crab Island and it was such a beautiful day for it! It was a time of laughter and smiles and even some bloody feet. While walking on the jetty rocks many including myself got some cuts on the feet from the rocks and barnacle. Tomorrow starts the work week. I sometimes get my days confused because our “weekends” are technically Sunday and Mondays. No one on our project works on those days, only Thursday-Saturday! So that leads me into my next conversation: how is work going? Well to be honest it has its tough moments and this week  I  have seen some fruit starting to grow. It has been stressful because we had many machines down and our times were very high and management was not pleased at all. So tension was high and then our managers sometimes do not see eye to eye and that tension has been felt. We have actually been a few days with our ice cream machine and our ice machine both down! So we have to drive to the McDonald’s in the walmart in Destin and grab ice and bring back to our store! This week Mary Slate, someone from Auburn here on project, and I got to know one of our shift managers more and bond a little more with Matt. Steven is a shift manager who is in a very tough place right now. He transferred to this store in the fall and hasn’t really gotten to know anyone outside of work. So he has had some good talks with the guys on the other project and hopefully are going to go out to eat with him soon. Matt has opened up with us and said that he is a believer. He attends church with his family and that is all. He is in the manager in training position now and by July will be a manager. He told me that he wants to do that for a year maybe and then go back to carpentry school. So starting to learn more about his goals and dreams. Both of these guys are lost in their own way and it breaks my heart to listen to how lost they truly are. But I know that I serve a mighty God and he can do anything He wants to with whoever! But it has been very encouraging to see some fruit that is starting to come from this.  We are hoping to have a some coworker hang outs and a week from Friday as a whole project we do a cookout and invite all of our coworkers! So I am pretty excited to see who will come from work and for them to see that us girls can actually wear clothes besides black pants, blue shirt, and a visor with greasy hair! Haha. Yeah we all look pretty rough when we get off work most days! But overall it has been great. Last night for our World Vision prayer time we lit up tiki torches on the beach for the 5 countries we were praying for this week and then broke up into our team colors and prayed over the countries. I still sometimes have a hard time wrapping my head around what I am doing this summer. I don’t know any other place I would rather be this summer or people I would want to be with!

“I am the good shepherd. I know My own sheep and they know Me, as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down My life down for my sheep.” John 10: 14-15

We are His sheep and unlike a hired hand He will never leaves us or let us wonder away because we are HIS sheep and He cares deeply about all His sheep! Hope that you have a blessed week!

Be Where You Are!

Another week down in the books! Every week keeps going by faster it feels like! I guess that is because little sleep and being so busy! Today I finally got a few hours at the beach and can’t remember the last time I was able to do that, because either I have been busy or because it has been raining! This past week was a busy one with work and then it was parents weekend! We also went to Seaside on our night off to enjoy a little concert and to just relax and hang out! Mom came and had lunch with me once I got off on Friday and then mom and dad came on Saturday for a short program they put on and then we went to dinner and one of my roommates came alone since she was an “orphan” for the weekend. We were the only ones out of the 6 that were at the room this weekend and it was weird it being so quiet! Then on Sunday afternoon we went to a couples house after church where we cooked out with burgers, swam in the pool, and even got to kayak in the bay! It was sooo much fun and was relaxing and good to get to know some Troy girls more. That night we has the fire alarms go off and had to perform our fire evacuation plan. That’s not a big deal, except it was raining and lightening and evacuating towards the beach in that type of weather isn’t too fun! The fire department told the staff that they would perform random test, just for the sake of the building that we are in. Lets just say its not 5star place. We are actually the only ones who stay in it during the whole year! This week is relationship session week! We have had 2 sessions so far and they have been truly amazing! Many of us in my room are single and singleness is something that we have talked about and the session tonight was on singleness and it was a very very great talk and some amazing points were made. We had our project picture, which is just all 200 of us posing on the beach for our group picture in bright colored clothes! Work has been tough some, because corporate has came in once and things did not go so well and they are supposed to come back soon. You can just tell that so many of our co workers are very lost and not believers and it is just such a sad thing.I had to do an attitude adjustment this past week. I am one who likes to do my best in everything and try to make everything the best that it can be. In that sense I want to change McDonalds so that people are saying so many good things about us students being there. But in all reality I need to be there to share the Gospel and that God will receive the glory and not Mikey or SBP.  Not too much change on my roommate or my co-workers hearts and relationships with Christ. I am hoping to get some time soon to ask some deep questions or to share the Gospel with them. This weekend a team from CO has been in China for the past year, teaching English in a school. They are finally returning home this weekend and I am so excited to see them! Please keep them in your prayers! From our talk tonight a quote that stuck out was, “Be where You Are” that was referring to being single and to embrace the season or position that you are in. I think that this can apply to many different things in life. My prayer is that you will Be Where You Are and that you take time to Be Still and listen to what He is telling you and Where you should be!

Prayer Request

Co-workers to be open minded and to have a positive attitude

My heart to be soften and challenged by the Gospel

For us students to share the Gospel with our Co-workers

China Team

Thailand  CCP team

McCrew, Foreign Exchange Students, Filipino Food!

I cannot believe that I have been on this adventure for 3 weeks now! It seems like so much longer and seems like I have know many of these people for years! Work has been going good. I have to say that I would rather work the mornings than the afternoon, but they are both good. I have met a few more of the regular co-workers and starting to lay the foundation to friendships. My co-worker Matt is slowly starting to open up to me and said that by July he will be at manager status. I asked him what was his ultimate goal for work and he didn’t get to answer in because of the rush we had. So continue to pray please for him and his life. He is very knowledgeable about McDonalds for sure and I think that he just doesn’t have any big goals or dreams to push him in other areas. I have gotten to work with a few other girls that just graduated from high school that work there but haven’t gotten into too much conversation yet. We have 27 students from out project working at the same McDonald’s, so I think that God has some pretty big things in store!  This past week our room was invited by a lady from our church to come over and have dinner and do our laundry! It was a blast! She is a little Filipino lady who is pregnant and due in September, but we went straight from work there where she cooked authentic Filipino food such as: Panzit, Lumpia, and chicken adobe ! Then some amazing cookies! She apologized to us when we first arrived saying that she wasn’t too good at cooking American recipes and that she makes this type of food all the time.  So free laundry, food, and fun! We sang karaoke and got to know her, her husband and there 4 year old son more! We had our first social this weekend: High School Cliques! So each small group was assigned a certain clique and there was a girl room and guy room paired up. So our room was assigned Foreign Exchange students! So you may not be able to tell but my attire was Mickey Mouse shirt (I mean who doesn’t go to Disney when they come to America), then some pink and purple stripe tights with high top light up sketchers! So we were paired with some guys and after pictures we went to eat at Hellenback and then to the Skating rink! Fortunately I managed to come out with no injuries, which some may find that hard to believe, but the sad part was one of my roommates tried to brace herself while falling and ended up shattering her wrist! She had to leave on Monday to go home so she can get surgery and then possibly come back here! I pray that myself and other roommates will have patience with a specific person, softer hearts, and that Christ will allow us to see her the way they He truly sees her.  This summer is really just like living the dream. Staying with some of my best friends and making new ones, working a “random” job, going to the beach almost everyday, and growing deeper in my relationship with Christ and learning how to share it with others! I am so blessed with this opportunity. Right now also CO has something going on called: Cross Cultural Project (CCP) There are many students right now in Thailand sharing the Gospel and teaching English to kids and people over there. If you would take some time to pray for them as they will be there until July.

Prayer Request:

Open hearts for us on SBP and for our Co-workers

Torrie’s surgery

Rest for people physically and mentally. 

Christin to know more of Christ love and grace

Roommates to continue to grow with each other

The Troy students community to grow and share a passion together

CCP Team

Icees for motivation before Room Clean!

Social! 

McCrew

Roomies!

Church

Rainy days and Quiet time

Filipino Food

Karaoke singing!

Morning run and sunrises 

Ryland and I are ready for the day!

Surviving!

Here we are going into week number 2! First week at McDonalds is complete and almost going into full swing there. My job was working the front window. The window where the food is given out and if something is not right they are sure to let me know no matter what the problem may be. The first day I was doing that and also in charge of the McCafè! I knew after day 1 that trying to do both of those jobs would be tough! The next two days after that were very tough, by trying to work with different people who all have told me different things and then also management was in so things were a little tenser in the place.  But by Saturday me and another girl who was working together got into a groove and it was our first really good day! Few stories from the front window; I don’t wear my rings to work, and other than that they are always on my hands. So lets just say I have some pretty defined tan lines! So one man pulled up and noticed that my ringer finger had the tan line from my True Love Waits ring, and he starts to ask me if I left the guy or if we were getting divorced! Than man was a trip for sure! Then in the middle of a tough shift I had a man tell me that I was doing a good job. I guess he could tell on my face that I was flustered and that man did not know it but he really did make my day! Friendships are forming more and more and growing deeper in them. I am only on day 12 here at SBP, but I could not imagine myself anywhere else this summer! I mean who wouldn’t want to get up in mornings to go to work then come straight home and walk across to the beach and then go to discipleship trainings and worship times! I have enjoyed meeting many new people and forming stronger friendships and a deeper community. From playing beach volleyball at 12am to standing on the balconys singing to a guitar to laying on the beach under the stars doing our small group, these 12 days have been incredible. The best part yet is that there are so man more left! We are going to have some wonderful memories and then we will have some tough days at work also! The wonderful 5:30am shift will be bittersweet for sure but it is where I need to be. I have connected with one of my co-workers Matt on my first week there. I could tell when I walked in on day 2 that he was not happy and did not want to be there. He has been working there for 5 years and hates every minute of it. But everyday since then when our group has gotten there he always has a smile on his face and I think inside enjoys having us around.  Friday nights are our Evangelism nights and this past week we worked on how to funnel a conversation to get down to try and figure out where a person is spiritually and then went and practiced. Our team color black went to Destin Commons and broke up into groups in 2-3 people and went into stores and applies what we learned. Our group went into 4 places and made good conversation and one person was completely shut off to the church and didn’t really want to talk about it. Then another person was very responsive to us.  So it was a awesome experience. Then Saturday was the annual Beach Olympics! You can say that some of the events can get sometimes very aggressive! I think that many people including myself had some battle wounds! Rope burns were on everyone who participated in the tug-a-war contest! You can see in the pictures its not the smallest or thinnest rope ever!

Prayer Request:

Matt my Co-worker

Roommate Christin as she is working on realizing she is not a Christian and surrendering it all over. 

God to continue to soften my heart and help me deal with the idols I have in my life such as acceptance.

I let His Glory shine through me at McDonalds

Be open to sharing my testimony and using it in the workplace and other places.

One Thing!

I have been here in Fort Walton since last Wednesday, so almost been a week. The theme for this summer comes from Psalm 27, One Thing. What is the one thing that we live for, that we long for?  Here is an update how the past 6 days have been. We are living at the wonderful Sandman Motel! It is wonderful for college students, because we are the only ones who use it during the whole year! So each room has 6 people in it and then the rooms are divided into two different small groups which we call Discipleship Groups. In my room there are 6 of us, 3 from Samford, 2 from Troy and then 1 from Auburn. When you walk into our place you first come to the bedroom which is 3 sets of bunkbeds then into a hallway with the bathroom and in the kitchen and living area. We do have a beautiful room that has a balcony and faces the gulf. So not a bad site to wake up to every morning. On Friday we started to job search. My room leader worked at McDonalds last year and said it was a good experience, so we decided we would try back for there. And we got it! There will be 22 of us at that one McDonalds. There are 37 of us spread out at a few different McDonalds. There are close to 200 students on this project with close to 75 from Troy!  Each room is assigned to a certain color and then are on a team. I am on the Black Team, Black Magic! So we have different games and events to earn points. This past weekend we did a Dodgeball Tournament that we dressed up for. This weekend we have out Beach Olympics. So more pictures to come! I have already made some great friendships and am excited to get to know more people! Tomorrow morning at 7am is when I start work. So please be in prayer for me and pray for my co-workers. We were told that some of the workers are from Thailand so this is going to be a good time to witness to them. 

Black Magic

Room 305 Super 6

My girls!

Love her!

Never dull moment with her!

Fierce! 

Back Truck riding

Batman!

Room 305!

our view every morning 

Florida Weather