Summer Project Update #2

So, a lot has happened between now and the last time you've heard from me. A lot of bad, some good. Last Sunday we went to the church we were assigned to. It's called Faith Community Church and is a very very small church that probably at best has a congregation of 40. It also has no air condition so when we went for the first time on the hottest day so far, it wasn't much fun. But the people are very loving and it's a really comforting environment to be in. They are even throwing us a cook out tomorrow afternoon. Also, every other week Crusade does worship for the church and I am the worship coordinator for it, so that's pretty cool, I guess I will get to sing after all. On Monday it was day one of working and let's just say it's pretty tough. I was outside working in the parking lot for 5.5 hours before I had a break and was pretty upset about it. But my boss, Jeff, is amazing and really looks out for me and is always asking me how I'm doing and will also sit with me on my breaks to let me talk and vent about stuff. He's fun to because he keeps betting all of us and we all keep losing so we buy him coffee like all the time. The job is hard and frustrating. Three of our members got promoted like right away to a supervisor position and I think that is just really hard for me to handle because they really didn't do anything more than anyone else and I feel now I can't see them as a friend. But it's alright, I didn't come here to have the perfect job. Monday night was kind of when things took a bad turn. Some of you may have received a text message from me about a teammate who was missing. His name was Jackson and he was one of the guys who went to the ER last week. Jackson still wasn't completely feeling well so he stayed at the house while we all went to our weekly meeting (why he was left alone I'm still not sure). When we returned later that night the house was unlocked and Jackson was missing. His stuff was still out in the house so I believe that he probably left in a hurry. Right away I had a feeling that something was wrong so me and two other friends went out looking for him. About half an hour later we found out that a search party had been issued and all students and staff were spread out on the beach looking for Jackson. That's when I knew things were getting serious and searched more desperately. We finally got a call at almost midnight that Jackson had been found. We found out that he had some mental problems that he didn't tell the staff prior to coming to project and that he has manic depression and one of the results from this problem for him in the past was alcohol. He went to a rehab back in the fall for it but his parents thought he was better and had high hopes for him this summer. He was found drunk and I think that someone had probably gone to the house and he went with them. I don't know for sure but all I know was that this really really made me upset and I have a lot of unanswered questions about it. His dad came home to get him and now he's back in Oklahoma. So please just pray for him, he's a great guy and I'm really sad I wasn't able to get to know him more.
The rest of the week has been ok. We met with our different teams throughout the week and continued to work. I've had some great conversations with people and they've helped me get through this whole Jackson thing. On Thursday night though, we had another big change. Jonathon Welch, who most of you may know, decided to go home, it just wasn't meant for him to be here. I knew this was coming because he told me but it was still hard for the guys he was discipling. Later that night we had women's time and it was amazing. We talked about emotions and how it's ok to have them. This was big for me because I base a lot of what I do on my feelings, it was nice to know I'm not the only one who feels and thinks certain ways. Today (Saturday) we did a staff scavenger hunt and that was incredibly fun yet stressful. I'm still struggling with finding my role on the community team but I'm sure God will show me what it is.
That's it for now. Sorry for it being so lengthy.
Prayer Requests:
Please pray for the health of myself (I've been sick for about a week) and the others here.
Pray that the jobs we are working at provide opportunities for us to have spiritual conversations.
Pray for Jackson and his family as he struggles with this situation and that I can still be a friend to him if he needs.

Summer Project Update 1

So as of right now I have been in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire for about 5-6 days. I took three different airplanes starting at 7am and ending at around 3pm. I was exhausted by the end of the day and it didn't help that when I landed in Manchester, my luggage didn't. But because I was waiting for another girl to arrive, I was there when my luggage did arrive on a later flight from Philadelphia. Me and the other girl, Angela (also from California) arrived at the White Gull (the house we are staying at) at about 6:30 to see everyone had already arrived. It was kind of fun though because as soon as the shuttle stopped, a whole group of guys came out of no where, opened the doors and took our luggage out and up to our rooms! That's a service I could get use to! That night we ate together and got to know names (which I finally have all the names down!) of the 55 other students and 23 staff leaders. Then we separated men and women. I heard rumor the men had to go jump into the freezing cold water at the beach, while we women had a somewhat woman iniation thing. The next day we went out job hunting where I quickly got hired at Happy Hampton Arcade starting out at $9 an hour which is more than I got at Barnes & Noble so I was very excited! It was also a relief knowing I had a job while even now some of my fellow housemates are still scrambling to find jobs. But we've been doing a lot of orientation stuff this first week so it's been nice to have time to relax and get situated. It's fun too because most people here are from the east coast (i'm one of 3 from California) and so there are a lot of fun accents here and sometimes I start talking like them by habit, so when I come back and I talk with an accent, don't make fun! We got assigned to certain servant teams and I was chosen for the community team. I tried to get away from community as that is what I help lead back at school and so I didn't put it my first choice, I'd of rather had weekly meeting or outreach, but I seem to keep getting called to community and we have a great team so I'm excited to see where it takes me! I hope I just don't get sick of community that I can't come back and do an effective job back at Fullerton.

Yesterday (June 6th) we went to Boston to do a scavenger hunt and to share so that was a really cool experience. I am in love with the city of Boston!!! There is so much history there that it was really cool to be in the same spots as our founding fathers. Also, two guys from our guys brought one guy to Christ so praise God for that! First week here and we're already making our presense known and doing some amazing stuff! Also in Boston, we came across the Campus Crusade for Christ International Headquarters for the North East region so it was cool to see what all goes in to running Crusade. So that is pretty much for now, I turn 20 years old today and I was nervous I'd be sad and alone on my birthday but instead I've been surrounded by love. Just about all the girls on project burst through my room at midnight with balloons and a banner and my roommates are making me a cake. We also have a free day today so that's nice to. So to wrap up, I'm having a fabulous time and I thank you all for your constant support. For some prayer requests, I ask that you pray for the health of my housemates, already 2 people have been to the ER, I ask that you pray for humble hearts as we begin doing God's work here, I ask for prayer for those who still do not have jobs, and then just for prayer that I earn all my support (I still need about $500). I'm so blessed to be here and I can't wait to see all the God has planned!