Ketchup

Sorry that it's been three days since I've posted!  Where has time gone?  I've almost been in Charleston for a week.  That's beyond crazy.  Okay, so lets take this day by day.  Saturday we had outreach on the beach. We basically went out there, set up a tent and some cornhole and walked out on the packed-for-Memorial-Day Folly beach and went and talked to people about Jesus.  Two other girls and myself (along with all of the others that walked on the beach) used a Campus Crusade ministry outreach tool known as Soularium (www.mysoularium.com).  It's basically a picture survey.  We sat down with a group of three older women and asked them if they would be interested in taking the survey.  After offering us bean dip and beer, I could tell this was going to be an interesting conversation.  All three of these women were from different places and were getting ready to move out to Spain, Tennessee and Michigan.  Two of the ladies really seemed like they were searching for "something bigger than themselves."  They knew that there was something out there, but it was just out of their reach.  They're thirsty.  They are looking for something.  The other woman, however, just seemed very straight in her ways.  Her heart was guarded against what we were saying.  She said something to the effect of, "Well, there's God and Jesus and Buddha and whoever else, and they can be a god to you."  I walked away from those three feeling enlightened.  That's probably the best word for it.  All that I can hope and pray for is that enough of a seed was planted to make them ask questions, and for them to question their purpose in life.  The Saturday outreach was also a great way for all of us to start building confidence in going out and having a very real conversation with people.  For a lot of people, it was their first time with initiative evangelism.  A dear, dear person in my life recently told me, "Initiative evangelism is scary, but once you start having those conversations with people, you don't want to stop."  Part of me just wants to grab and shake people and tell them how happy they can be if they just accept Jesus as their Savior.  But I know that that's not going to happen to everyone.  It's totally God's will. Saturday after the outreach, we really got a chance to build even greater community.  We had a silly game night (involving dizzy bat - which luckily I got out of) and then had hangout/free time by the pool.  I feel like I am really starting to develop friendships with people.  We all care about each other.  Its so great.
So flash-forward to Sunday.  We went to church here in this beautiful city.  My group went to a church that I really love.  Its small, and gorgeous.  The pastor preached on The Good Shepherd.  We talked about evangelism too.  Which was really great.  I always love hearing a good message.  And I feel like it really was something a lot of us needed to hear after a long day at the beach the day before.  Also, because we're using this summer to serve, we're volunteering within the local churches.  I volunteered to help with the youth group (mostly middle-schoolers, YES!).  I'm really excited about that.  Then, after we got back to the hotel, we had a free day.  Oh, and Sunday nights we have prayer and praise.  We basically just gather together, and pray and sing to Jesus.  Super fabulous.
All that being said, I'm really starting to understand why God wants me here.  Why he wants all of us here.  We're going to look back on this summer and not even recognize who we were at the beginning.  So much has changed in 1 week.  I can't believe I only have 9 weeks left.  I sometimes underestimate the sheer power of the Lord.  I underestimate His plan.  He knows exactly how many breaths I take, how many hair are on my head.  He knows every single feeling I'm going to feel at every moment of the day. It baffles me to think about it.  I can already tell how much more I'm enjoying time in prayer, and my quiet time with God.  I love journaling, and listening to Jesus music (except I think I'm going to buy some more to update my collection).  I could spend hours just reading, journaling, and listening and talking to my God.  He's always there to listen.  A 24-hour hotline for every high and every low, and every in-between.
Okay, so this blog post wasn't very thought-invoking.  Basically just catching you up on how Charleston has been so far.  Oh, and mail is super great if you'd like to send me something!  :)  I reflected today (sorry random side note) of how much money I raised to get here.  I have a small $330 out of the $3050 that I had set out to raise.  God provides so much.  Peace, rest, love.
PS - my address at the great Best Western is 146 Lockwood Drive Charleston, SC 29403.
More updates soon.  All my loveeeeeee.