First few days!!

Hello hello! Ahhh SCSP (Santa Cruz Summer Project) has officially begun, and I could not be more excited and happy to be here! We all arrived on Monday, and have been settling in & getting used to our new home.  I have so many pictures already that I will post on here to try to illustrate a little of what I have been seeing and experiencing.  Let me first say that it has already been such a blessing to even get to this point, and I am so thankful for the support, prayers, and people that have helped me to get here!

I got one hour of sleep the night before leaving for Project (bad idea...haha) but my excitement helped sustain me through the day and across time zones!  This picture was taken in the airport around 5:45am before I left...sooo sleepy.

 My friend Carlee (see previous blog post) accompanied me on my flight (above picture), along with my friend Anna (below) from State!  We could not wait to get to SCSP.

We arrived in the early afternoon... and then we went on an adventure and checked out the Boardwalk, where we will be working! 

The beach beside the Boardwalk

 The Boardwalk from a distance

 One of my favorite pictures...beautiful!

There are a lot of surfers around this area

DAY 2 :)

 My view on my way to dinner...we walked downtown and ate mexican food (yum!)
such a pretty view, oh my goodness.

These are my roommates! From the left:  Charlie, Melinda, Brooke (Staff member), me, Delana, and Michelle.  In the middle is Brooke, our Action Group leader, who is a CRU staff member at UNC-Charlotte.  Yesterday was her birthday!  We celebrated by going out to dinner, and then surprising her later by delivering a card and some gummy bears to her doorstep and then singing to her.  She was so surprised :)

The first day we settled in, met everyone, had an AMAZING dinner together and made trips to Ross and other places to gather forgotten items (i picked up a pillow & cheap comforter).  We all slept hard that night after traveling!  It has been so awesome getting to know the people that I have seen on the SCSP Facebook group for the past 4 months!  It is only the 3rd day and God is doing some amazing things.  On Tuesday (yesterday) we spent most of the day in "orientation", talking about the Project as a whole, and some of the details that we will need to know for the summer.  We also spent time together with our roommates, or "Action Group", and had some praise and worship with the full group.  This morning (wednesday), our action group got together and did something called "Soul to Soul".  We spent 5 hours learning about each other, and taking turns sharing our life stories-- the hard times, pivotal times, learning experiences, and times where we have felt the Lord's hand in our lives.  It was seriously one of the most beautiful times... my roommates are such beautiful women, and I am so thankful for their openness and their willingness to share their trials and joys with us, as we just met.  We have already bonded so much, and I cannot imagine what our relationships at the end of the summer will look like.  This kind of community is so vibrant, and I am so looking forward to the ways that the Lord will change us, mold us, and work in us this summer.  

Another blessing that I forgot to mention-- I went to a local grocery store yesterday to pick up some breakfast items with some of the girls on Project.  I am so used to having coupons to shop with (I have learned from my awesome mom :)) but I did not have any with me here, so I knew that I probably wouldn't get any of the deals or price cuts that I am accustomed to.  Haha i was disappointed, because I saw all of the deals featured around the store that the "VIP" customers could get if they had a card, but I didn't have one obviously because I'm not from here.  So I get up to the checkout line, and the lady asks me if I had a card, and I said no.  She asked if I was from around here, and I told her I wasn't, and she proceeded to ask where I was from.  I told her "North Carolina" and her face lit up.  She said, "My sister lives there!" We chatted for a minute, and she said, "Ya know what, I'm going to give you my sister's discount that she would normally get."  Wow.  I was so excited.  It's completely different when you do grocery shopping on your own :)  any bit of money you save is glorious.  I definitely saw a little bit of the Lord in that moment.

I cannot wait to tell you more about this week!  We are all still learning and getting used to being here, but everyone is having a great time and we have all started to get close.  I will be sure to keep you updated!  

Prayer requests:

My friend from back home has a brother named Josh Rominger that is having a major surgery today.  Please pray for him, as he is battling cancer and has had multiple surgeries over the past few months.  His family is so dear to me.  Also, please pray for our team of 58 students and 20 staff members.  We will be starting our jobs this weekend and also meeting our co-workers!  Please pray for hearts to be opened and relationships to be formed.  We are so excited!  Thank you so much for your prayers and for your involvement in all that is going on here.  

PS- the weather has been wonderful-- warm and breezy during the days and chilly at night.  Love it!

Love,

Molly :)

Blessings along the way

Over the past year, I have seen evidence of God's hand paving the way for Summer Project in so many ways.  It is amazing to see how sovereign the Lord is in providing for us, even in the most minute details. Through this experience, I have grown so much as I see the how He has taken care of me... I look through my journal and reflect over the tiny ways that He has confirmed everything leading up to Santa Cruz, and I just marvel at His timing, gifts, and blessings that all seem to just say "this is where you are supposed to be."  I think this experience that I'm about to tell you may be one of my favorites.

In the middle of March, I received a Facebook message from a girl named Carlee that I did not know.  She had seen my name on the "Santa Cruz Summer Project 2012" group page online and she messaged me, explaining that she had also been accepted to the Project, and said that she had noticed something on my profile and was wondering where I was from.  From her profile, I saw that she was a student at UNC-Charlotte, and we had no mutual friends in common.  She went on to explain that her family had just moved to NC from out of state, and based off of what she had seen on my profile, she thought that we now lived in the same county!  I replied, telling her about the area where I lived, and after a few messages, we realized that our houses were only 2 miles from each other!  What a God thing. Of all places, she moved here, and of all things to be doing this summer, she's going on Santa Cruz Summer Project! 

Her family's recent move to North Carolina brought them to our small town.  God has blessed us abundantly through His divine placement. And...to make things even more awesome, without even arranging it, our moms discovered each other through a mutual friend!  Needless to say, this has been the start of some beautiful friendships.  Over Easter, Carlee and I were able to meet up in person for the first time at Starbucks, and 2 hours later, we had a hard time leaving the conversation and the friendship that we had begun to build :)  Through this, the Lord has also provided my mom with a friend (Carlee's mom) to meet up with, relate to, and grow with over the summer while I am away.  Carlee and I were talking about it tonight, and she mentioned that the Lord had completely answered a prayer that she didn't even know she prayed.  Now that is the kind of God that we serve...amazing.  Tonight, the 4 of us met up for a "Pre-Santa Cruz" dinner, where our moms were officially able to meet, and we all chatted for just under 3 hours :)  So thankful for the blessing of new friendships, and for the God who knows our hearts.  Feeling so very blessed.

"Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name;

make known among the nations what he has done.

Sing to him, sing praise to him;

tell of all his wonderful acts.

Glory in his holy name;

let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.

Look to the Lord and his strength;

seek his face always."

~Psalm 105:1-4

Start of Summer!

Exams are over, and it is official.... that I am halfway through with college.  This reality is so sad to me, but I cannot help but rejoice in the many blessings in my life over these past 2 years.  My experiences in college have brought me so much joy, and I am so thankful that the Lord placed me at NC State and surrounded me with so many amazing people, so many incredible experiences, and so much love.  I have been home for about a week, and am just now beginning to catch up on everything.  I am still in the midst of unpacking all that I have brought home from college, and am now just trying to figure out where I can put all of the stuff! :) At the same time, I am also getting ready for my summer in Santa Cruz (super excited!), and working on packing and preparing everything before I leave in 2 weeks :)  Needless to say, I have lots to keep me busy, but sooo very much to be thankful for!  I cannot help but reflect on all that has happened during this beautiful year, and especially most recently.

I want to extend a HUGE "thank you" to everyone that has supported me, prayed for the Santa Cruz Summer Project, and for all of the encouragement that you have sent my way over the past 2 months.  You should be receiving a note from me in the mail very soon, if you haven't already! :) The Lord has truly blessed me through your sweet notes, conversations, and prayers, and I just stand in awe of Him as I look upon the letters you have sent and witness your responses of support.  I am so deeply grateful for your generosity and for helping to make this trip possible!!  I know that the Lord has so much in store for our hearts this summer, and I cannot wait to see how He will change lives and draw others to Him.  Your involvement in this mission is such a blessing to me, and you each hold such a special place in my heart.  I love how the Lord has brought us together through this experience to unite under one purpose-- to spread the Gospel and the love of Jesus Christ to the world.  It is my prayer that God would use every ounce of what He has blessed us with and every gift that He has placed within us to bring Him glory! Thank you so much for taking time to read this blog and for your prayers and support!  Please continue to pray that God would prepare the hearts of our co-workers, and also prepare our team of 60 students-- that we would lean on Him, and that He would use us as vessels of His love!

More updates to come! :)

Love,
Molly