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 :)