Well it is starting to look like Sunday nights may be the best time to blog to everyone. First of all, things are going well here but it has been a tough past week and an even tougher week awaits. As far as the past week goes, it was Facing the Giants week as was stated in the last blog. It was incredible to see everyone on Project stretched to take steps of faith and do things they have never done before, including myself. People restored relationships with their parents that had been nonexistent for year, students shared the Gospel with their best friends from home (which is terrifying), and people learned to trust God at a whole new level. Taking these steps of faith was challenging but we saw countless people in San Diego commit their lives to the Lord. My friend Lee and I were at SDSU's campus on Tuesday and were about to go to lunch when I decided we should share with one more student. A student named Alan was sitting in the cafeteria and we approached him and started asking him about his faith. It seemed like he was not interested but something in us said to keep pressing on. We went through the track we use called "Knowing God Personally (KGP)" and when we got to the end of it he said he wanted to place his faith in Christ! I was pumped! Another outreach this week the social media outreach through Facebook. Basically all of our project got on facebook this week and sent out quest surveys to friends and relatives back home with hopes of initiating spiritual conversations where the Gospel could be presented. At this point, we have had well over 1,000 people respond to our survey and over 6,000 people were involved in conversations. Those numbers are astounding and it is crazy to see God work across the US even though we are all out here in San Diego. We also did an "I Will Listen" outreach on the beach two nights this week where we stood between lifeguard towers along the boardwalk all the way up and down Mission Beach with signs saying simply "I Will Listen". While many of the people that we talked too were just plain crazy, many of the conversations we had were incredible and many people accepted Christ through it.
The lesson we all learned this past week was that taking steps of faith and killing giants is one of the hardest things to do but in the end, we saw God move in astounding ways. This leads us into our theme for this next week which will be focused on building a spirit of unity. I haven't really analyzed our schedule for the week but I know the unity theme will consist of people calling friends and family back home to resolve disagreements, some which have existed for years and years, and we will be learning how to look at people here on project the way Jesus looks at them. I honestly think this could be the most challenging week for me throughout all of project because I am a sinful and prideful person who often sets higher standards for others than I do for myself. God has been breaking me though (it has not been fun but it is good for me by the way) and I have been striving to understand the Gospel better along with God's grace so that I can begin to love and accept others the way Christ would like me to. We also will be getting out of San Diego for an overnight men's retreat and the women will be going on a retreat as well. Ours will consist of us leaving Thursday morning for somewhere in the desert and returning Friday morning. I was told to not even bring a change of clothes along and I know we will get sleeping bags but I don't think we will have tents or anything. It could be interesting! I also will be deciding at the beginning of this week if I want to continue to look for a part-time job or just volunteer somewhere the rest of the summer. While it would be nice to have an income to get me through the summer and school year, job searching is physically, emotionally, and spiritually draining and many organizations around here need volunteers immediately and I could easily share my faith with many people through this. If you could keep me in your prayers this week for everything I have already typed, that would be greatly appreciated. Like I said at the beginning of this post that's now become a novel, it has been a great week but God has not stretched me and broken me like this ever during my life and while it is a physically and emotionally draining time, I am in a great place spiritually and God is working through me and my team out here in ways we never thought would be possible. Just as I did last week, I would like to encourage you to join with me in our theme this week. Forgiveness, love, and grace are some of the main components of the Gospel and while they are hard to show with certain people due to past circumstances or personal sins, we are called to display them with EVERYONE. This may entail taking great steps of faith to display these characteristics but they are commanded of us and I know that if we look to God, he can give us the insight and strength necessary for following his will. Thanks for reading and know you are all in my prayers!
No comments:
Post a Comment