Adventures in Christ: Santa Cruz '12: A Week Down...9 more to go!

Hey Everyone!!

It has been a great week here in Santa Cruz with the whole team here and getting to know everyone here. There are a total of 57 students, and the last student, Damon, has arrived today so our project is complete! There are 20 staff here as well and we have been immersed in so many activities that require interaction of every student on the project. With every confrontation between other students, the way that the conversations are genuine and are filled with Christ's love that I have never encountered before. We are all here to serve the Lord for the next nine (9) weeks, and to be in a community where you can turn to anyone to talk about your struggles and joy is amazing and a blessing of God.

There has been some challenges and struggles along the way as having so many people in one location can be overwhelming. But with God's power, we have continued to bathe everything that we do here in prayer. The Santa Cruz Summer Project has not been placed here by the hand of man, but rather by the hands of God for the last 21 years.

Today was everyone's first day of work on the Boardwalk (minus a few lucky ones that had the day off!) and to have students of CRU (Campus Crusade for Christ) spread all over the Boardwalk allows for countless conversations and relationships to be formed. Even though I am indeed a Project cook for the summer-which involves cooking dinner for my team every evening-I do also work for Whitings food on the Boardwalk. They own several of the food stands scattered among the Boardwalk, and I was placed in the Freeze stand, a place that sells ice cream cones, icees, and chocolate dipped bananas/ice cream sandwiches. This was definitely a challenge for me, as making ice cream cones is a big no-no for me, so I managed to stay busy on the register most of the day. A friend on project did remind me of an important thing that I have managed to put aside. As I expressed my desire to NOT work in the ice cream stand, a friend stated that I can do it. "I notice that you always say that you can't. But you can. " I was taken aback when she stated this, but she was right. The devil tries to tear us down when we express our fears, and that is such an easy way for him to win us over. Yet-I have the strength of God and the Holy Spirit within me that allows me to break through these barriers that make me take my focus off of the Lord.

In light of that, it has been a great day! I would like to share some pictures of my journey here so far, and I will include a link to all my photos as well :) View my other photos at: Santa Cruzing photos