Oh, the Goodness of God.

Hey peeps! Guess what?? I'M HERE!! My road trip buddies (Lee and Aaron) and I rolled in at about 1pm yesterday afternoon, got checked in and settled, and I feel so at home already! I'll just fill you in on what I've been up to since getting here. Yesterday we were free to get settled in until dinner, where we had our welcome and introductions. We had some great worship time and went on a prayer walk, then everyone went to Walmart to stock up on supplies! I live in one small room with my roommate, Janelle. She's so great! :) Today was super packed and I learned so much. I feel like this morning was forever ago! Here's what we did:

• Had orientation meetings filled with logistics.
• Had a bit of an overview of Mark, the book we'll be going through this summer.
• Learned about how to spend time with God effectively.
• Learned how to evangelize effectively.
• Went sharing on the beach!! SO GOOD.
• Had Soul to Soul with our Bible Study groups. ALSO SO GOOD.

Sharing was such a great experience and such a blessing. We basically had two hours to go out on the beach and initiate conversations with people to share our faith. I was super nervous about the initiation part at the beginning, but now I feel so much more comfortable about it! One really strange thing was that nearly everyone we met on the beach were born-again Christians! In a way, I loved that because my main fear was initiation, and I got plenty of practice in that area, but I was so encouraged by the people we met and many of them were so excited about what we're doing here.

Soul to Soul was a time for our Bible Study group to get together and just totally be vulnerable and share our lives with each other. We shared our testimonies, our backgrounds, strengths and weaknesses, and were able to pray for each other. It lasted almost five hours!! I feel like I really know my group now, and I'm so excited to spend more time and grow with them this summer!

The rest of the week is more orientation stuff, finding jobs, getting settled in, and then Monday is when we start a regular weekly schedule. Tomorrow is job finding day!! We have the afternoon to find jobs, and I'm trusting the Lord to provide exactly what I need for a job for this summer.

I want so badly to go into detail about what I've learned from God today, and some of the scripture we went through today, but it's after 1:30am and I am TIRED. So I'm gonna have to peace out for now, get some sleep, and post less about me and more about Jesus later. ;) Please be praying that the Lord will provide the perfect jobs for everyone on project, that He will continue to bring in needed support, and that focus will stay on Him this summer. This is His work and He gets all the glory for it!

Until next time (hopefully soonsies).....

Lauren

Two Days. How Neat Is That?!

Hi again! I'm two days away from road-trippin' it up to NMB and I am PUMPED! These last few days home have been such a blessing, as I've been able to spend some quality time with my family and friends. They've all been such a huge encouragement to me as I'm getting ready for this next big adventure. The downside of having so much fun is that I've pretty much failed at packing so far, so that's pretty much what the rest of today and tomorrow are going to consist of! I'm pretty much just putting it off right now and felt like blogging would be more fun, but don't worry, this post isn't completely pointless!

As I said in my previous post, I'm not at full support yet. I'm still working on raising the rest of the funds I need, but seeing as I'm leaving in two days this is proving to be a bit difficult. While it isn't absolutely necessary that I have all of it before arrival, it definitely would be nice. ;) Please pray for me and the other students going on the trip who are not yet at full support. To those of you who have supported me already, thank you so much!! You are truly a blessing and I am so thankful for you. :)

If I haven't sent you a letter and you would like to support me, I recently found out about an easy way to do it online. You can go to www.give.ccci.org and on the right-hand side, there's a box that says "Give a Gift" and will ask you to type the name of a staff member - that's me! From there, it's pretty self-explanatory; you click my name and then the link to give the gift and fill out the information there.

Lastly, I just have a few prayer requests to keep in mind. Please pray...

• For safety on the trip down. Most people are driving the whole way, and some are flying.
• That God will bring in the remaining 25% of support I have to raise and that I will continually be trusting Him in that area.
• That I will be going into this with an open heart and a teachable spirit, ready to follow the Lord's will this summer!

Once again, thank you all so much for your prayers and support, it means so much to me! :) Next time I post, I'll be there.....