Whassupp?? Time to do the (looking like bi-weekly) filling-in of project...I'll just dive right in!
First matter of business = VIDEO! Yes, you can kind of actually see what I'm doing here! My friends Geoff and Josh made it...they have mad skills. Seriously. Check it out. :)
So. Staff is gone. Their last official time with us was Thursday night, during Agape week. This marks the halfway point of project and we are now a completely student-led project for the rest of the summer! I miss them tons - they taught us so much and gave us amazing encouragement and training, and were just a joy to have around! But now that they're gone, I'm also really excited to see how the rest of the summer plays out; we're on our own now and learning to use the leadership skills the staff taught us. Before the staff left, certain students were put into specific leadership roles left open. These include leaders of the several different teams (OPS, Community, Prayer, Worship, Outreach), leaders to take over Bible studies/discipleship, and "The Big 6" - six student leaders chosen to direct and oversee the entire project. My friend Jeff and I were both chosen to continue co-leading our Sunday night worship team, which I'm really excited about! Not too much has changed for us as far as our responsibilities go, the only difference is that our coach, Mike, isn't there to make sure we aren't messing too much up. ;) In case you're wondering...here's what I do! Jeff and I meet on our own at some point during the week and choose the songs for the following Sunday. We usually try to learn a bit about what the theme will be for the week, who's talking and what about, so we can choose some songs that will go along with the theme. I make copies for everyone, and we also usually try to find some scripture that goes along with the theme and go through it with the band before practice, just to cast vision for the week and set the focus for our time of worship. I love it. :)
Agape Week
...that was our theme for last week. Wooo!! It was really awesome - the biggest thing we learned was that the best way to show love to our brothers and sisters is through words of affirmation. So we were challenged to affirm everyone as much as possible! It was really eye-opening to me though, because I realized, wow this is so cool, nobody ever does this! But in reality, this is something we should be doing this for each other every day. It was so encouraging to receive affirmation from others - I truly felt cared about and appreciated, and very loved! I also realized how fun it is to affirm others. Sometimes you can just see in someone's face how much they appreciate your encouragement and it's so worth it!a·ga·pe
1.the love of God for humankind.2.the love of Christians for other people, corresponding to the love of God for humankind.3.unselfish love of one person for another without sexual implications; brotherly love.
[1 John 4:9-12] 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
To sum it all up....agape week was good stuff.
Out of This WORLD
This is the first theme chosen by students! We're in the middle of our "Out of this world" themed week, which is basically teaching about rejecting the things of this world and focusing on our relationship with the Lord. This basically sums it up:
[1 John 2:15-17] 15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Fatheris not in them. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.
It's been really cool just focusing on pinning down the things that I put above God in my life and surrendering them to him. I'm really excited to see how the rest of the week plays out!
What God's Teaching Me
Here are three things I feel like the Lord has really been teaching me and laying on my heart this summer.
1) Positivity. I've always been prone to complain about things that I don't like or that make me uncomfortable. This past school year, I really was conscious of the fact that that's not okay and I worked on it a lot. I felt like I was beginning to get a decent handle on it, but then.....I got here!! I love it here SO MUCH, don't get me wrong. But as I've previously stated, my job is a challenge. It's super early in the morning, and rather monotonous. God is definitely testing me in my patience and ability to stay positive - there actually have been several times that I've said "yeah I have this complaining thing down! I'm being positive about everything now!" and literally the next day, something super lame happens! And it's another test for me to learn to be positive and look at God's plan for me and what He wants to teach me through a situation, rather than just being negative about it and complaining.
2) Self-Discipline. I know I touched on this a little bit before, so I won't say too much. But basically, I've always struggled with managing my time well and getting the sleep that I need. I'm one of those people that really needs my alone time at some point in the day, but I don't like that and I fight it every step of the way. I love being around people and I often will choose to hang out with my friends when I know that I need to rest, have a quiet time, or just be by myself in general - this is super draining! It's definitely challenging being here when we all live in the same area and see each other all the time. People especially hang out late at night, which I have to choose not to do and go to bed early so I can be rested for work early the next day. I feel like I've really been growing in this area this summer, but I still have a loooong way to go!
3) Loving by Faith. *Kind-of-touchy-subject-for-me alert* As followers of Christ, we are called to love everyone. Even people we don't like or don't get along with easily. This is something that's super hard for me, and if I come across someone I don't get along with or we just have super different personalities, my first tendency is to just avoid them. At school or wherever else, avoiding people is pretty easy. I maybe will have to say hi to someone every once in a while, but then I go my merry way and don't have to deal with anything again. Here, it's different. Don't get me wrong, everyone here is super great! But let's be real. There are 100 of us here. Ok well...97 but whatever. It's a lot of people. Odds are, not everyone's going to hit it off and be besties, right? Everywhere you go, you will come across someone who just rubs up against you and you may not exactly care to get to know them or spend time with them let alone love them. But guess what's so great?! We are called to love everyone, including those who you don't know how to connect with. Here, I don't have the option of avoiding anyone (and like I said, everyone here really is cool, there are just a lot of very different personalities!) and therefore, I have to learn to love them all. Imagine how super not fun it would be to be around people you can't get along with, ALL THE TIME! It's definitely a process for me, and I'm learning but have a long way to go. So please pray that I will continue to trust the Lord in learning to truly love each and every one of my brothers and sisters here on project!
Ok I think that's probably enough for today. Want to know how I decided that? It's because my battery is about to die. You're welcome for sharing. :)
Lauren
P.S. HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!
