May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. Psalm 19:14

New Beginnings

Hi everyone!! It has been two weeks since I last updated because last Wednesday it was the 4th so we didn't have reflection night.

I will start with last Thursday, Maria, myself and a guy from project came with us to pick up Chris (a coworker). We got to Cru and Chris seemed to be enjoying himself but right as I was about to share my testimony with everyone he got a phone call and missed the majority of the night..Turns out it was a bad news phone call so that is understandable but I wish he could have heard the message that night or heard my testimony. Speaking of my testimony It went very well, I was really nervous but just looked past people's heads and I got through it..it really wasn't that bad. I did feel my voice shaking but no one said they noticed :) I feel honored to have had that opportunity to get up in front cru people and their guest to share my story. Later that night we took Chris home and he later texted us saying that he had fun and was glad we brought him.

That weekend I cant remember what he did that well but I think we just explored down town more and went into some little shops which is always fun! Monday night we had women's time which was ofc...AMAZING. People had sumbitted anonymous questions for the women on staff. What I learned most that night was that I don't have to worry about not doing God's will for my life. I had a fear that I would pick the wrong career choice or even marry or don't marry josh. I learned that if I am in His word and praying and seeking after Him then he will reveal his will through that. He isn't going to try and trick me. So I feel much more at peace about listening for Gods will for my life :) Also a huge thing I learned was that one of the reasons I want to be engaged so bad..(besides the obvious ones :) ) was that I felt that if I just had that ring then I would have a for sure promise and I could be at ease and peace about Gods will. But now i realize that I do not have to worry whether it is God's will or not because he has already revealed to me (us) that it is his plan for us to get married. A while ago I had asked God to please not let our relationship continue if that is not who He wants me to marry. Anndd ofc we are still together and we are still seeking after God so obvi we will be married one day. Also God would not just have us in this relationship just for funzies to then just rip it away from us. Anyways..the main point was that it was really good night full of truth and wisdom :) Ohh I almost forgot..Sunday we had prayer and praise and we met in one of our churches and we got a paper with everyone's new role on project. For those of you who do not know, the staff leave half way through and the students get the those leadership roles that they had. I actually knew what role I had before but know one knew each others. Well they picked me to be the leader of the Community Team :) I was SO humbled by this, it came out of know where to me. I am really excited to have this position and also really nervous. I know God appointed me this and I know that he chose this role for me, for a reason. I can already see how he is using this to help mold and shape me. I am not a loud person in big groups and I am a huge people pleaser, I most of the time sit back and letter everyone make decisions and I will every now and then put my twp cents in..Being in this role forces me to get out of my comfort zone. We had our first meeting tonight that I lead and it was challenging..I loved it and it went well but it is not an easy task. I am so excited to see how God continues to use this position to strengthen my walk and Him and who he wants me to be. At times I think why did they pick me? but then I realized God picked me and that should be reason enough :) Anyways so we got see what everyone else's roles where. The directors of the project officially stepped down that night and introduced the new student directors. They had the directors and assisstant directors sit in the middle and the old directors came and washed the new directors feet. It was one of the most beauitful things I have ever seen..i started to tear up and thought it was silly that I got so emotion and then I looked around and every girl had tears in their eyes. Then all the old staff left the room and the new directos started to wash the new d group leaders feet and so on and so forth. It was such a humbling experience and I will never ever forget it :)

July 4th I worked but that night all of project went to Patriots Pointe to watch the fireworks. It was such a fun environment. They had food and everyone was dressed all patriotic. We were sitting right in front of the USS Yorktown overlooking the water. We thought we were right in line with the fireworks because from former years they set the fireworks off at the same spot but this year they were off to the side so some people couldn't hardly see them :/ but it was still so fun :)

The project banquet was Saturday and that was so so fun! We all got dressed up and went to this house and had an amazing dinner and then afterwards all the D groups preformed a song or poem for their D group leader who would be leaving. It was so fun to watch everyone preform and it was just really great to enjoy everyone's company. My d group changed the words to "you dont know your beautiful" it was so great :)  Once we got back to the hotel we were walking in the back lobby area where they normally have the weddings and we were passing by a wedding reception and we saw the brides picture up, so we went to look at it and then as we were walking away a guy asks us if we would like to come in and dance..we were like "no we dont want to offend the bride and groom" the guy next to said "I'm the groom, come on in" so we did :) it was so so fun we danced to one song in a total strangers wedding :)

This week at work it has been challenging because I have been in "the hole" all week, which is the first drive through window. I have not had any opportunities to get into spiritual conversations buttt yesterday and today were really good! Even though they were really long and busy I feel like I am apart of their little McDonalds family, everyone is starting to joke with me and I am actually laughing with them at work! It has been so great to see some coworkers walls come down and us have fun together. I can see that this is such a blessing from God. Maybe Gods plan for me at work is to being joy and laughter into the story, maybe it is to lead someone to Christ..Idk but I do know that I do not need to get discouraged when I am not the one who leads people to accept Christ, God can use me however he wants to and  maybe just being there is what he wants. But dont worry, I will get into some spiritual conversations at work :)

I am just SO thankful for this experience and all God is doing! I am making life long memories, life long friends and falling more in love with Jesus! I cannnot wait to come home and see everyone and give my family hugs and kisses! I am actaully excited to go home and serve my family, being away from them has taught me how much I actually do appreciate them and and love on them because the do mean SO much to me :)

Anyways sorry for this being so long!

Hannah :)

"So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. -Luke 11:9-10


Hi everyone! It is reflection night, so that means time for an update :)

Okay so last week you heard about Linda who we met, well she came with her boss to the CRU meeting Thursday night which was super awesome! We asked them after how they liked it and she said it was a little weird being back in that type of environment but that it was alright and her boss said she loved it. That Friday at work while I was moping and restocking my project coworker got off a littler earlier than I did so she was heading out to the car to wait until I got off. As she was walking to my car, Chris, a coworker asked if she wanted to talk with him until I got off..Isn't God AMAZING. He practically laid this opportunity to talk and get to know him in our laps...what a blessing!! Anyways..she found out that he has come from a rough background and that basically he has only been in SC for 3/4 months and is 19 and on his own. She was able to get into a spiritual conversation and he said that he though Christians were hypocritical.. well i mean..some most definitely are..no one is perfect..but apparently he had tried to go some churches around SC but they wouldn't let him come unless he hid his piercings and tattoos. This made me so sad :( She invited him to CRU and he said that he doesn't have a car and would need a ride to and from. Long story short Maria and I and also a guy friend from project will be coming along with us tomorrow to pick him up :) SO EXCITED! It is so evident that Chris is crying out for someone, anyone to pay attention to him, to acknowledge that he exist. He tends to talk about how much he drinks and does these crazy things and such and i think that is a way he is just trying to get noticed. Poor guy is all alone in a new city, no support from family and is financially insecure. God has given us these moments and opportunities to talk to him a little bit this week which is a huge answer to our prayers! I was starting to get discouraged because I thought we would never get opportunities to even get to know our coworkers. This morning I literally prayed for opportunities just to talk and God gave us them! I feel overwhelming blessed to be put in these situations and to see God's plan unfold. There is no better feeling or joy that comes from doing the will of Christ :) I feel so blessed that God wants to use me?!?! He could do this all on his own but he wants to use us for his plan! So Chris is coming to Cru tomorrow and so is Linda please please be praying for God to be working in their hearts! And that he will give us wisdom when talking to them. 

Ohhh one more thing..Linda called us on Saturday wanting to meet up for coffee! Here we see AGAIN God is handing us these moments on a silver platter..It was so encouraging that she wants to hang out with us, she knows why we are here this summer and knows what we believe, she is the type of person that if she was not interested at all in learning more, she would not want to hang out with us. So be praying for her and that she will open up to God and having a personal relationship with him because he is obviously working on her heart.

Okay..on a lighter note.. Saturday we had womens time!! ahhhh totes love it :)  We got all dressed up and went out to a beautiful house in Goose Creek. When we got there, they had a photo booth area where we could take silly pictures and then they had an area were we modged podged scrap booking paper to a wooden frame :) it was so fun! Then we had amazing food! We had chicken salad, fruit salad and red velvet cake!!! SOOO GOOD! then we heard a talk about not seeing how God is faithful in the big moments of life but also through the small stuff. Basically not just living mountaintop to mountaintop but also seeing his faithfulness in the smaller things, because they are just as important! We finished the night but watching Shes the Man in our PJs at the hotel :) Sunday was good we went to church and then went to my host family and we made pizza then made amazing sweet and salty cookies..amazing..I got the recipe :)  Work has been really good this week and I actually kinda had fun today..which is such a blessing!

I give my testimony at Cru tomorrow..please pray for me, I am kind of really nervous!

Well I guess that is it for now! :) Love and misss everyone at home..seriouslyyy..but I have already been here a month and only have a month and a half left..mixed emotions..exited but sad at the same time..Thanks for reading!

However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given to me-the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace. Acts 20:24

Hannah :)

Hey everyone! Sorry it has been so long since I last blogged..I have been really busy. This post will probably not be that good..but anyways..o on a side note..sorry if I miss spell or not use good grammar, most of the time when I am writing these, I only have so much time so I go fast and 'Im tired.

Okay so Last Thursday was the first Cru meeting at the College of Charleston, it was a great meeting to start off the summer. After Cru it is a tradition to walk to Yogurt Mountain..which is frozen yogurt and most of you know I am obsessed with froyo and this place is amazing!!! After working until about 2 on Friday I went for a run and hung out by the pool, it was so nice to finally be able to relax after an intense week. For dinner a bunch of project people went to a restaurant down town called Grouchos. It was a little sanwhich place and I got a chicken salad sandwich on pumpernickel..yum yum yum. After dinner we walked down to the battery. It was so beautiful, I love walked through the pretty trees and then over by the water watching the boats on the water and the sunset. It was a great way to end the day.

Saturday we had Without Walls which is an organization that sends groups of people into different low income neighborhoods and provides games for the kids, food, and clothes to hand out. Since it was our first time we were not sure how organized it would be. The children loved having us come and play with them but we didnt really know what the leader was doing. Next time we will come prepared for fun games that we understand and can play in an organized way..haha. Saturday night was the project social, which was tacky roller skating. It was fun to dress up and be silly, also it had been forever since I even put on a pair of roller skates..it was so fun that night, except I fell twice on my hip and got a mega bruise.

Sunday we went to church and then headed over to our host families house. We had yummy food, I cant remember what we had..and then we played fish bowl until our laundry was done. When I got back to the hotel I got to skype with my boo and catch up on what he is doing down in Clearwater beach. It is so neat because we are both doing the same type of things but at different places, so we can relate to one another. 

Wednesday night was nice, it was reflection night and I went to starbucks :) I spend some time in the word, reading and books and working on my testimony. I was in the process of writing out my testimony because I will be sharing my testimony Thursday in front of everyone on project..im slightly nervous..okay really nervous..please please please pray that I have full confidence and am not scared. 

Friday night Lana (roomie) and I went to a place called five loafs and it was delish. It was kind of in a sketch part of town but the food was amazing and it was so cute int there. Later that night I volunteered to babysit for one of the staff families. I got to babysit a little boy named Caleb and it was adorable and such a sweet angel. After he was asleep I was able to finish up working on support letters, addressing envelopes and things like that.  I so tired that when I got back I went straight to bed. 

Saturday was a wonderful day! We went out to Folly beach and did some outreach. I had some pretty good conversations. There was a group of 3 girls that we talked to and two of the girls were believers and seemed to be following after Christ and the other girl was not a believer. She said that she has heard so many different things and doesn't like when people force things on her and tell her to believe a certain thing. We left her with a KGP and hopefully she will look into it and ask her friends questions. I am praying that we planted a seed and with her friends close by God will lead her to Him, in his timing. EXCITING NEWS- 3 people excepted Christ that day!!   After outreach me and the roomies went and ate at Taco Boy. Taco boy is a mexican resturant by the beach and it was delicious buy way pricey, so I wont be going back but it was nice to try. We came back to the hotel and got ready for swing dancing night. The community left early to set up. We had punch, cookies and christmas lights. It was fun learning some basic moves. Afterwards about 5 of us decided to walk downtown. We went to the Fudgery and they had the best fudge and ice cream. After we got our ice cream we walked to a hotel called Charleston Place, which is this really nice hotel downtown. We rode the elevator to the 6th floor and then took the stairs to the 8th floor, where we walked out onto the roof. It was so beautiful, we got see the whole city at night from the roof of a hotel. It was so fun having such an adventurous day. The roomies and I ended the day with some pillow talk :) 

I got to talk to my daddy today which was nice. It was sad to be without him on fathers day but It makes me so thankful for him and I will cherish the fathers day we have to come in the future. Tonight we had praise and worship on the dock across the street from our hotel..so amazing and gorgeous. Something about being outside in God's creating worshiping and praying is amazing. 

I will not wait so long next time to blog so I can remember more details.

 Please pray for my coworkers and that I can share my story, and the gospel. Pray God will give me opportunities to get to know them personally and so I can talk to them about Christ. Please pray that I will use my time wisely this week and continue to in my faith. Thank you so much for your constant prayers! 

Hannah :)

 

Wow! what a crazy last couple of days! I have been super busy, to where I have had barley any time to eat. Ill try and recap everything :)_

Okey dokey, on Saturday we did outreach on the beach. We split up and I was with my d group leader and another girl from d group. We headed out on the beach and soon after we were lead to two girls. We asked them if they would like to take the Solarium picture survey. This is a 5 question survey where the person gets to pick pictures or a picture according to what the question asked. I love using this tool for outreach because it is fun and not a weird way of getting into spiritual conversations. Anyways back to the two girls, one girl didn't want to do it at first but her friend was more interested, so they both ended up doing it. The hesatint girl was really into science and didn't know much about God or if there was even a God, the girl on the left was not completely sure if God existed but thought there was a higher power. The second girl also shared that she is looking for peace. We decided to just leave them with a booklet that explained the gospel but we did not go through it with them because that would not have been good timing. Please pray for them and that they find out who their creator is and what he has done for them. Also pray that the the second girl finds that she can only find that peace she is looking for through Jesus Christ. We talked to a few more people on the beach and then headed back to the hotel. It is so good to remember that even though no one came to know Christ on the beach, that God was planting seeds and that's  what is important. 

Sunday was Awesome! I went to a church called Sanctuary and I really liked the pastor/message and the worship. After church we met our host families. My host family is Sam and Rachael. The are a young couple that has been married about two years. Crazy fact, Sam used to play professional football, he used to play for the Rams..so cool! Anyways, after church we went to their house and Rachael fixed an amazing lunch, and made a great desert ( super healthy which I loved ofc ). While we ate, our laundry was being done. After lunch it was nice to hang out with such a cute Godly couple. They told us how they met and it was so neat hearing how God brought them together. They are super nice and said some Sundays they will take us out to do something fun :) seriously so nice!! Sunday night we had prayer and praise which was a nice way to prepare for the week ahead.

Monday I had orientation for McDonald's and that was really encouraging, they were super nice. I started my first day of working by getting up at 5:20..We arrived and it was not that good..they just through us in without any introduction to the store, or other employees. I barely new what I was doing and so that wasn't fun and we never got a break to eat lunch. I worked until 3 and basically cried/laughed with my other coworker from project all the way home. I have now done two days at McDonalds and today was a little better, although I did end up crying AT work.. embarrassing..I just a little overwhelmed at one point. God has already taught me so much by working there. First off, I have a whole new respect for people that work in fast food. Also God has humbled me so much, I always had a perception of McDonalds employees and here I am, the girl who is asking them for their help constantly, they are so good at it! The biggest thing I have learned is that, after my horrible day on Tuesday I was kind of complaining and then I realized Jesus was in heaven perfectly happy sitting on his thrown with the Father and he came down to earth. We was treated a thousand times worse on earth than I or anyone else will ever be, he didn't have to come but he did. So if Jesus came down from Heaven to save us, then I can suck it up and spend two months of my whole life at McDonalds. 

So that is basically all I have for tonight..Oh I am writing this now in my reflection time, which is a time where you can spend journaling,blogging, reading, having a quiet time, to just spend time with God and reflect and take some time to be alone. It is SO nice, I think this will be my favorite time of the week :) Thanks SO much for your continuous prayers! I will update when I can! Love everyone 

Hey everyone! Today the roommates and I got up and drove downtown to do a little shopping :) The stores were really expensive but that was okay, it was nice to walk around. We did have some frozen yogurt at a place called Yogurt Mountain and this place was amazingg, it was so delicious, I am obsessed with it! We moved our car and then headed for the market. The market was fun to walk through, they had some neat stuff but some of the stuff near the beginning was really expensive but as you moved through it got cheaper. I got a few things and will definitively be coming back for some more :)

We came back to our hotel and headed down to the pool. Afterwards I headed to the gym and then got cleaned up for dinner. Dinner tonight was had our projector director's in law's house. This back yard was so beautiful. It had a pong, a bridge, fish, and a three story tree house. How cool would it have been to grow up there!?! For dinner we had a Charleston meal, which was low country boil. It had sausage, corn, potatoes, and shrimp, it was yummy! When we got back to the hotel I skyped with the wonderful boyfriend and got to see his precious face! Even though we do long distance during the school year, it is still hard to be away from him during the summer too. I appreciate seeing his precious face on skype! Thank you Lord for technology! :)

Tomorrow will be an exciting day, as it is out first day of outreach on the beach! I am so excited and can't wait to get into some spiritual conversations with people and see God work! Love you guys!

Hannah

Hey everyone! I have had a wonderful day. Today I got up and did my quiet time out in this courtyard area outside the hotel. It was nice to just hang out with God, talk to Him and hear what He had to say. God has already shown and done so much in me, in the short time I have been here. One major thing is that serving God may involve at times leaving your family and comforts. When I first got here I was really homesick and would have been fine to leave and go home the first day, I missed my family, my house, my dog :) Yesterday I realized that God wanted me to leave everything and follow him in Charleston. Now this doesnt mean forget about them and drop all communication but just that I need to step out in faith and with no comforts of home to comfort me, I had to put all my trust and comfort into Gods hands. With this, I then realized that even if we don't have anything else in the world, if we have God everything will be okay. This is something that I have already known for forever but it didn't become real to me, until I left my comfy home. Anyways, back to today. After eating breakfast me and the roomies went to good ol wally world and got some food then we ate lunch and headed to the great Folley Beach. We soaked up the sun for a couple of hours until we went back and showered and got ready for dinner. Before we left for dinner I got to skype with the fam which was nice seeing their faces :) We went to one of our host churches and this great lady cooked an amazing dinner, we had chicken, green beans, salad, mac and cheese, and lemonade/sweet tea mixture, all homemade :) After dinner we got told what ministry group we would be in. I found out I will be in the Community group which is a group that puts together the socials throughout the summer, with the goal of creating authentic relationships with everyone on project.  We talked about some great ideas, and I am excited to see some of them play out. After this meeting. I hit the gym and got a nice short workout in to end my day. Now I am just chilling in the room with the girls and milton (my bear). It is nice to have some time to relax in the room.

Here are some pictures of my room and a picture of the beach today :)

Hannah

 Roomies at the beach.

 My closet for summer.

 The room

 My bed and Milton

This morning we had more orientation and I found out what McDonalds store I will be working at and who I will be working with. I also found out that my orientation is not until Monday so that means I have all of tomorrow and Friday free :) woop woop After lunch we met back in our meeting room to start a scavenger hunt. We were split up into our D groups and were given of a list of things to find and certain things were worth certain points. Another thing was that the staff were disguised and scattered amongst down town and if we found and a got a picture with them, that was extra points. We did not win, but we weren't trying too hard. The scavenger hunt gave us an opportunity to explore the Charleston downtown area, which I am in love with. There are SO many cute little stores and cobble stone streets. We went down rainbow row, the battery, and the water front park, which was beautiful and we got to see some dolphins :) Then we had dinner and turned in our money we raised! I am so blessed and thankful for what the Lord has given me financially to go on this project, I still have a little more to go, but seeing his provision through this has been a great growing experience God hand picked me and wants me at Charleston this summer, I cannot be more excited to see what he has planned! The last thing we did was called "window to the soul" which was a time with our D group to open up and tell a little about our history, our greatest achievements and failures, how did we see God work last semester and how we were feeling coming into summer project. It was nice to see that we all had different stories and different strengths and weaknesses but that God had placed us together here this summer to work for His glory. Something that is good to keep reminding myself, is that God doesn't call the equipped he equips the called. Which is so encouraging! I am so very thankful for this experience because it is one that not everyone gets to do, and it is something that I will carry for the rest of my life.

Here are some pictures..enjoy!

 This was the Movie Theater in the Notebook! I was so excited :)

 The Market

And it begins...

I made it to Charleston safely! I left this morning a little after 10 and as I was driving out of town I started thinking, " I will not see this place for 10 weeks" and that kind of made me sad. I am such a homebody, even though Greenville is not the most exciting place on earth..it home for me.

 Five hours and some boring interstate later I arrived at the lovely Charleston Marrriott. This hotel is so nice and beauitful. It feels unreal to be living in a hotel all summer. I met my roommates and they are great :) After we unpacked and got settled we went to dinner with our D (discipleship) group leader. That was good just talking and getting to know each other. After dinner we met the staff and got these project notebooks with all kinds of information. After the meeting we had an ice cream social and that was nice meeting everyone from all over. Now I am just chillen in bed with Milton (my polar bear) reflecting on the day.

I have to say, I miss home and everyone A LOT, I hope this is normal..I am still excited to see what the next couple of days will be like but it is hard to get past the first couple of days. Thank you for your prayers they mean a lot. Also please say a special prayer for Josh's dad, he was in a wreck this morning (hes ok) but has a broken nose and a few broken ribs. Thanks again :)

Till tomorrow :)

Hannah 

 So I have never done a blog before and I am probably no good at it..but thats okay :) here we go..

 I officially started packing today..and with that came the realization that I am actually leaving Tuesday. This brought so many mixed emotions. I am SO excited to see and live in beautiful Charleston all summer and I can't  wait to meet everyone! I am also feeling very nervous mostly because I have never been away from home for more than a week (I know its about time haha) and now I will be away for 10 weeks! I am also nervous because I don't know anyone on the project and I do not really know what to expect. One thing I am certain of is that God knows what He is doing and has big plans for me this summer.

I know this summer will have its challenges and it won't always be fun or easy, but I know it will be rewarding. This summer I hope to be stretched, grow closer to God, make tons of new friends, and most importantly have a new, strong desire tell people about Christ.

I am asking for prayers as I go on this journey, please pray for everyone going on project to arrive safely on Tuesday, pray for nerves to calm, pray for boldness and pray for the people's hearts we will be talking to. I cannnnnnnottttt waitt to telll everyone all the stories from this summer! I will try and update this as often as I can. Next time I blog...I will be in CHARLESTON :) Love and miss everyone already!