End of the summer update

The summer is about coming to an end, and that leaves me trying to figure out where it went. This summer has been a great time of growth for me in several aspects of my life. I admit it’s hard for me to even know where to begin, because there’s just so much and a lot of that is hard for me to put into words. But here I go:

1. The Lord has blessed me with great friends and fellowship. I knew coming down here that for the most part I’d be around Christians a lot of the time, but I didn’t know that I’d be blessed with such great friends. And meeting people from all over the United States and being able to have conversations with them has been much fun but relationships that I have made with folks from here has truly been a blessing.

2. I’ve been encouraged to think theologically and know that as a female it’s alright to be thinking theologically (while I never thought it was wrong I felt a bit out of place when discussing theology since not many of my female friends didn’t care to learn and felt like others thought it wasn’t necessary for females to know).

3. Realizing my frailty and sinfulness and the need to lean on God and his strength and power. It is humbling when I come to the point of realizing that I am acknowledging God in provision and doing so much work here, but I fail to run to him and fully trust and rather being self-sufficient. I came to realize very quickly that if I was going to be self-sufficient I wasn’t going to make it too long. Not everyday has been easy, but then when was that ever promised. But I definitely see a difference in the times I am trying to be self-sufficient rather than being in prayer, reading scripture, and trusting God.

4. Seems small but huge to me…Realizing the advantages of singleness and seriously enjoying it. Still I’m pretty sure I don’t have the gift of singleness and don’t desire to be single forever; however, at this point I love it and realize that there is no need to be in a hurry.

5. I’ve been stretched this summer beyond what I ever could have thought. And busier than ever. But still have had a lot of fun. Working as a project coordinator and mainly coordinating the inexperienced teams has been an experience in itself. Like we say around here a team of experienced workers will work on a project for a couple of days, but a group of teens will work on a site and have the work done in a couple of hours, and be ready to move on to the next project. It has kept me busy and hasn’t left much time to be shy. But I have been able to meet many teens, adults, and community members.
   

I know there is much more that I have learned and experienced so far, but to be able to communicate it is difficult without rambling, so I’ll spare you.

There has been a lot to learn this summer and we have kept busy the entire time summer; this week, however, we are pretty quiet around the church grounds. We have one family volunteering this this week and had a day team come in on Monday, but that's it for this week. With the beginning of the school year our numbers have dropped a lot, but there is still plenty to be done here on the gulf coast and a need for more folks to come help.