Greetings from the bay
So far so GREAT! The weather is beautiful, the Peter Pan is as cozy as can be, and Santa Cruz is such a neat town. Very eclectic, even more so than Austin. I have quickly grown to love it. Even more awesome than the town: these people!! I couldn’t imagine a better group to be on project with. So lucky to live in such a tight-knit community with such an awesome group.
So far this week we have been getting to know our surroundings, the people, the town, etc. Some orientation and training and a lot of getting to know one another. I’m living in a room with 4 other girls from Oklahoma, Kentucky, North Carolina, and South Carolina. It’s only day 5 and I’m already dreading leaving them at the end of the summer. I can’t imagine how close we will become in 10 weeks. Yesterday, we had our “soul to soul”….we literally sat in our room from 9 AM - 2 PM and told one another our entire life story. We took any and all masks off and literally spilled our guts about our life: the pretty, the not so pretty, and the downright ugly. I felt like I knew them before, but now I really know them…and they really know me.
There are 59 students here and about 15 or 20 people on staff. We are constantly with eachother and everyone is quickly getting to know eachother. Believe it or not, my friends from North Carolina and South Carolina have way heavier accents than mine. :)
My new home for 10 weeks, the Peter Pan (AKA The Pan), is a block away from the beach and the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk where I’ll begin working on Saturday. Today was my first day of training for Marini’s. The front of the store is totally open and the ocean breeze is literally on my face while I’m working. It’s AWESOME. My friend Breanna (who also lives in Austin) and 2 other students from the project will be working with me. I’m looking forward to meeting our new coworkers and building relationships with them as well. Training day 2 is tomorrow!
Yesterday I was assigned to the prayer committee, which we all firmly believe is the backbone to the project. We are praying for God to do huge things in this city and we know that we can’t do it on our own. Please pray every day that God will work mightily in Santa Cruz and that not just hundreds, but thousands of people will place their trust in Christ this summer. We trust that He can move mountains and are so excited to see Him work in even bigger ways than He has in previous summers. This project has been going on since 1989 and we have heard so many stories of how projects in the past continue to transform lives today. James 4:2 says “you have not because you ask not” …so we are dreaming big dreams and asking big things.
Tonight we had dinner and worship at a vineyard in the mountains/hills about 30 minutes away from Santa Cruz. It was a beautiful place to eat and praise. I’ll post some pictures from our outing.
Our project verse:
“Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or vain conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interest, but also for the interests of others”
-Phillipians 2:1-4
Thanks again for all of your support and prayers. LOVE YOU ALL!
