1 Thessalonians 5:23-24

Well the past few weeks have been awesome! We have had weekdays to work, evenings to grow together, Saturdays of outreach and Sundays of praise and worship. God has provided me with a great job at a local tourist shop two minutes from the beach. I'm able to make a decent amount of money with good hours and hopefully will be able to share the gospel with the few people I work with there.
Instead of giving every detail about the events and happenings of each day and week, I just want to somehow try and give you a personal summary of the amazing spiritual depths that are being reached and the lives being touched and the bonding between fellow believers. When I look over the work we have been doing here I see three levels that are being touched.
The first is the personal spiritual development of each of us. For myself, being discipled by staff and sharing with Christians more mature than me has blessed me enormously. I'm continually thankful for the conversations rich in Godly wisdom that I am able to hear and participate in. God has been teaching me how to really hear from his word and study it deeper. To pray without ceasing, to have a mind continually on him and prayer. So many ways he has grown me already and so many sins and other places in my life he is working on. He is giving me a whole new perspective on the things in life that is being solidified into habit so that when going back to home and to Clemson, I will be able to continue to grow and hopefully not become stagnant or backslide. I hope to be able to be a light to all of my old and new friends there, Christian and not.
The second thing is our outreach to others. This past Saturday our outreach consisted of three parts. Some of us went around neighborhoods to survey people for the church to get to know the community and share the gospel. Some had a block party for a Habitat for Humanity neighborhood with snow cones, games and face painting. The rest teamed up with a church we have connected with here to paint in an elementary school. We had an ice cream party for people here in the resort one week and have had several other outreaches. Its so cool how we have been able to make connections and touch lives. Although we haven't had a specific encounter where someone accepted Christ, I know God has used us to make a lot of people really think and reconsider who God is to them. We are praying those we have encountered will try out the church we are planting and come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
The last awesome thing I thank God for doing in our lives is the friendships he is building. Hearing each other's testimonies, sharing in the hard work and long days, being able to experience God together and having fun and goofing off the rest of the time has really brought us closer together. My bible study and leader have been amazing girls to share with, complain to, and grow with as Christians. I'm sure that many of us will still be great friends after returning to Clemson and other schools and will continue to grow together and hold each other accountable.
Praise God for what he's done and what he will continue to do in us, through us and in those around us. Please pray that he will keep the unity that our group has, prepare us to take the leadership when it is time for the staff to leave us to run this program on our own, and that he will continue to provide the opportunities to reach out to and bring others to himself here in this place where so many need him.
Lastly, I want to thank all of you again who supported me, the last $400 has been covered and so the total support needed has officially been raised. Thank you all and God bless you for your generosity. Have an awesome week everyone!