Last weekend (last one in June) was midsummer adventure weekend. Hard to believe that we're already halfway done with the summer. More, than actually. Our weekend was action packed. Friday night we hiked to the Mendenhall Glacier.
April, Stephanie, Kelly, Hope, Abbi, Emily
Jacquelyn, Samantha, Shelby, Ashley, Me by the glacier
Then the next day a local lady, Debbie Douglass, was kind enough to take us out kayaking. She is one of the most incredible women. She lives an adventure-packed life and gives all her glory to God. It's really incredible. We actually spent that night at her house and got to hear her testimony.
Mendenhall Glacier from the water
Then that night we all got fancied up and went out to a nice dinner.
Samantha, Ashley, Abbi, me
And to cap it off we ran a 5k at midnight called "Only Fools Run at Midnight." Most people dress ridiculously, so we did too. We also sang songs the whole way to keep our minds off the run and sometimes people joined in.
Kelly, Emily, Sam, Me, Ashley, Hope
Weekends always end with ultimate frisbee on Sunday, which is usually something I look forward to every week.
Women's development last week we focused on our theme for the week: giving up control.
Our verse: Matthew 6:33-34
But seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
We spent some time at this beautiful waterfall and threw rocks representing our sin into it. It's cool to see how nature reflects God and our relationship with Him: we give Him our sin and after a lot of struggle (the rapids) we come out smooth and calm. Often it takes awhile (I'm not sure I'll ever reach the smooth and calm stage), but it's still cool to see that there is a purpose and an end goal: His glory and closer relationship with Him.
action group at the waterfall:
Shelby, me, Hope
Then we gave up more control by jumping into the really cold Auke Lake. Many of us thought we were going to go cliff-jumping (we've heard most of the boys' action groups went already and thought it was finally our turn), so jumping in a cold lake was no big.
Kelly and Abbi
The rest of the week passed and we spent this past weekend volunteering and fellowshipping. Friday we painted a Head Start, and Saturday we laid tarp for a community garden.
James, Samantha, Jonathan, and Richard
Unfortunately, because of the rainy, overcast weather the fireworks on Saturday night were cancelled. Juneau usually does fireworks at midnight of the 3rd because it's too light during the day to appreciate. We planned on going downtown sharing and having a BBQ, but no fireworks=no people downtown. Luckily the church we'd volunteered with on Saturday was having service that night, as well as a get together/bonfire at what they call "Jesus Beach House" (their ministry house). It was a great opportunity to go to a more contemporary church-setting as well as to spend some very chill time getting to talk to some local Christians.
This week brings about lots of change. Staff leaves starting tomorrow, and all will be gone by Thursday. This mean that we are now running project. Every woman has been assigned a leadership role-I'm service leader. Not really sure what that looks like yet, but it should be great. Hard to believe the staff is already leaving AND we have just over four weeks left.
Know what else struck me yesterday as I was scooping cookie dough (one of the many prep tasks at the Silverbow): I'm in Juneau Alaska. You'd think I would've realized that, but I think the past couple weeks I've kind of been in a daze of exhaustion and just being busy all the time. Luckily God's used the past 24 hours-ish to kind of kick my butt into gear and help me realize that we only have a little bit of time left and there's still so much that needs to be done. I know at the rate I'm going I'll probably be upset when I leave, feeling like I didn't try my best to build relationships and pour into those around me; like I'm not as close to my fellow girls as I wish I was; like I didn't fall in love with or grow as close to God as much as I'd hoped.
But, last night in prayer team we talked about praying to God about the little stuff. Yes, it's important to pray big prayers and have faith that God will fulfill them, but it's also important to take note of all the little stuff He does for us every day: waking up, having a job, being in Alaska, having family and friends back home to miss, relationships, etc.
Yet He did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.
--Acts 14:17
I've been doing the Our Daily Bread daily devotional, and it has been really amazing the Scripture that God's been revealing to me. That above passage is one example, and this morning also I got a reminder:
And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
Hebrews 11:6
Some things to pray for:
- that God would continue to give me faith and perseverance to seek Him.
- for our new student leaders and the direction of the rest of the project.
- that me and my co-workers would be representing Christ well to our co-workers and for opportunities and boldness to share
- I've been homesick, so comfort in that
- a sense of urgency among all of us on Project to impact people with the time we have left
No comments:
Post a Comment