Seeing People Differently

Hello Everyone!!
 I hope your summer has been wonderful so far as mine has! 
Well, we have ended our 3rd week here and beginning week #4!! I don't know about you but that is crazy! It feels like I have been here for only a day and then at the same time feels like months, haha. But I wanted to catch ya'll up on whats been happin' here in Chi-Town!

--This past week we have hit on our 3rd section of 1 Peter (1:13-2:3). This section of scripture says so much to believers. We are told that we are God's called existence. Through this we know that Jesus gives us our name and our reason for existence. That is amazing! He also tells us how he is our cornerstone and our foundation for life. If you really think about it, if God was not in your life would your life fall apart? or would it stay the same? This is really convicting. How much of your day do you rely on God and how would it really change if you were not a believer? This section overall reassures us of our significance in Christ. It assures us of our salvation and who and what were called to, God's Kingdom.

 **So there has been a lot of confusion with me and having a job. I only have 7 weeks left and I have been wanting to start work so bad!  I was searching like crazy to waitress somewhere in the city and then I was officially hired at Forever Yogurt (FY) (a frozen yogurt shop). After a lot of confusion with getting on the schedule and finding out it is in the Gay Community and this was Gay Pride weekend, I was already not looking forward to working there..I continued to search for a job. Although I was still searching I still went to an 11pm work meeting that they had at FY. I figured that if God wanted me to work in this community then I need to trust in His plan. Well, the meeting was terrible to say the least. I not only did not get home till 4am from cleaning the store that I had not even had my first day in, but I was also exposed to homosexuality like no other. As soon as I walked in the door I felt unwanted as the manager didn't know I was going to be there ( I mean, I am an employee right?) The district manager was, lets just say, feminine, and was somewhat rude to me. The very first thing that was said about our uniforms was that we don't need to wear crazy jewelry. He continued to say, "If you have to wear your Jesus then I guess that's okay." Everyone laughed as I looked and saw I was the only one wearing a cross on my neck. This was just one of the ways that I knew I was an Exile in that place just like Peter talked about in the Bible.
Well the night before my first day of work (Saturday) I was in pain of not wanting to go back. I was in tears with fear of what would happen the next day in that place. I literally wanted to get fired so I wouldn't have to say that I backed out. Well that night God really told me how he loves those people that hurt my feelings. That is crazy that He loves them, they are His creation. Every good thought God has about me, he has about them also. They are humans who are just like me, fallen sinners that do not know who there searching for. Yeah they make different decisions than me, and they look and dress different but if God loves them, I am called to as well, no matter how hard it is. So I asked God for strength for the next day as I could not go in there with my harden heart about that community without His strength.
--That day at work was nothing like I expected it to be. I worked with a girl that was very kind and somehow I appreciated every person that walked into the store no matter what they were dressed like or who they were holding hands with. God turned my heart to see them as people, people that He loves, just like me. I was eternally saddened that I ever thought differently about them. I think God allowed me to go through this struggle because I had a hard heart toward Gay's and homosexuals. I had a worldly view of them and did not consider God's view of them. I was tested to rely on God once again for his strength.

Even though God worked in my heart that day, more conflict came about. After I left work I called a restaurant to follow up with the manager and he told me he wants me to waitress for him. WAITRESS! THIS IS WHAT I HAVE BEEN WANTING! but is it where I need to be? I honestly do not know the answer to this question. I am training at the restaurant tomorrow. I pray God allows me to glorify him in which ever job I choose. Both places are "dark" and need a light. I know God will work in whichever one I choose.
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"Confidence about my identity is primarily rooted in understanding God's character, not mine."

"It means to live in such a way that our lives do not make since if God did not exist."

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Prayer Request:
Choosing a Job
& Events: I'm running a cookout Thursday on campus for UIC students that we have met.
Evangelism on campus this week

Specific Names of people to pray for:  Helen, Ester, Aly, Ellie, and Nikki
These are either girls on campus or ones I have met in the community that I will keep in contact with throughout the summer.

Thank you, and love you all!

A little about Week #2 !

Well to start off, Happy Father's Day to any dads reading this, especially mine! This week has been filled with so much stuff I want to tell yall about in more detail than I can type. I will try my best to be short but include the good stuff =)

Girl Time --
We started off Week#2 with a Women's time on last Sunday night. All of the women on project hung out in our meeting room, ate cookies and milk, and got to know one another. We shared personal struggles that we are coming into project with. Everyone has different struggles that they are dealing with and some the same; we just want to learn how to be vulnerable with each other in order to lift one another up throughout the summer. We shared tears and hugs with things we have been dealing with but we also shared laughter and smiles. This started off the week with a huge girl bondage of knowing one another and caring for each other with a deep compassion. God calls us to be open and honest even when it feels weird. He says for us to confess our sins to one another so we may be truly healed.

Tuesday night I got to share my testimony with my bible study. This allowed them to know me even better, know my heart, and my struggles as we study 1 Peter together---I will eventually share my testimony on here (on my blog) for you all to hear.

Me and Logan had lunch on Tuesday with Helen (our Chinese friend from UIC) and her roommate. She surprised us with a meal she cooked for us! It was some kind of fish wrap with cabbage..not too sure but it was delicious! She is such a nice girl that we already know so well. Over lunch we discussed our weekends, our lives, and touched on the Gospel. She had many hard questions that challenged me and Logan.

Broken--
On Thursday night Helen and her roommate came to our weekly meeting to sing, worship, and hear a little on 1 Peter. We happened to have communion that night and I was immediately worried about what they would think about it. I did not want them to be taken back by what might seem to be weird to them. I also did not want them to be upset when I tell them that its only for believers. --Little did I know that this was going to be not only a step of faith for me but also a way of compassionate worship to the gospel...
As our leader began to set out the bread, cups of juice, and gather helpers at the front, I began to ponder on how I would explain this to Helen and her roommate sitting on the couch beside me. I felt God telling me that they needed to know what was going on. (Of course the guy leading communion explained it but their English is only so good). As I leaned over and explained to them why we take communion, what it represents, and why it's only for believers, I found myself teaching myself the Gospel and why I also take it. It stirred in my heart how Jesus's body ("his flesh" as Helen called it) was broken for us and how his blood poured out.  After I went up and gotten my bread and dipped it in the juice, I went back to my seat and let Helen and her friend listen to me pray to my God before taking the bread. It was the first time I had ever taken communion in tears for what the Gospel actually is. I am blessed to have shared that experience with those two girls. God uses every situation in our lives that make us nervous, scared, or worried what others will think, for his glory and our good.


Prayer Requests:
Patience for a job
A love for this crazy city
Safety
For all of my friend's hearts that I have met on UIC's campus
For our hearts to be focused on why we are here


And for my family back home that I miss and love very much!




Thank you for reading! Yall are in my prayers! Love you!
Feel free to comment on here at the bottom! I would love to hear what you think !

This is the whole Chicago Project 2012 (plus Helen) 

This is Helen! 

Christians are so Beautiful

Well I have been here a week so far and God has already done some awesome things in one short week. I have pretty much gotten used to the weekly schedule we will have (minus my job schedule). This week was very busy but productive. During the days we either are working or on the UIC campus to initiate conversations, get to know people, share the gospel, and follow up with those we already talked to. For me, I am in the process of getting on the schedule at Forever Yogurt (frozen yogurt). So during the afternoon is really when we have various activities for the project. On Monday nights they serve us dinner (Chicago Pizza) and and we learn a new tool or "training" for talking to people/ sharing the gospel. On Tuesday nights we meet with our Action Groups. Action groups are just like a small group bible study. Mine consist of 4 other girls and 2 leaders. We are going through 1 Peter in depth of it in small sections, seeing different translations, the writers point of view, and the time period that it was written. Wednesday nights are our "Night with the Lord." This is a night for us to whatever we want to do that is spending time with Jesus and nobody else. We can either have our own quiet time, catch up on our 1Peter notebook, do our devotional (Thirsty), listen to worship music, or simply anything that we want to do. Thursday nights are our MAIN NIGHT here on project. Just like back at school when all the CRU's have their main meeting on Thursdays to invite people to join us and maybe hear the gospel for the first time, and worship, we do too. So we are fed dinner (Asian food ) and we head into the meeting room for a message and some awesome worship music. Friday and Saturdays are usually free for us to work but the project still schedules some activities for the people that do not have to work. For example, today we have a meeting that will tell us how to communicate better with international students. Sundays, we attend Church-Willow Chicago-in the mornings and we have different activities in the afternoon. We will usually do outreach somewhere in the city and then meet with 2 other Action groups so talk, share, and encourage one another for the week.

On another topic----
I went out on UIC campus two days this week. Me and my partner (that changes) initiated many conversations with people but it all stared with a girl named Helen. I will not go into detail about the amazing conversation we had with her but to say the least she is from China, has been here for only a month, and is very interested in "what is it Christians have that other people do not have." ---She came to our Thursday night CRU meeting and had many questions after. I answered them the best I could and when I couldn't I referred her to a couple people here that speak Chinese, haha.  I only hope she fully understands the Gospel by the end of this summer and God works in her heart. I am blessed to have been a part in sharing the Gospel with her.

"Christians are so beautiful and happy and they look so young and it comes from inside"  -Helen

Prayer Request:
My personal time with the Lord while I am here
For Helen and her comprehension of the Gospel
Our love for this lost city
and
Our safety

Taking a Step of Faith: Plant Seeds

I would like to share with you a little about how we are sharing the Gospel in the city and on UIC campus. Of course I will not be blogging about every conversation I have while I am here but I would like to share my first encounter I had. 

Well we did not waste any time getting our feet in the water when it comes to sharing the gospel. Yesterday, Sunday, was our first day going out into the city to see where God lead our conversations with people. Me and Amanda Driggers were partners. We paired up together because God allowed me to feel confident enough to lead Amanda into sharing the KGP with people. The KGP is a Knowing God Personally booklet. I personally am pickey when it comes to using "tools" to share the gospel as it should be intimate and personal. But the KGP, in my opinion, is a simple visual of the Gospel in 4 main points. Anyways, we ventured out into Millennium Park where hundreds of people are simply enjoying the day. Amanda and I prayed as we walked toward the park for the people God would lead us to. We were looking for girls around our age as we thought this would be a good target for the day. We first walked up to two girls sitting in the grass. We found out they were 24 and 22, one a law student and the other had just graduated. We began a conversation with a "survey were doing." The questions led into a spiritual conversation about why some people are so committed to their faith. I asked if I could tell them my story and they were very interested in what I had to say. Soon to find out, they had studied religions at their college but knew NOTHING about Jesus Christ.---I would just like to say this broke my heart. Coming from the South almost everyone knows the Christian background or has at least heard the name Jesus---I was honored to share the Gospel with them for the first time and talk with them for about 30min about their lives. They were amazed at what we believed and took great interest in it. Unfortunately, they let us know they were only interested in a academic way and not a personal way. Of course I said I understand and we gave them some resources to use for more information. 

After we left we met up with a girl sitting in the grass alone. She at first said she had already been "talked with" but would like to talk more if we wanted to. Of course we sat right down beside her and began to talk. --Side Note: people want to talk about their life and about what they believe! Just listen to them --- Amanda wanted to lead this conversation with this girl and so she began to ask her questions about her life and what she does. She told us how she grew up in a Christian home and her family are believers but she was not. She eventually shared with us how she thinks that whatever religion one chooses is the best for them as an individual. She also said how she thinks Jesus was the son of God but he was not God. ---Just so you know, Jesus is God: 3 in 1 ---While Amanda took a step of faith and retold her the Gospel and what we believed in our conversation with this girl I also took my faith a step further. I began to ask this girl deeper questions--praying she did not get offended--she took them well and seemed to enjoy telling what she thought. It made her think a little as I asked her "Do you believe Jesus died for you? (maybe) Do you believe he died for me? (yes) What makes you different from me? (what you believe) So if you believed what I believe then would he have died for you then? (yes). This is an example of how our confusing yet challenging conversation went. By the end of talking with her we were all three laughing and simply enjoying our times together talking about our faith. ---I wish I could say that by the end of the conversation she eventually understood the gospel, but she didn't. We only thanked her and encouraged her to look into it more and contact us for questions. 

Amanda and I took a step of faith in sharing the gospel with these girls and asking them questions. What is in their hearts is up to God and we can only pray that he will keep them interested in the gospel   until they fall in love with such a beautiful love story as it is. I thank God that I can simply have the opportunity to say his name in such a diverse city of Chicago. We will leave the results up to him. 

Thank you for reading! 

<3 Talk to you soon, DRC 

Country Girl to City Girl

Well to start of, I will explain the title by saying that I got lost in the city for around two hours today. I was not alone, don't worry, but we had NO CLUE where we were. Long story short, we  asked the bus driver to take us to a blue line (L-train--the only think I understand so far) and we got back to our side of town (the safe side). 


Anyways, this weekend getting settled in and such has been awesome. One of our first meetings our staff speaker talked on Acts 4: 32-5:16. Here we can look at how a Christian community is supposed to look like: loving, sharing, having grace, being satisfied, and everyone meeting the needs of everyone together. But also, Peter shows another side of this type of community. He knows that Ananias and his wife Sapphira are being untruthful and not being honest in their community. What would you do in this situation? Ignore it? Say, well they are "out of the circle of trust."   Well Peter shows us how to treat our brothers and sisters in Christ if we know they are truly believers. He confronts them and he asks WHY they are doing this in a loving and gracious way (Acts 5:3). This is a characteristic of a Christian community that is hard to go about. No one wants to bring up another's faults to them because they know they are not perfect either. But that is the point of this! Everyone is sinful and we all do not deserve grace but God tells us to be vulnerable with one another so he can be glorified by his COMMUNITY of believers together. --This is something I have learned to do the past 6 months or so being in a believing community at ECU. Everyone confesses their struggles openly, honestly, and with out guilt. They (we) lift each other up and WALK WITH CHIRST TOGETHER. I think this is what Peter is showing us in Acts as he confronts the couple of their faults. We need to rely on other Christians to hold us accountable and help walk with us through this life. God gives us people in our lives for a reason. I already know that this summer I will be challenged with being open and honest with people that I have just met. I have to be honest and vulnerable with them so I can ultimately be held accountable and give God the glory in the end. 


I pray that God reveals something to you today that he either wants you to deal with and give up to him or that you simply need to learn to let others help you in your walk with Christ. Other believers- small groups- and churches- are Gods people. We are called to talk, walk, cry, hurt, confront, praise, and worship him as one body in Christ. 


<3 DRC

First Day in Chicago

Today has been a very long, tiring, and exciting day. My day began with getting up at 3:45 to get on a 7:25 plane flight to head out to Chicago, IL. Saying goodbye to my family brought tears to my eyes but it also gave me a warmth in my heart knowing that I will be missed. Before we came we had to read 1 Peter to get us used to what we will be studying while were here. Here Peter is talking to believers about the qualities that a believer has. He is telling them to live their life without fear while they are here on earth because we have already inherited imperishable life and have hope through God. This really got be through my underlying fear of coming to Chicago.  I look at my past summers and they were great but I was not growing in my relationship with God by sitting on the beach all day and working at a restaurant without any intentions of sharing the gospel. So, with this in mind I have no doubt that God will make this summer more different than any other. Peter tells us to live lives that are noticed by unbelievers and bring glory to God. This is my goal for the summer. I do not want to go unnoticed by my unbelieving friends when I return to my campus at ECU and I also want to learn how to glorify my God in everything I do.

Well back to my first day here, when I landed in Chicago we were picked up by some of the staff members as we began our journey into the city. It was exactly what I expected plus a lot of construction! haha Someone told me that here they have two seasons: Winter and Construction. Guess i'm stuck between the yellow cones this summer! Anyways. I am staying with 68 other college students and 14 staff families (families meaning there are a TON of kids here!) in an apartment complex right next to the University of Illinois. 14 of the students, including myself, are from ECU's Campus Crusade for Christ. We noticed real quickly that we are the biggest group of students here that are all from the same school. This gives ECU a big name on this project ("Southern")! haha just kidding. But my apartment is VERY nice. I have my own room, furnished, and my own bathroom. Praise God! Today overall could not have went better as God helped me get settled in I met the lady, Andrea, that will be discipling me throughout the summer. I also already made relationships with a ton of other students here. I am very excited to spend the summer with these loving students and trained staff members. Beginning this weekend we will have evangelism training (sharing the gospel), job searching, and of course some "Project Fun!"

Thank you all so much who are taking the time to read this and who have supported me through money and prayers! I could not have made it here this morning without your support and prayers! I love you all and can't wait to give you more detail about my summer excitement here on my FIRST SUMMER PROJECT in  CHICAGO, IL.