Back to reality. :/

Well, project has ended and I'm back in Chico, but before I go into how transition has been, I want to tell you all about the last few days of project!
Thursday night we had our Farewell Banquet. We know how to throw a party! The cars picked us up at the Inn at 6:30 p.m. and headed off to a mysterious location. We ended up at the bay and were directed to a two story boat where we ate dinner, listened to two testimonies and a short message from Bob Fuhs, we watched our project video and a slideshow, then danced the night away. I couldn't have thought of a better way to wrap up project. We watched a beautiful sunset and took so many pictures to remember than night. It was a lovely night of fun fellowship. We all felt so spoiled.
Friday was a project wide clean up day. I would say that was one of my least favorite days of the summer, haha. My Impact Group and another were in charge of cleaning up the Breakfast Nook. In short, this required us to clean out about six refrigerators...absolutely disgusting. We literally had to buy masks so that we wouldn't throw up from the smell which came from mysterious liquid in the bottom of the refrigerators. Rick Brown cleaned out a fridge and the smell literally imbedded in his clothes and he was walking around smelling like a dead animal. We made him leave and change because we couldn't handle it! That night we had our final message given by Hiram Foster. He discussed the divide between campus and project. We have been in this bubble for the past two and a half months. To be honest, I felt invincible, but in reality, my walk with the Lord is going to become much more difficult when I come home. He made it a point to remind us that what we have been doing in Ocean City doesn't stop when we go home, it is important to continue to share and disciple. Just because we are leaving project doesn't mean that growth in our relationship with the Lord ends. Listening to Hiram was really helpful, it mildly prepared me for what to expect when I got home.
Friday night was so bittersweet. Since we started sending people off at 3:30 a.m., project decided to pull an all-nighter. It was hard knowing that this was our last time together. At around 3:00 a.m., we had five individuals from project get baptized in the ocean. It was extremely exciting to see them proclaim their faith and know that they went through so much growth this summer. Right after baptisms ended, the goodbyes began...
Most people left at 4:00 a.m., 7:00 a.m., 10 a.m., and 1 p.m. At about 6:00 a.m., I lost it. It probably didn't help that I hadn't gotten any sleep that night, but the reality that project was ending finally became so much more apparent. It was an incredibly hard day for everyone, a lot of hugs and a lot of tears. We would cry/send a group off, recover, cry/send a group off, recover, that trend continued until about 4:00 p.m. We became a family and knowing that most of us will never associate with each other after departing from Ocean City was sad. For me, I have about five to ten people that I am really going to make an effort to stay in touch with. Plus, we are having a reunion in Illinois in November and I will hopefully see a lot of people then!
Katelyn Phillips, Rick Brown, and I flew out on Sunday. We weren't as lucky as the bunch that left Saturday, they had blue skies and sunshine...we had thunderstorms. We left OC a half hour late, which made us rush for our flight in Philly. Our flight left a half hour late due to so many delays, but the pilot made that time up in the air (which we were very thankful for because when we reached Detroit, we only had an hour until our connecting flight to Minneapolis)...then there was a miscommunication and when we got to Detroit it took us a half hour to get off the plane so we had to run to our gate to catch our flight to Minneapolis. When we got to our gate, they called the three of us up to the podium and offered us a direct flight to Sacramento. They provided us with food vouchers and we would get into Sacramento almost two hours ahead of our original schedule! How could we resist? We boarded the plane in Detroit, flew to Sacramento, reunited with our family, and went to get our luggage...that didn't get switched to the flight we were offered. Sooo, we waited an hour for our luggage to arrive, but in the meantime I showed my family videos and pictures from project and it was fun to reminisce.
Being back in Chico the last few days has been great. I've missed the consistent weather, my house, and car. I've missed my family, the farm, and loved getting to meet my new roommates. I have noticed how difficult it is going to be not living in such a tight Christian community. I don't have the extreme accountability I did in Ocean City. I would love to find that in Chico and I'm hoping I do once CRU and school start up. I would love prayer for the transition here and that I won't experience Post Project Depression (not uncommon!). Ultimately, I am back in Chico! My focus needs to be here now. I have enjoyed sharing my experience with others since being home, and I have especially enjoyed sharing it through this blog.
My Ocean City Summer Project 2011 Journey has come to an end. My blogging days are over...at least they are in relation to project. Maybe I'll start up a new blog now that I'm home. It has been such a great way for me to reflect and revisit truths that I have been told. Thank you for reading my dairy from this summer, it was the best summer of my entire life.

What we do during thunderstorms in OC.

Farewell Banquet.

Cleaning up the Inn!

 Making my mark.

Cali bound.

Waiting for my luggage with my family! :)

Ocean City Summer Project 2011.

It's all a blur...

I am seriously running off no sleep. I have probably pulled five all nighters in the last week and a half. There aren't enough hours in the day to do all the things that need to get done! I have had the most fun these last two weeks of project, though...despite the lack of sleep.

Monday night, one of my very favorite ladies on project (Kristin Reents), spoke about faith, hope, and love (Colossians 1:1-14). She talked about looking to the gospel for faith, hope, and love in order to be a blessing to others. When we speak of the hope that comes from the gospel it provides us with faith. Within those truths, we are able to grasp Jesus' love (agape). Using his example of what true, genuine love looks like, we can love others. In one of my early updates I mentioned Bob Fuhs introducing the phrase, "Lord, I can't, but you can." I don't know about you all, but loving others is generally difficult for me. I get annoyed rather quickly and I don't enjoy being around those who have the ability to get under my skin. Kristin reminded me that I can't, but he can. When I encounter those I have a difficulty loving, it is my goal to pray for them and pray that the Lord provides me with them ability to love them well.

"Out of the Lord's blessings in our lives, we can be a blessing to others."

Our schedule this week has been so funky, due to it being our last. You all know that I'm a part of the Heritage Team and one of our duties is to make project shirts and leave a gift for next year's project. These are the reasons I have lost so much sleep! Wow, we did not think they would be as time consuming as they were. But at the end of the day, they are both finished and we are so thrilled. I'm going to tell y'all a story about these two projects. Okay, so we came up with this design for the project shirt and thought it was going to be a hit. So we went to a place on the boardwalk and had a sample shirt made...horrible. We got it back and hated it. So at 1:00 a.m., we started from scratch. After a few hours, we had a new design! We ordered the shirts and after being delayed a day after they were supposed to arrive, we have them and are handing them out at the Farewell Banquet tonight. I really hope everyone loves them as much as we do.

Now onto the project gift. Basically the same thing went down with the gift that went down with the shirts. We had an idea, got it approved, then decided against it. Our original idea was to get speakers for the porch so that during the day we could have music playing, but I'm sure you're thinking what I'm thinking: that would get abused. We nixed that idea and came up with one blew everyone's expectations out of the water. We decided to redesign the entire Heritage Room, no big deal. Lies. This was not a little rearrange the couches, organize the pictures, and vacuum the floors task. No. This meant spackling the walls, painting them (twice), painting a mural & a Bible verse, organizing the plaques & project pictures, getting new lamps and couch covers...oh and then all the other things I listed in the previous sentence. At approximately 5:45 this morning...our room is complete. Everyone on project LOVES it, which makes these all-nighters so much more worth it. I'm so excited for next year's project to enjoy this room. We want it to be a room where memories are made and people actually enjoy hanging out in it.

This a week of "lasts". I had my last Sunday at OCBC, Impact Group, Action Group study, and shift at McDonald's. Two have already left project and more are leaving tonight. The numbers are dwindling. Most semester students leave Saturday, so that calls for another all-night Friday night. I don't leave until Sunday, so I get to see everyone off. I don't plan on packing to go home until Sunday morning, I just can't bring myself to start yet. I am traveling home with Katelyn Phillips and Rick Brown and Katelyn and I definitely need to warn Rick that will are going to be emotional wrecks on the way home! I can already see it...the first half of the journey home will be us girls crying because we're leaving project...then when we reach Minneapolis and have to sit there for a five hour layover, we will be crying because we can't wait to be home. That young man is not going to know what to do with us. I hope he doesn't mind lending his hand to hold and a shoulder to cry on. ;)

I really wish I could express to everyone how much I have enjoyed project. It has changed my life and I have formed so many relationships that are so deep. My craving for a relationship with the Lord has been magnified this summer. I can't wait to see how he uses all the things I've obtained this summer for my movement back at home. I can't believe I only have a few more days left; this place has become my home and these people have become my family. I feel blessed to have been, "predestined to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will"(Eph. 1:5). We have made an impact here and we now have the ability to go home and make and impact there and wherever else the Lord leads us. 

It all comes back to the verse that lead me to Ocean City, NJ:

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith.'" Romans 1:16-17

After a little shopping trip, we got caught in a massive thunderstorm.

Last shift at McDonald's, first time ever getting breakfast there.

(Very impressed!)

My very good girl friend, Miss Alison, getting baptized.

Riding the big ferris wheel with my action group.

Late night girl excursion. :)

Result of multiple all-nighters.

A little taste of the Heritage Room.

The end is near.

Hey family and friends!

We are quickly approaching the end of project and due to that, things have been incredibly busy! Last Sunday we had a $10 prom. What this entailed was going to a thrift store and finding the trendiest (or not so trendiest) outfit you could find for under $10. The outfits were hilarious and the night was filled with non-stop dancing and laughter. I love how goofy we all are around each other and that we feel comfortable enough to embrace our weirdness.

Andrew Kelleher spoke at our weekly meeting on Monday night. I felt like staff had come back, he was such an amazing public speaker, his delivery was phenomenal. I really enjoyed listening to him. He spoke about unity compelled by grace. He made three great points: there is power in unity, sin hindrances unity, and Jesus Christ is our unifying factor. Like I've said in multiple blogs, we were never made to live the Christian life alone. Community is so important, it helps maintain your enthusiasm and within a community you have the ability to expand your knowledge/wisdom. The community I have here is one that can never be replaced, but can hopefully be replicated. My hope is that the six others from Chico and I hold tight to what the community on summer project looks like and return to Chico with a huge passion to have that on our campus. Unfortunately community can be broken, when sin creeps in, it takes our focus off God and puts it on one us or negatively on others. When that happens, it's so important to bring focus back to the one who knows unity best: Jesus. "Our eyes have to be fixed on Jesus in order to unite."

Obviously project is ending within this next week and I have to return to Chico. With that in mind, I have to start focusing on my community there. I definitely struggled last year feeling like I didn't fit in and not making many friends. This year, I am going to get involved and really being intentional with the relationships I form. I feel like Chico CRU needs to regroup and remind ourselves of the purpose of CRU. I have a very positive feeling about this year, my excitement is very high. Many individuals from our movement went on summer project, and I guarantee they share the same vision I do. 

On Wednesday night we had Men's and Women's Time, so we split up according to gender and had a night devoted to fellowship. The women in charge of women's time did a great job. The theme of the night was carrying each others burdens. We started on the beach and filled out a "yes or no" survey then received someone else's survey and stood up when they answered "yes" to a question. It was heartbreaking to see the sin and hurt that my sisters in Christ have gone through. We then filled up gallon size bags with sand and trekked all over the city. Each of us were carrying three or four full sand bags, this was not an easy task, but the representation was amazing. Plus, we had a chocolate fountain after. It wouldn't be women's time without the chocolate! But ultimately, that night reverted back to the importance of community. For me, I want to return to Chico with a huge desire to seek strong woman fellowship. I want to have women I can share my burdens with and can help me work through my sin, and vice versa. That not only strengthens your relationship with your sisters in Christ, but also with the Lord! It's a win/win situation. :) 

At the Thursday night meeting, Lauren Bonanno talked about the importance of community. I won't go into great detail, since I'm pretty sure you've gotten the picture: COMMUNITY IS KEY! But it really is a healthy reminder to see how important community is. I know those of us from Chico that are on OCSP want to pursue deep community when we get home because we have really seen how valuable it is. 

Moving onto Friday, I love Fridays because they are always so relaxing and fun. After work, Katelyn and I went jet skiing in the bay. The water was so choppy, so it made for a good time. That night the McDonald's crew went to dinner at Outback with a few of our coworkers, a last hoorah before we leave. It has been insane to see how far our relationships have come with our coworkers. We are all so close and we have very genuine friendships with them. We only have three more days of work and are all very sad about that. I never really thought about how hard it was going to be to form these relationships and then have to leave. It's worth it though, I will forever cherish these past eleven weeks that I had the time to spend with those wonderful people. 

What else has happened this week...? Well, this weekend was probably the best weekend I have had on project!! Saturday night we held a talent show and it was so much fun to see how many talented people I have surrounding me. Some were just plain goofy, but the number of legitimately talented individuals was amazing. After that, I stayed up all night with a few people on the Heritage Team and we painted the Heritage Room, made homemade donuts, and chatted a lot. I don't understand why I think all-nighters are a good idea, clearly they're not, but in the moment, they're SO fun. It's nights like those that I want to have back in Chico. It was so spontaneous, yet such an amazing time spent together. That night created a friendship that will last a very long time and I'm excited to continue it past project.

We are now in "Blessed to be a Blessing" week. The last week before project ends for semester students. I really have been asking myself where this summer has gone. I would not be here if it wasn't for the Lord's planting the desire to apply in my mind. I still don't understand how I ended up here, it was pulling teeth to get me to leave May 31, but now it'll be pulling teeth to get me to leave August 14. I am very excited to come home, though. I'm excited to use all that I've learned this summer throughout this school year. It's about time to transition from remembering I'm in OC and this is where my focus should be, to I am in Chico and my focus should be on the community there. Before I wrap it up, I want to thank all my supporters again. If it were not for you, I would not have been in New Jersey this summer. I truly cannot express my immense appreciation for your generous hearts. This was a summer that will forever change my life and I am extremely thankful it was in God's will to send me here. I love you all, and thank you so much for allowing me to share my experience with you over these last eleven weeks.

$10 Prom!

Jet skiing. :)

All-nighter, baby.