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.
Cleaning up the Inn!
Making my mark.
Cali bound.
Waiting for my luggage with my family! :)
Ocean City Summer Project 2011.
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.
Farewell Banquet.
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