09/17/2023

Hello there! We're finally in Orlando - it's been a crazy cool 11 days. We finished our road trip to Orlando on the sixth... Bailee and I picked up our teammate, Jaden, from Raleigh and then finished out our drive. When we got to Orlando, we were able to meet the rest of our team: Lucy who is from Denver, Abby who is from Orlando, and Emily who is from Nashville. It's been so fun getting to know everyone. We've learned a lot about each other in the time we've had together and have made a lot of memories already haha.

Pictured below left to right is: Lucy, Bailee, Abby, Emily, Jill, myself, and Jaden.

So much has already happened. Each weekday we have trainings at Cru Headquarters where we have learned so much about each other, about Cru, and about how to share the gospel effectively. We shared our testimonies with each other, learned more about each other through love language and strength's tests, and learned about many of Cru's methods of sharing the gospel such as "The Four," Solarium, and using our testimonies. "The Four" is essentially a way of explaining the gospel through four images: a heart, a division symbol, a cross and a question mark. The heart stands for how God loves us and created us to be with him, the division symbol stands for how our sins separate us from God, the cross represents Jesus coming down to bridge the gap between us and forgive our sins, and the question mark symbolizes our choice of what we'll do with that reality.

We've also had many other trainings - one of my favorite trainings we had was on the importance of sabbath rest and how our urgency for ministry flows out of our intimacy with Jesus. The speaker mentioned how we don't need to worry about whether or not we're doing "enough" or "saying the right things." He talked about how he used to work with his dad in construction and how doing ministry is like going to work with dad. We don't worry about how the buildings going to go up - that isn't our responsibility. Our responsibility is to help when we're asked, but we're not the saviors. The enemy wants nothing more than for us to believe that we are the saviors and that we've failed if we're not having gospel conversations every day. It was a really sweet reminder that my father is in control and I'm just watching what he can do each day and getting to be a part of it.

This week we got the opportunity to be a part of Cru High School at two local schools and be part of what they call "Cru Club." We went to two outreaches where they had student leaders share their testimonies and share the gospel through "The Four."

Pictured below are student leaders sharing the gospel through "The Four."

There have been so many fun memories. Myself and the team got to meet with some family friends from Cru which was really nice. We also got the opportunity to go to an Orlando SC game which was really fun.

Pictured below is my friend Ross, his wife Ashley, and their daughter Malayna. Below that is a picture of the Orlando SC game haha.

As fun as the time here has been, it has also been really challenging at times. The trainings have been really good, but the days are long and there are so many new things to adjust to. It's been amazing but it's also very tiring. This past Wednesday night my teammate, Lucy, ended up injuring her finger really badly. We thought she had dislocated her finger but after having to make a late-night E.R. trip, we found out she had injured the tendon really badly. She's in good spirits and keeping her head up but her finger is still in a lot of pain. She'll be seeing a hand specialist this Tuesday but she'll most likely need surgery. If she does need surgery, she'll have to fly back home in order to get it so prayer for her physically and emotionally would be huge. Even though it was really hard having to watch her go through this, it definitely brought us closer together as friends and teammates.

Pictured below is our E.R. visit.

With all that being said, it's been incredible finally being with the team and God is already showing up in really special ways. Several of my teammates have had really special interactions with students and God has been doing a lot of work in each of our hearts to prepare us for what's to come.

Prayer requests...

• Pray that God would continue to bring us closer to each other and closer to himself through these trainings.

• Pray for Lucy that the Holy Spirit would give her peace that surpasses understanding and encouragement for Tuesday. Pray that she would remember that no matter what happens, it's temporary and part of the Lord's plan for her and our team.

• Pray for Emily and Abby as they still have support to raise. Pray that God would give them patience and encouragement as they trust Him to provide in his time and way.

• Pray that God would continue to give Bailee and I wisdom in how to best love and lead our team in the good and bad times.

• Pray for myself - for energy and physical strength. The days have been really good but very exhausting at the same time. Pray for courage and boldness as well as the words to say when connecting with students. Pray that I would trust God with the people, opportunities and challenges He brings my way. Pray that I wouldn't forget that He's always with me and working things according to His good and perfect plan (Matthew 28:20; Ephesians 1:11; Luke 12:11-12).

Teammates Blog Links:

• Bailee - https://baileebeck.wixsite.com/gapyear

• Lucy - http://itslucyjackson.wixsite.com/a-gap-year-story

• Emily - http://emilyweill.wixsite.com/missionforchrist