The First Week

"Week Zero" has finally passed. It's been an interesting and (at times) exhausting first few days down here in Jacksonville. We've spent a lot of time being orientated to how the program will be run, had to dedicate a lot of time to a personal quiet time, and have spent a lot of time going out to find people jobs. In the end, though, this first week has been a great experience.

One of the important parts of my trip here to Jacksonville is my team. This group - consisting of students from Northwest Missouri State, Miami (Ohio), Kent State, and UNL - will be working to build me up and help me to continue to grow in my personal relationship with Christ. Our team leader, John from NWMS, is an interesting character. He can be a bit obnoxious, but he is a great guy who has a deep love for Christ and a passion for spreading His message to high schoolers. I will be having Bible Study with these team members starting Thursday.

Another important part has been the food. One should know that in Jacksonville, the water tastes horrible. We use a Brita filter to drink most of our water. Meals are usually deli sandwiches or PB & J's, but dinner we get to eat extravagantly by going to the Univeristy of North Florida cafeteria. Oddly enough, the food at the UNF cafeteria is not even half bad.

Thursday I had orientation for my job here in Jacksonville. I am working for Adventure Landing - a theme park - as a member of "park services" (which is a fancy way of saying pooper scooper and trash guy). I've been told to bring my swimwear every day I got to work. Apparently on the really slow days, the employees are allowed to go out and enjoy the water slides. I start full-time Monday.

Saturday was our first day of beach evangelism. It was a very interesting experience. Me and my partner were rejected about six times before someone let us talk to them about the Bible. We didn't, as they say down here, "bring anyone to Christ" but we certainly had some great conversations, and I know that God was using our time there for His purpose.

Today we went to our church for the summer - Beach United Methodist. This church is insanely big. It has traditional, contemporary, and (I am being completely serious here) ULTRA contemporary services. Part of being a member of this church is that we have to take care of kids at the children's ministry while their parents are off at church. This means that on days like today we would go to the contemporary service for an hour and then report to the children's center to take care of the kids whose parents were at the next service. It was cool to see a church that had that much organization (although, personally, it made me wonder whether there is ever such a thing as having too big of a church).

For the rest of the day, we will relax and try to prepare ourselves for the coming week. I know that I haven't slept much this past week, so today will be a time for catchup. I apologize for having such a long post after having not posted for a while, but I also want you guys to know that our time down here is being well-spent, and I can't to see what else God has in store for us while we are down here. Please keep praying for us.

(Also, please pray for the area of Jacksonville, which is experiencing forest fires due to having recieved no rain in the last few weeks. We are praying for those affected by the floods of the Missouri River.)