He Won't Relent

“You won’t relent until You have it all. My heart is Yours.”

We sang “You Won’t Relent” tonight and these specific lines touched me personally. I came into project with my mind a bit preoccupied with things of the past that I felt like I couldn’t shake. I was having a difficult time focusing on God and I wasn’t fully surrendering to Him. I wasn’t offering up all my anxieties and worries as He commanded me to (Philippians 4:6). With that being said, I am learning to be more present. I take it one day at a time.

Already more than a week has passed and I feel like I’ve been here for months. You saw my last entry; I had so much to say in only four days! I basically get to work six days a week and in the evenings there are activities and meetings planned. On Mondays we have our weekly meeting, which looks like a mini church service. We worship, a staff member gives a message, and worship some more. On Tuesdays I personally have discipleship time and then we all have Action Group get togethers. Action Groups are basically our small groups. My leader’s name is Jenny and I’m a group with Morgan and Rachel (we also, sans Jenny, live together so we’re getting real close). Wednesdays are reserved for Jesus Nights; we spend two to three hours by ourselves meditating on the Word, journaling, and praying. Afterwards, we get together for worship. On Thursdays, we have Campus/City Focus where we learn from staff and discuss how we can make a good impact on campus and in the city. Fridays are our day of rest and we hang out and have fun activities on Saturday nights. Sunday we go to church and then have evangelism training and apply what we learned on the Promenade. What a schedule!

I want to thank you all so much for your prayers! Someone actually accepted Christ this week, which is pretty amazing. A staff member and student were sharing at Santa Monica College and the girl they talked to chose to accept the Jesus into her life. God is truly at work here. I also want to update you on more people I’ve got to talk to and share about Jesus this week. Jenny and I went sharing at Santa Monica College and we met a couple of guys that just met each other. Clayton was raised in the church, but still have many questions and Blake was raised Jewish, but seemed very receptive to what Jenny was saying. Jenny is great at engaging people in conversation, so we got to know about their views about the world and who God is. Morgan and I also went sharing together this week and we got to talk to two people. One person we talked to was Patricia, an elderly woman who has a little stand set up on the Promenade. She reads tealeaves in teacups to predict people’s futures. She believes in Religious Science and says that she points her customers to God (Morgan and I are a bit concerned about how she goes about doing that). She wasn’t as approachable as other people, but she allowed us to talk to her and she didn’t do so with Jenny a couple of weeks ago, so who knows how God is working through her! And lastly, Morgan and I talked to an older man named Greg. We didn’t get to say much because he talked the whole time about conspiracy theories, but I honestly think he just wanted to be heard. I was glad we got to offer that and Morgan was even able to give him a prayer card (one of the newest tools we are learning to use is called, “Perspective Cards.”).

Here are my latest prayer requests:

-       Many students, including myself, are still searching for jobs and it can be discouraging. Please pray for a joyful spirit and that we may be all able to find a jobs so we can share the Gospel in the workplace.

-       Please pray for Clayton, Blake, Patricia, and Greg. Pray that Clayton may have his questions answered and build a more personal relationship with Jesus; that Blake would look through the KGP book that Jenny left him and desire to know Jesus and possibly contact us so we can talk to him some more; that Patricia would see the fallacies behind Religious Science and that her tea readings won’t lead anyone astray; and pray for Greg to have peace. He seems a bit paranoid about our world and I believe God can give him peace if he would turn to Him (he says he believes in God).

-       Please pray for my classes for next year. This might sound a bit out of nowhere, but this actually has been on my heart for a couple of months now. My current class schedule prevents me from helping lead Cru Bible Studies and from attending Cru’s weekly meeting. Cru has be such an impact on my growth with God and its my family at USC. Please pray that someone would be willing to switch classes with me.

-       Lastly, please pray that my focus will be on God always and be able to hold everything with open hands to Him.

I am so blessed to have you in my life and I plan to keep updating you every week!

Love love love,

Cindy

In Only 4 Days

It’s only been four days and I can’t believe how much has happened! I not only have a handful of new friends that I feel like I’ve known for months, but also have learned so much about evangelism, the Holy Spirit, Godly relationships with women, the culture and spiritual climate in Santa Monica, and myself. I’ve even cried a wee bit already. Wow. All in four days? I’ve got two more months to go!

I actually just finished student orientation. Basically it has been a draining four days full of evangelism and culture teachings, cold contact evangelism around 3^rd Street Promenade, and womanly bonding. It’s been not only spiritually, but physically tough. Before Project started, I was always staying up till 2 am and waking up at 11 am the latest, so getting to teachings at 9 am has been really rough. Also, if you know me, it’s already a bit of a struggle for me to stay awake in any type of lecture or church service.

The teachings so far have been really good. They are the basics of evangelism, so we’ve been using KGP (“Knowing God Personally” little notebook) as well as world view surveys. Then we go apply what we’ve learned and walk to and around the Promenade. Due to the spiritual climate of Santa Monica, we learned the best way to approach people is through conversation and relationship building.

The first time I went out to evangelize was with Sean, a staff member. We got to talk to three people total. The first person was a girl named Ty. She’s had a rough upbringing, but has a pretty positive outlook on life. She was pretty funny and open to sharing her ideas as well as hearing about our world view and the Gospel. She thought she was atheist, but Sean corrected her and said she was agnostic because she’s open to believing in God. I think many people think they’re atheist, but in reality they don’t fully understand what an atheist is. She also is an aspiring cook and wants to cook because food unites people in happy times as well as comforts them in sad times. I got to share with her my love for baking and we said we would meet up again. The other people we met up were two girls, Daria and Mina, from Russia and Tajikistan. They actually go to Santa Monica College, so we might see them sometime soon when we evangelize at the college. They had a colder perspective of life. They think everyone is two-faced and the only way to know anything is genuine is through some kind of proof (they didn’t specify exactly what kind of proof or give us an example). They also just adopted a puppy that day to “do some good in the world.” Today (or rather yesterday), I went out with a Hawaiian girl and boy named Hannah and Chris and we got to talk to two guys. One man, Daniel, was raised in the church but strayed due to laziness, not disbelief. He grew apathetic over time and then placed himself and his comforts before God. He and his wife were actually considering going back to church and he said our timing is really interesting. The other man, John, had a more free-spirited world view. He believed that the reason we’re on this earth is “to do the dance of life.” He thinks that people need to be in tune with themselves, rather than over thinking about the reasons why we’re here. He is concerned about the what, but not the why. Hannah did a great job trying to relate to him, but then tying it back to the Gospel, but he was pretty rigid in his beliefs. It was really interesting talking to him though. I haven’t had many rejections so far and I think it’s because of how we approached people. We have the intention to hear them out and to build a relationship with them and everyone really just wants to be known (like God! Afterall, we are made in His image and are mirrors of Him on Earth). I can’t wait to meet new people and continue to pray for all of them.

Fun fact! The first time I evangelized (on Sunday), I walked barefoot! I just got these sparkly flats and thought I would wear them to church. Sadly it turns out they are uncomfortable and a bit too small for me (should have realized that at the store…), so I got a bunch of painful blisters. I ended up deciding barefoot was better than wearing those shoes, so instead of bleeding blisters, I got raw red feet. I’m convincing myself that this builds character. Hopefully my feet will heal soon so I can wear closed-toe shoes again (still so painful).

Also, the church we go to, Trinity Baptist, is pretty awesome. It’s a really cute church on 10^th Street and California Street. Their worship team is awesome (there’s a 50 some-year-old woman playing bass!) and they started the first song with a trio going “ba-da-da ba-da-da!” I felt like I was in a ‘Glee’ episode. The pastor, Keith Magee, is speaking on Psalm 119 and is going take two years to go through the entire Psalm! It’s really interesting going to a different church, but I’m also a bit sad because RealityLA, which I consider my home church in LA, is so close by and I am drawn to go and be fed there. I’m glad I get this experience though and I will continue to be listening to Tim Chaddick speak on Matthew through the RealityLa podcasts. There’s no such thing as too much Jesus-learnin’!

Tomorrow, I will start feverishly looking for jobs. Lots of places are hiring, but I still haven’t gotten any call backs from the places I’ve already applied to. Wish me luck! Or rather, please continue to pray for me.

Here are my updated prayer requests:

-       Please pray for boldness in faith. I think we can all get pretty discouraged when people turn us down when we want to talk to them.

-       Also please pray for Ty, Daria, Mina, Daniel, and John. Pray that they would have a curiosity and desire to know God more.

-       And again, please pray for all of our job searches. About 25 of us still need jobs. Please pray that employers would be understandable about our circumstances and that we would be able to minister our coworkers.

-       Lastly, please pray for the relationships that are forming between all the students—that they would be God-centered and that we would sharpen each other.

Oh, and lastly (I know I have a lot to say! I have so much more really… I suppose I have to save that up for when we get to talk in person and I get to share!), I just wanted to let you know that I have an awesome discipler here (Sonia’s still my discipler back at ‘SC, but we also have one on Project) and a wonderful small group or ‘Action Group.’ My leader/discipler’s name is Jenny. She’s got crazy fro-ish hair and a big personality to go with her big hair. She’s up for anything and has this child-like eager and enthusiasm that uplifts everyone around her. She’s also an extremely strong woman who has been such a blessing in affirming me. The other two ladies in my group are Rachel and Morgan. Rachel is from Hawaii and actually went to another Project in the Dominican Republic with the lovely Melissa Hughes last year! Morgan is from San Jose and she’s just a plain sweet heart. We’re all getting along and it’s been such a blessing to be vulnerable with each other and learn from one another.

Okay, this entry is over! I hope you are doing well and please please please do not hesitate to send me any of your prayer requests!

Love,

Cindy

Here I Go!

Tomorrow I’ll be driving me and my little blue Nissan Versa up to Santa Monica! I can’t believe its finally happening and I’ll be spending the next two months growing in my faith as well as sharing it with dozens of other college students from across the US. I had this notion that I would be “ready” for Summer Project once it finally came around, but I can’t say I am. I don’t really know what to expect and how to prepare myself other than through prayer. I still haven’t finished packing yet (packing for 2 months isn’t as easy as I would have hoped) and still have many things to cross off my checklist, but nevertheless IT’S HAPPENING! Here are my prayer requests:

-       I’m still looking for a job! I’ve applied to a handful of cafes and bakeries and still no one has gotten back to me yet. Please pray that God may provide a job where I will be able to minister to other coworkers.

-       Please pray for the relationships that I will be building with my SMSP discipler as well as the other brothers and sisters on the Project. I hope we can build God-glorifying relationships.

-       And lastly, please pray for my heart to be focused on God and making Him known in Santa Monica. I consider LA my home and would love to see God at work in more peoples’ lives here.

If you would like to be updated about each entry, please email me personally and I’ll make sure you’re on the email list.

Much love,

Cindy

Thank You

God has blessed me so much. I can’t tell you how grateful I am for everyone who has financially helped me raise $3500 and has supported me through prayer for Summer Project. I was overwhelmed by everyone’s generosity and how fast I was able to reach my goal (within a month!). I even had a great overflow of donations that went to other brothers and sisters going on other mission trips. Because you have blessed me, I was able to bless others. I remember staying up till 6 am stuffing envelopes and cutting the rounded edges of my response cards praying and hoping that I could reach my goal. Again, thank you. I can’t say it enough. I hope you all got your thank you letters (if you honestly haven’t, please let me know as soon as possible). I just wanted to express my gratitude with handmade cards. I also super appreciated the little encouraging notes some of you wrote to me. They made me smile. I can’t believe SMSP is only a couple of weeks away! To be honest, my head has been wrapped around so many things lately that it’s hard to imagine I’ll be spending the rest of my summer in LA sharing the Gospel. I’m excited for what’s to come, but first I must pack! I’m headed to Taiwan tomorrow and will be back within a week to pack for Summer Project. I’ll keep you posted. Thank you again!

Love love love,

Cindy