Days 26-32

Outreach: Cardboard Testimonies. I've never actually seen these done in real life, but it was our plan to all do cardboard testimonies and stand on boardwalk. We all wore white shirts which was extremely awesome!


On the back I put: "Spent most of my life looking for joy and fulfillment."
On the front: "Through Christ, I have found a joy that will never end."


I guess our goal was to stand there and flip our testimonies back an forth in hopes that people will curiously walk over and ask us questions. On my way out the door, I randomly thought to go back in and get a Soularium and a New Testament. I don't know why I wanted one, I just wanted to have one on me. Nothing else, but a Soularium and a NT Bible.


We got out there and started our cardboard flipping. It was actually fairly awkward, since we didn't have too much of a game plan of where we were going to stand or what style of cardboard flipping we should use. I was posted at the end with Jesse, one of the guys from my Bible study. As we stood out there, people curiously watched us. Some laughed, some encouraged, and some just didn't care. But for the most part, very few actually stopped to talk. After waiting for about an hour or so, Jesse and I decided to walk further down the beach and set up a Soularium. As we began setting up the cards, people immediately came and asked us what they were for. Within a few minutes a couple of girls came over and the one stated that she had done this before with another girl from our ministry. Jesse sat down to talk with her as I ran through Soularium with the other girl. Her name was Melissa. As I went through the Soularium I could tell she interested in the reasoning behind the questions. Eventually she asked about it, and I stopped talking about Soularium and asked her if I could summarize my faith in 4 points. I was so excited to tell her I didn't even think to open up a KGP, I just went right into it. Before I got to the last point I threw in my testimony. I don't remember exactly why I did, but at the time, it seemed pretty important. She was extremely receptive to everything I had said, so I explained to her the last part about receiving Christ. She didn't even hesitate. She asked me what she needed to do to receive Christ and we prayed together. The image is pretty firmly planted in my head, but I remember looking up and seeing her pray after I was finished. I handed her a KGP and a Bible, gave her my contact info, and told her to constantly get in the word. Apparently, while we were talking, Jesse had been talking with the other girl about how she wanted to live a life for Christ and go to church, but she had no one to go to church with. Well Jesse prayed for her to find a person and when he finished, I just got back to tell him that Melissa, the girl's friend, had just accepted Christ. So God just worked awesomeness into the situation all around.




I was officially selected to lead half of the men in Bible study. I'm really looking forward to this even though I don't really have any experience with it. This will definitely prepare me for any future studies I lead in the future. Within the last couple of weeks I felt God's call to lead a Bible study, so this was definitely awesome news. I will be leading the Bible study that I was in plus another 2 guys.


The week closes off with the staff leaving their positions on Wednesday and leaving OCMD Friday. It was extremely surreal to see the staff leave and know that we would be calling all of the shots. It was also pretty emotional for many. I will sincerely miss all of the staff and their wisdom/guidance, but I know that this part of the project is what is most important. Truly putting what we learned and are learning to the test. Leading, guiding, risking, and building community all for the glory of the Lord. I've already seen many of my friends here take awesome steps of faith. I look forward to what God has in store for us for the next 5 weeks on project.