San Diego 2012

Destination: San Diego

Team: FSM (Fellowship Student Ministries)

Dates: June 26-July 2

1 Week Before

I've been counting down the days til our mission trip, and this is what it looked like this morning. :) so pumped!

It's also a reminder to be thankful. I mean, I couldn't count if I didn't have someone teach me, and I wouldn't have a chance to learn if we didn't have a free country God gave us and soldiers fight for. I wouldn't have a mission trip to count down to if someone hadn't planned it. And while we're talking about counting days, we wouldn't have days to count if God hadn't blessed us with a new morning. And that's just a brief list dealing with this picture. There are quite literally thousands more!

So just a brief reminder... While counting the days, count the blessings as well. :)
KatieQue

 

 

1 Day Before

Oh what I would do to have the kind of strength it takes to stand before a giant with just a sling and a stone! Surrounded by the sound of a thousand warriors shaking in their armor, wishing they'd have had the strength to stand.

But the giant's calling out my name and he laughs at me, reminding me of all the times I've tried before and failed. The giant keeps on telling me time and time again, "Boy, you'll never win! You'll never win."
But the voice of truth tells me a different story! The voice of truth says "Do not be afraid!" The voice of truth says "This is for My glory!" Out of all the voices calling out to me, I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth!

So says the song by Casting Crowns. And how true it is! (That's probably why it's so comforting.) Yet there is still this constant worry. What if I mess up?

One can get anxious right before a mission trip. My group leaves tomorrow to go beach witnessing, and I'm totally stoked. I've been waiting for this trip since the summer before seventh grade. It's almost like a dream. It's hard to believe we're leaving tomorrow.

But now that it's less than twenty four hours away, there is this feeling of excited nervousness in the pit of my stomach. I probably won't sleep much tonight. Worried? I think so. A little bit. Or maybe a little more than a little bit.

Let's finish the Casting Crowns song now...

But the stone was just the right size to put the giant on the ground. And the waves, they don't seem so high from on top of them looking down. I will soar with the wings of eagles when I stop and listen to the sound of Jesus singing over me!
I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth!

So the stone that David threw? It was just the right size. The waves? When you see the big picture, they're not as colossal. And who's in control of that? The Creator of the Universe, Heavenly Father, Eternal Friend, Ultimate Carpenter, and the lover of our souls. I think He can handle it.

Last thing...

Matthew 6:34~
"Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

Mark 2:13~
"He went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them."
(aka Jesus goes to beaches too.)

KatieQue:)

After

So my favorite day ultimately was the day I fasted and prayed for the people on the beaches, but I can't really describe that. It something you would have to experience yourself. But my next favorite day was the last day on the beaches...

We normally had an apologetics class and an evangelism class in the mornings, but the last day on the beaches was Sunday, so instead of an evangelism class, we had a church meeting with each other instead of the rest of the Californians at OGN. That day we got to choose our beach partner and it could be a girl or a guy. A guy from our group named Andrew asked to be my partner on the beach so I said yes. That was probably the first God thing I saw happen on the beaches, and we hadn't even left for them yet! See, Andrew had already been before, so he had experience and different classes, so he knew what to say. He was a guy, so we could approach men or women on the beach since I could start conversations with the girls and Andrew could start the conversations with the guys. Plus, he had fasted the day before and was hyped up for the last day on the beach. We had three prayer requests: Andrew wanted a conversation with a strong believer, no matter what it was they believed in, we both wanted to have a hard conversation on the beach, and I particularly wanted to talk with an athiest. I had mentioned the athiest part to Parker and Joy the day before, so it wasn't just off the top of my head. And Parker and Cori were fasting that day, so they already had our prayer requests.
Anywho, so Andrew and I are sitting in our seats, literally bouncing, we were so excited. We prayed for people to talk to before we left, we prayed for people when we were in the van, and right after we got out, Andrew stopped us and we prayed for people again. Then, we look up... There's a tiny beach with less than fifty people on it and a park beside it with about the same amount of people. Not many options.
Time passes, we got rejected maybe twelve times in a row before we finally met a guy who was willing to talk. And wouldn't you know it, God was working... The first guy willing to talk with us was an answer to Andrew's prayer! He was a strong believer in his faith. He was a Catholic of some sort and he had moved to California from Egypt about a year ago because he had been persecuted where he lived. We didn't get to talk with him for long cause he had to go, but Andrew was thrilled to see his prayer answered, and I was thrilled to know God was working in ways we couldn't imagine.
We talked to some more people, texted the fasters with prayer requests, got rejected some more, when with an hour left, God answered another prayer. This man named Kevin was our hard conversation, and we spent a good half an hour talking with him before we had to leave.
We walk away, analyzing our conversation with Kevin. I check my phone for messages from the casters and Parker had texted me "I'm still praying you meet an athiest."
Literally two minutes later, Andrew randomly asks "Hey, you wanna go talk to that guy?" and motions toward an elderly man standing by himself and watching the sea. Why not?
And God answered the third prayer- this man, named Tom, was Irish. And also an athiest. :)
Soli Deo Gloria!
KatieQue