Beginning of the Third Summer of My Life!

Hello from Alabama!  Today marks day #8 here at the beautiful Wolf Bay Landing, and if the rest of the summer is even close to as encouraging and fun as this week has been- it really will be the summer of my life!  Here are a few highlights of my time here so far:

1. Our stop in Memphis:  All of the D-Group leaders left Kansas last Thursday (5/23) and stayed the night at a church in Memphis.  While we were there, we had the privilege of asking Kennon Vaughn, director of DownLine Ministries, any question we wanted for an about an hour.  We made great use of the opportunity to ask some tough questions about ministry, life after college, and just following Christ, and were careful to take detailed notes from his wisdom!  

2. Our summer home: We are absolutely privileged beyond belief to get to stay here at Wolf Bay this summer!!  Each group shares a condo with another group- which are stocked with a full kitchen, living room, and two bed and bathrooms, as well as a beautiful porch and view of the bay.  Check out these pictures! (Last night my group and I tried out our fishing poles on the dock outside of our room. Turns out I got lucky and caught the first fish of the summer!)

3. Leader Training Week:  As soon as we made it to GS, we hit the ground running with preparation for our D-Groups to get here! Emily (my co-leader) and I enjoyed processing through what it would look like for us to lead our group together while growing deeper in our own relationships with Christ.  It was reassuring to realize that we can’t pretend to be perfect, but the best thing we can do this summer (or just anytime we disciple women) is to be transparent and vulnerable about our mistakes and grow together.  It was also a blast to get to know the other D-Group leaders, and I’m so humbled to serve along side them!  I’m really excited for weekly training to continue every Monday this summer! 

4. My D-Group: Dana, Katelyn, and Carrie are so much fun to hang out with! Dana and Katelyn are both freshmen who lived in Goodnow Residence Hall this past year, and Carrie was a sophomore in Boyd Hall!  Their passion for growth pushes me so much every day.  Just the other day, Katelyn told me that she wanted to grow the most this summer in sharing her faith (her vision blows me away), and Dana talked about being worried that she wouldn’t have enough time in the day to do all that she wanted in going above and beyond what is planned with the project! Not to mention Carrie’s adorable compassion is infectious toward every person she meets! These women are world-changers, and I’m pumped to learn from them more this summer!

(We had a costume contest at our first social! Our theme was very fitting for Gulf Shores- tourists!)

5. My Job: This summer I’m working at Shake’s Frozen Custard (yes, it used to be called Shakies!).  Several really incredible things have already happened in just the first two days of work! Thursday night (our first day of work), Brooke (my other co-worker from the Kaleo project) and I helped make custard after our Kaleo “Thursday Night Talk,” because almost all of the project (about 150 people) stopped by!  Our co-workers were absolutely blow away by how friendly and fun our friends from Kaleo were, and begged us to let them join our group this summer to hang out!  We invited them to go to the beach with us, as well as come to some of our training sessions when they weren’t working.  One girl even pulled me aside and asked me to help share our faith with another co-worker, who she has been praying for!  We all exchanged numbers and have been texting back and forth since!  After seeing how interested our co-workers were that night, Brooke and I thought it would be cool to start an investigative Bible study among the group for the summer!  We’re looking forward to growing with and investing in these fun high school women we met.  It is also awesome that our boss follows Christ, and we have incredible spiritual conversations with him about how he and his wife have pursued Christ in their family and how he is using his job to influence the students he works with for Christ!  It’s incredible that all of this has happened in just the first two days of work!

                                                  

I’m so excited to see what the next week brings!  Would you please join me in prayer for:

-My D-Group (Co-Leader Emily, Dana, Katelyn, and Carrie) and I to not skip any opportunities to grow and set the bar high from the beginning.

-Deep relationships built in our group 

-Brooke and I’s influence at work and our Bible study

-Application follow through with our many talks, studies, and even casual conversations

-World Vision and heart to deepen in my life and our group

-That everything we learn will help us win people to Christ on campus

Thanks for your partnership with me in this adventure!  Please email me and let me know how I can be praying for you!

Sara