#kaleo2013

Fairhope, AL #kaleo2013 #diva

Love these girls so much!!! #kaleo2013

Hey y'all I'm sorry I haven't written in awhile! I have just gotten busy and lost track of my days! I am going to try and think back to catch you all up but bare with me. Our d-group nights have been awesome! We have made some really good dinners for ourselves consisting of like a mustard chicken and then the other one was BBQ chicken (we like chicken). On these nights we go through our second Timothy study and also go over the book we are reading called Follow Me. Let me tell you, this book is sooo good and will challenge the way you live your life and think. Let me just tell a story from the book. Ok so to set the stage, Azeem (a friend of David and David is the author of the book) was talking to a taxi driver one day. The taxi driver believed he would pay for his sin a little while but then go on to heaven because he wasn't all that bad of a person. Azeem came back at him with this; "if I slapped you in the face, what would you do to me?" Taxi- "kick you out of my car" Azeem- "what if I went up to a random guy on the street and slapped him?" Taxi- "he would get a group of his friends together and beat you up" Azeem- "what if I went up to a police officer and slapped him?" Taxi- "he would beat you up and then throw you in jail" Azeem- "what if I went up to the king of this country and slapped him?" Taxi- "You would die". Azeem- "so you see that the severity of sin's punishment is always a reflection of the position of the person who is sinned against. Like Wow, we are slapping God in the face! We aren't just doing it once but over and over again! I challenge you to read this book and not be changed by it. Last week on our free night we went to the beach to just hangout. It was good but I realized I have a problem...I can't go the beach without collecting seashells. Oh boy am I going to have a ton of them by the end of the summer! Thursday talks are rocking my world! I have heard a talk from Keith about not just snacking on God's Word but rather feasting on it. On Friday, I got to hear from Brandon, OSU staff leader visiting. He talked about the importance of friends and the impact they have on us. Wow, he was so funny and he his talk was so clear. His line was "let me see your friends, and I can see your future". Saturdays have been incredible. I have been able to share the gospel with so many girls and one of them even decided to actively follow him! So exciting! That is such a life changing decision but she is not out of the woods. It is hard to actively follow Christ in this world. I ask that you will pray for her. Her name is Sarah and she is from Texas. And now I come to the final day of the week, Sunday. We spend the beginning of the day at our church, Grace Fellowship Baptist Church of Robertsdale. We are studying 1 Timothy in Sunday School. We then go to service which usually ties into Sunday School somehow. Service has been a challenge to get used to because it is an hour and a half to two hour service. They have been such great hosts to us! We have been assigned families that we occasionally eat lunch with. Last week we had lunch with our family, Lori and Wayne. They are so great and have a beautiful home! Today we had a fish fry at the church and there was sooooo much food! It was all so good! I can't believe I am half way through my summer here (so sad). It has been going crazy fast and I have learned so much! I have changed a lot on the way I think and act. It is so true that these 9 weeks are going to have an impact on my next 40 years! I can't wait to see what the rest of my time here holds! Sorry I have been bad with updating my blog. If you have any questions don't hesitate to contact me in some way! Please stay tuned for what is to come!

Connie Beck's email

NLT Parallel Study Bible, 2 Timothy 1:6

Every Saturday we go down to the beach in pairs and talk to people about the gospel by the use of a bridge illustration. Sometimes we get rejected and sometimes people decide to put their trust in God. You really never know what is going to happen. Before we went to the beach, we got briefed on the illustration through some training. I was super flustered and just wanted to get every step right. When it came time to leave, I mentally freaked out! I just have never walked up to a stranger before and talked to them this deep before, let alone talk about God. On the way over though, one of the girls made a good point. We had nothing to lose. Even if no one decided right then to follow Christ, does not mean that they never will. You could have planted that seed to their journey on discovering Christ. I felt honored that God gave me the knowledge about him in order to share with others. He could have chosen anyone! I was paired with an older girl named Libby to go on the beach with. The first person we talked to listened to about half of what we had to say and then shut us down. She was really nice about it, but just explained how she didn't agree and didn't want to hear anymore. We had to respect that, and we just thanked her for her time. The second girl we talked to is the one that I had to take lead in. I was so nervous! She was a junior in high school and was already a follower. It was great to hear her testimony and how she wants to do missionary work. It was just so encouraging to talk to another believer that was younger than me! Those were the only two we got to talk to because of time, but it feels good having those under my belt. The rest of the day was spent going to the beach and picking up seashells, going to Bahamas Bob's, talking on the phone, and creating a bucket list. I also got my first package today and it was from Blake! He is such a sweetheart and just knows me so well. The package just made me feel at home and exactly what I needed. I miss him so much, but I know we are separated for the summer for a reason. It is one we may not see for awhile. I am really enjoying my time here. It is such a blessing to be surrounded by such a great group of people!

So today we got to officially start our jobs! All I have to say is it is such I blessing to first of all have a job and second everyone is so nice! I got to work at Publix in Gulf Shores in the produce section! It was no stop work today. I have truly found a new respect for people who work at grocery stores. I think I spent a good 30-60 min today building a peach pyramid. God has just done wonderful things in my life. Today I got to work along side a girl in the projects and by the time the day ended, we were acting like we knew each other forever. Even though I work in produce, they said we might move around and possibly move to seafood. By the end of the day, I was wiped out! We spent the rest of our night at Kaleo Kraze! Each D-Group had a theme they had to dress up as, and there was a matching guy group to match us. Our theme was Kentucky Derby! It was a blast getting to know more people! I have come to realize Fridays are going to wipe me out, but in a good way. Tomorrow we get to go to the beach and talk to strangers about God and Christ and our faith and their journey! I am excited but also super nervous! I mean I'm already awkward around strangers. I ask that you will pray for me and my team to have calm and prepared hearts for tomorrow and that Gods hand will guide us to do his work. I really want to make an impact on someone's life. This is the summer to start that!

Today has been a very long day, but most of us started our jobs today! We are all super excited to jump in and get to know our coworkers. I have a job working at Publix at Gulf Shores. There are only 4 other Kaleo friends working with me, and I did not know any of them before the project started. That situation makes me excited but nervous, because I know I am forcing myself out of my comfort zone. To be honest though, this is the best time to do it because of how much support I have and all the wonderful people around me. Today, all the Publix employees got trained at Orange Beach, which was a little boring but allowed us to get to know others in the group. I'm excited for tomorrow because I will finally find out what department I'm in and get my polos! I will be working 9 hours Monday-Friday from 8-5. I can't wait until I get on a regular routine and get settled in! My emotions are still all over, but they are getting better. I am starting to get more comfortable, but I need to make sure I plan sleep into my schedule. I almost feel like I am getting back onto my high school schedule again where I am up at 6am everyday, but I recently read that happy people get on a schedule where they wake up at the same time everyday. Hopefully that happens! With all that being said, I headed off to bed. Goodnight!