It has been a while

Okay I know that it has been forever since I wrote but I had some time, finally, and wanted to reflect on my time here in Ocean City.  These past two or three weeks have been extremely  amazing.  I have just been learning so much and the Lord is really working through my life.  Well first off let me say that since the last time that I wrote something my family came out to visit, which was awesome and such a blessing.  It was great for them to see a tangible aspect of what I'm doing here and it was great for me in the sense of just getting to see them and spend quality time together.  But besides that being awesome the Lord has really been working in countless ways in my faith.  

One way I have really seen the Lord move out here over the past little bit is to really give us as students a vision and really step up in different leadership roles on project.  The staff team left last week so this past week has totally 100% been on us and we have really experienced fruit from that.  It is just so encouraging to see where people lead and their hearts show up through that.  I have been blessed to lead in numerous ways that will in turn challenge me and push me closer to the lord.  One way is I am on prayer and vision team and my heart for prayer is completely changing, and I love it. Also this past week I had a chance to be the project Emcee, and that was totally awesome.  Just seeing people encourage me and being encouraged by me was such a blessing.  The lord is totally transforming my life!

Last night we had our first big outreach as a student project, it was a battle Good vs. Evil.  Through that we were able to communicate the gospel and then reach out to countless people that watched the epic battle.  That was really cool just to see the lord use us in a sweet way to communicate the gospel in different light.  And it was just really fun to do.

Yeah I feel like I could talk for hours upon hours about how the Lord has been breaking me down and then building me back up and totally transforming my life.  I have been growing like crazy here and have loved every second of it.  I just hope and pray that I would fully experience these next few weeks on project to the fullest.  Just reflecting upon these simple truths it really again shows me how awesome it has been to be here on project. 

Update on my Life

These past two weeks have been just as good as the first four. We have been extremely busy but it has been really rewarding.  Last week our theme was "ALL FOR ONE" and the sense of building up community.  It was really cool to see everyone come close together and really build everyone up.  At the beginning of the week our action groups, bible studies, had a time to just really be intentional and vulnerable with each other.  It was a great night, monday we had our regular bible study for about three hours and then after we went out to the beach at night and just shared with each other and were extremely open with everything.  It was really cool just to be able to be that open, and also reflect and see what the Lord has done in each one of our lives thus far, and how he is transforming our lives here and now.  On tuesday we had our date night with Jesus but this week instead of doing it on our own it was in a group of three.  That was a really cool experience to just be encouraged by others walks and again just to relate to others.  I love just the community that we are building up here and growing so much together.  Wednesday night night have been the coolest night for me.  We had our mens conference.  This was a time that we were really pushed both physically and spiritually.  We did countless different activities that were grueling.  Through the whole process we were growing with each other and building each other up and encourage one anther through the whole process.  We were able to work as a team and grow in community like no other time.  It was a really cool experience and I can't wait to continue the community feeling throughout the rest of the summer.  The last day that really impacted me last week was Thursday night when one of the staff guys, Lee Hansen on staff on Minnesota, gave a talk about relationships.  He talked about having a personal relationship with others and seeking that intimate relationship with the Lord.  It really impacted me when he said that you need to seek an intimate relationship with the lord and accept nothing less.  And that has been my prayer and desire for this summer.  So yeah this summer has just been really cool to grow like I never have before, and see my faith in a new light.  The Lord has really been working here and in my life. 

End of an Awesome week

Killing the Giants week as I said before is one of the most memorable weeks through out all of project.  The semester students, me, have been here for just under a month while the quarter students just got here last week.  So we had been preparing our hearts and minds for this week where as the quarter students were basically just thrown into action right from the start.  It was really cool just to see God's hand over our lives as we stepped out in faith this past week.  As I mentioned before our overall goal for week was to reach 4600 lives with the gospel.  And by the end of the week through trusting in the Lord to provide opportunities and bless our time, we were able to reach 5860 people.  That was totally amazing for all of us to hear, especially me. 

Every year on a project you study something different, wether it be a book of the bible or just a biblical topic it doesn't really repeats itself.  This year instead of looking over a book of the bible we as a project we are studying the Holy Spirit.  Something that has been completely eye opening to me.  So through this past week we were really challenged in a lot of ways to let the Spirit lead our lives. That meaning to be filled by the Spirit and let him work through our lives.  Oe of our main sayings over this week was to that "I can't but He can".  So it was totally amazing to trust in the lord to provide this week.  And also it was completely by the Lords strength and power that we were able to reach that many people last week, there is no possible way that we could have talked to that many people about Christ on our own.  So yeah praise the Lord for that. 

This is our impact group, our bible study along with two girl bible studies to make our sweet impact group.

This is my action group, AKA bible study.

From left to right:

Jake Jorgensen-- North Dakota State

Me Jared Sylvester

Matt Williams--Staff (Clemson)

Jeremiah Samulson--Wisconsin La Crosse

Mike Defelice-- The Ohio State University 

David Millot-- Chico State University 

 

Killing the Giants

Killing the Giants week is one of the coolest and most powerful weeks while on project.  Our goal is to fully push ourselves as individuals and as an overall team to new levels of sharing our faith.  We set both personal goals and project goals for the week and then we go out in faith and strength through the Holy Spirit and leave the results to God.  That basically means that we step out in faith knowing that we can only do so much to impact a life, but the gospel and the compelling story of Jesus' love changes hearts, character, actions and attitudes.  My personal goal for this week, which was set on sunday night, was to get into 40 great spiritual conversations and or gospel presentations; while the projects goal, everyone's combined, was 4,596.  On Monday night, which means we went out Sunday night and all day up until the 7 pm meeting, they gave stats to encourage us and let us know how we started the week off.  I was completely blown away by the number.  They said we were had already talked to 2,068 people! That being 45% of our entire goal for the week, and we did that just about one full day. So now with yesterday and today in the mix I am sure we are past 50% or 60%.  I personally have been able to get into some great conversations with people, I have had a total of 20 good spiritual conversations and had the opportunity to share the gospel with 12 people, and then I have seen one person come to Christ and make that decision, bringing me to a total of 32 people I have already shared with.  The Lord is doing crazy things here. 

For example: I set my goal pretty high I thought but then my giant was to go out sharing alone and actually make an impact.  The first night, Sunday, I went out with one of my roommate and we got into a few good conversations but most everyone was drunk that we talked to.  So that got me kind of down and discouraged.  The next morning I get up and I decided to go out alone before I had to go pick up a girl at the train station who was coming to project.  I went out in confidence and came back in complete doubt.  I had gotten shot down at least 12 to 14 times and only got into one decently good spiritual conversation.  So I was really down that day and kind of feeling worthless.  But I went out again right before the 7 pm meeting and got into two really good spiritual conversations and then shared the gospel with two kids.  Going out alone was a lot of fun and just to see God's faithfulness was awesome.  Then right after the meeting I went out with one of my friends, Dane, and I stocked my back-pack with a crazy amount of KGP booklets.  By the end of the night we had been sharing for about two or three hours and we had gotten into about 2 to 4 spiritual conversations but we shared the gospel with about 14 people.  At the end of the night I was completely out of every single booklet I had brought.  I was not expecting that at all and God totally used that for his Glory.  That was really cool to see. 

Okay one more story.  Yesterday I went out with my leader, Matt, and we got into a solid conversation with these two guys that said they had just talked to two other people from Crusade. So we tried to see what they kind of got out of it, and were asking lots of questions.  Before we knew it we were sharing the gospel with them and one of the guys prayed to receive Christ.  So it was really cool to see that even if we are just planting the seed that God will use that in people's lives and give them other opportunities.  

So yeah again God is working here in our lives in Ocean City and in the people here.  So just keep praying and thinking of us.  Thanks and I'll keep you updated on the week.  

Catching Up In Ocean City

So it has been three weeks to the day that I have been in Ocean City, New Jersey and many of you have been wondering what is going on out there.  Well I have been extremely busy that is one reason why I haven't been able to call people and stay in contact with them, and have also been getting acclimated to the culture here.  There are so many cool kids here that I get to spend the rest of the summer with.  We have kids from California, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Illinois, Indian, Ohio pretty much all over the place and I love all of them.  It is so cool to be in a community of believers like this one, it's something I have never experienced at this capacity.  There are 110 of us college kids and about 25 staff here, so amazing.  One of the best parts about that is that we are all connected on such a deeper level initially, through our relationship and belief in Jesus Christ, that it is so easy to develop a friendship with them.  

Lets try and catch you guys up on what has been happening.  I live in the Ambassador's Inn on Central and 13th in Ocean City, New Jersey (A short two blocks west of the ocean!!!!) I live on the second floor of the Ambassador in room 303 with four other guys; David (California kid- Chico State and is going to be a Junior), Mike (The Ohio State University and is going to be a Sophomore), Jake (North Dakota State University and is going to be a Junior), and Jeremiah (Wisconsin Lacrosse and is going to be a Sophomore) I love the guys I live with.  We have the biggest guys room in the inn and actually just this week won the cleanest room contest; largely due to my cleanliness and that comes from my mom, thanks mom Love you. But yeah anyways it's me and four other guys in my room and that consists of my bible study, what we call our action group.  We do a lot of stuff together, we obviously have bible study together we have prayer time together and we just hang out together a lot. All of us are under, or being led for the first portion of the summer by a staff guy, Matt Williams who is on staff at Cal Polly Slow. He is a recent graduate from Clemson and is just a really cool and sweet leader.  I personally have been able to connect with him a lot so far, and I hope that continues.  

The first week we had some what of an orientation week and that consisted of going to meetings doing group activities to get to know each other and lots of other cool things; this was our Setting the Pace Week.  That week was really just the get to know each other week and nobody worked or was preoccupied by other things.  That was really cool just to grow with one another in a community. 

The week after that we had our Thirsting to Know Him week. We all, well almost everyone, by that had jobs and were starting to work on a regular basis.  So we have started balancing project along with other priorities.  I personally am working at the supper market near by, Super Fresh, as a cashier.  This week was really meant for all of us to dive deep into our alone time with the Lord and to grow in anticipation of next week.  

This week is one of the coolest weeks on project, KILLING THE GIANTS WEEK.  This week ill get into more later. 

But yeah God is already moving in countless and crazy ways.  I am extremely excited to be here and just to grow a lot in my faith over the summer.  Ill keep you guys posted...

Introduction

So I was thinking that this blog thing would be a really cool way to keep people informed of what is going on in my life. And a great way to let people know what the Lord is doing in my life here in Ocean City.  So even though I wont be writing that often because of our extremely busy schedule I will be updating it every once in a while. Ill try to catch you up with the last two weeks on project.