San Diego #11

It's been a while since I last did one of these. It's worth noting that this post is the first one I've done since the staff all left. It's not because I have a ton more responsibilities here on project... it's probably because I've been trying to take advantage of this community more. As I've said many times, this type of community cannot be matched, except maybe on other mission trips. But, of course, I like to keep a couple evenings per week to myself and God.

When project people, whether it's two, 40, or all 81 of us, team together, the impact we can have on the people we talk to or places we head off to can be pretty large. We've seen local college students take steps in their walk with Christ already, and we hope that with the people we don't see often, Christ works in their hearts. On a lighter note, one of our teammates, Sam, had his 23rd birthday a couple days ago and about 30 of us went to celebrate at Phil's BBQ. You know everybody was happy to have 30 college kids make an already long seating line even longer!

Meanwhile, yesterday, I got on the bus to get back to housing from the place I volunteer at. I'm not going to lie - the place I volunteer at has a good mission and a good heart, but it's not my favorite place to be at in San Diego (i.e. lifting TVs and furniture makes my back sore, and it doesn't help that I sometimes lift like an idiot and don't keep my back straight). The first thing I heard was: "Chewdles!" (1) Turns out, a bunch of project people were on their way back from Despicable Me 2, and they invited me to tag along with them to grab Chick-Fil-A (2). Just being with them got me in a better mindset after a somewhat tough day.

(1) Oh yeah, Chewdles. This is my project nickname, given to me by Cameron, who I've mentioned in my blogs before. And, I am making Chewdles come back to Nebraska. Ethan, our director, and Josh, another student, are gonna help me with it, too.

(2) I'm thinking of doing a Chick-Fil-A vs. Raising Canes post on the Human Panda blog. Look out for it... maybe soon.

I also went on my first nighttime Ralph's run. Ralph's is Southern California's Kroger chain, and it's not too far from where we live. I went with three other people, all of whom I've gotten to know pretty well here on project! I also love some of their deals...

I can't believe I let Caela take this.

...3 boxes for $1.49 each. It amounts to about 11 cents per ounce with Froot Loops, which is a good price for cereal, especially name brand. The Frosted Flakes were my second go at that deal.

Another awesome thing I've gone to was The Flood. It's a church service in a high school, and the worship alone makes it worth a visit. Sean and Rob, two other project guys, practically forced me to check it out. The sermon wasn't my favorite... compelling stories, but as far as I understood, they didn't have much to do with the passage. Again, though, the worship. My goodness.

We've only got about two weeks left here on project. I'm definitely going to miss everybody here, whether I've shared my life with them or I've only talked to them once. There's so much more I can do with them. Sharing my faith alongside them is a wonderful way to spend time with them, and there are several things around here I plan to do here before I leave.

My prayer is that these last two weeks don't become a bucket list, but that they're full of experiences with my brothers and sisters that I can take back to Nebraska.