Good Afternoon Friends and Family!
I’m writing my first official blog post from North Myrtle
Beach! Since arriving a week from
yesterday, life has been extremely busy but fun and full of taking giant leaps
of faith.
Our road trip here was wonderful. Overall, the car ride took us around 20
hours! The journey was filled with
playing the game “my cows” and spontaneously dancing to music to keep ourselves
entertained. We stayed two nights in
Tennessee just outside of Nashville. While
there, we spent some time hanging out and playing games and then visited the
Gaylord Opryland Hotel! That place was simply
incredible to experience. Below is a
picture of Matt, Andrew, Branden, and I standing next to some lovely horses
inside of the hotel.
On Wednesday we drove 10 hours with our final destination
being North Myrtle Beach! Once we
arrived, we immediately unpacked our things and got moved into our
apartments. I am living in a two bedroom
and two bathroom apartment with five others ladies! It has been a pleasure getting to know each
of them so far and I am excited to see how all of our friendships grow
throughout these next nine weeks or so.
Wednesday night we spent the evening meeting the other students that we
will be spending the summer with and getting all settled in to our apartments.
Thursday was a day filled with training and learning how to
share our faith! Throughout this summer
we will be given many opportunities to share our faith with others, whether it
be on the beach or at our workplace. Our
first day of sharing was very successful and it was amazing to see students and
staff taking steps to share their faith with people they encountered!
Friday was job search day!
Many employers from around the area came to our location at a church,
called the SHAK, and they hosted a job fair for us. Businesses such as Chik-Fil-A, McDonald’s,
Dunkin Donuts, and a handful of others were seeking out students for jobs. I successfully found a job with a business in
town by the name of Boulineau’s. For the
next nine weeks I will be working at a shop called Ocean Treasures where they
sell sandals, swimsuits, and t-shirts!
My first three days of work went really well and all of the ladies I
work with have been helpful and welcoming.
I look forward to getting to know each of them better individually as I
will probably be spending a lot of time with each of them this summer! We have already had discussions about
traditions that are “normal” for people of Wisconsin verses what the people of
South Carolina like to do! I asked each
of the ladies if they had ever heard of cheese curds- and boy oh boy did that
spark a comical conversation! The
concept of eating something that’s like string cheese but better was amusing to
them. It has been said that by the end
of the summer I will crave sweet tea, try boiled peanuts, and pick up a
southern drawl. We shall see what the
future holds!
Saturday and Sunday were days filled with fellowship and
adventuring out to the beach to share with people. Sundays are great opportunities for us to share
with people on the beach because that is when the new groups of people come
into town! Church on Sunday was
wonderful and the people of Ocean Drive Presbyterian Church were beyond
welcoming and are excited for all of us students to be here this summer. After church, we the students went out on the
beach to do student lead evangelism. My
partner and I came across a couple who were both believers but not plugged in
to a church where they can grow in community with others. After an hour long conversation about their
faith and their relationships with God, we left feeling confident that maybe we
sparked a fire inside of them to find a community to continue to grow in
magnificent ways. Please be praying for
them that they would see that need to have community!
Monday was our first official bible study meeting, and
Tuesday I participated in outreach night.
During outreach night we introduced ourselves to our neighbors who
happen to be from Russia and are in the United States to work this summer. Many of them are pursuing college degrees in
commerce and the economy, which I found very interesting as a business
student. Hopefully we can have an impact
on them throughout this summer as well since we are living in close community
with them!
I just want to thank each and every one of you who continue
to support through prayer for this summer.
God has already done some unfathomable things here in NMB, and I am
excited to see how he continues to work through me and the other students and
staff during our time here. Please
continue to pray for courage and boldness as we go out sharing on the beach and
also that we can reach out to our co-workers and invite them to our open
Thursday night meetings! Please also
pray that all of us here would continue to feel encouraged as we serve this
summer in NMB. I will continue to post
updates either weekly or every few days, so please keep checking back!
Below are some pictures of the area where I am living! The weather is beautiful, the humidity is
causing my curly hair to go nuts, and the people are great!
Love,
Jenna
Gaylord Opryland Hotel
Road Trip Buddies!
Oshkosh friends reunited in NMB! First night here!
Home for the next 10 weeks. Hello sunshine!
Today at the beach...
