My Joy Is Boundless: Leaps of Faith

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