Sunday, June 19th

After church, Lindsey, Katie, Jess, and I decided that we should have a girl date.  We were all extremely hungry, so we drove around scoping out the perfect restaurant.  We spied Garden City Buffet and decided to stop there because one of Katie’s customers at Piggly Wiggly had told her how good it is.  There was so much food!  The buffet overflowed with Chinese food, sushi, fruit, dessert, and even brunch items.  It was nice to feast on something other than our usual PB&J sandwiches, haha.  This was actually the first time that Linds and I had met Jess and it was cool how fast we bonded.  Jess and I discovered that our families had both moved to the same area in Minnesota right after we graduated high school and her siblings are 5 and 7 years younger…same as mine. 

This afternoon I went to the flea market with Linds and Emily.  We got there at 3:14 and most of the vendors were either packed up or in the process of packing up because it closes at 4.  We went back to the stand with Special K crackers and granola bars and we all bought some for our stash.  We discovered a cute little stand with a sign that read “Twirly Shells.”  The lady who owns it is a local who finds shells and sea glass and then twists wire around them in cute swirls that have pearl beads.  They are beautiful necklace pendants that are only $5.  We spent a good amount of time holding each unique creation up to our necks and looking in the mirror to decide which we should buy.  Lindsey and I each bought one and the lady even told Linds that she would custom make her one.  The vendor and her husband talked to us about their church history and it was sad because they had had a few pastors who had hurt them and their churches.  One pastor had preached that their denomination was wrong and had split the church and taken most of the congregation away to create his own church.  Another preacher professed that there is nothing wrong with divorce.  They have been looking for a new church, so we invited them to our church and they seemed really excited to come next Sunday.

Our friend Zach was told by a customer that there was going to be a free Tenth Avenue North concert in North Myrtle Beach tonight.  Lindsey and I got super excited because we love this band.  My roomie back at USF (Lori Rensink) has “By Your Side” on one of her playlists and we listen to it every night before bed.  It was quite the adventure figuring out rides because so many people from Project wanted to go.  We eventually got it all figured it out and headed out.  Linds and I rode in Joel’s van with him, Tailor, Katie, Kiki, Emily, and .  It was an interesting ride.  Emily ate most of her apple and then told Tailor to throw it out the window for her.  He came up with the “brilliant” idea of throwing it into another STP car.  Him and Joel wanted to throw it into Elijah’s car, but his window was closed.  When we were at a red light, Tailor threw the apple into Zach and Greg’s car.  It landed in Zach’s lap and the look on his face was priceless.  Luckily, the light turned green and we sped off.

So Lindsey and I had heard from a guy at the flea market that the concert was by North 8^th Street at the Boardwalk…we told this to Zach and the other guys who were driving.  For some reason they decided to go to Broadway at the Beach instead and then couldn’t figure out why they couldn’t find the concert.  We kept telling them where it was.  We finally all piled back into the cars.  Before we left, Greg decided to get his revenge for the apple…he chucked it as hard as he could back into our van and it ended up hitting me right in the eye.  Needless to say, it hurt.  Joel made him apologize to me and I could tell that he felt bad.  Although an apple to the eye is not a pleasant sensation, I did think it was pretty funny.  Especially because of the pinecone incident when Greg had thrown one up into the air and it had smacked me on the head.   Then we headed to the Boardwalk to find the concert.

On the way, Tailor got a text from Cory saying that the concert had been cancelled because of the rain we had had earlier that day.  We were all really bummed and told him to call Cory to make sure it wasn’t a joke.  Cory was serious and said he had heard it from a girl who had heard it from Zach.  We called Zach and he said that he had not heard anything about it being cancelled.  Our guess is that he had jokingly said it to someone and then they had taken it seriously and then spread it around.  Oh well, it made the ride more entertaining trying to figure it out.  J

When we got there, Joel and Tailor let us girls out of the van and went to park it.  Isn’t that sweet?  J  The concert was really powerful.  I have listened to Tenth Avenue North numerous times, but the opportunity to see them live was breathtaking.  There was so much passion in the performance and it was all directed right to God.

Afterwards, we went to Sonic.  Linds and I split a Butterfinger shake.  Half the price and half the calories.  J

Saturday, June 18th

Linds, Laura, Jesamine, and I were excited to sleep in this morning.  We woke up a little bit before ten.  Laura is our legendary coffee maker, so I asked her if she could oblige us with her talent.  A few minute later, Lindsey noticed that there was coffee shooting out of our coffeemaker.  It was entertaining to watch the two of them figure out how to stop the leak.  Laura came to the conclusion that there is a crack somewhere so we have to always turn the handle to the left.  Go ghetto coffee pot!  J

Next, Linds and I went for a walk along the shore with our cameras.  We saw a ton of little crabs.  I was actually pretty excited because this is surprisingly the first time I have seen any.  After taking a ton of pictures of shells, boats, condos, crabs, and waves, Linds turned around because she needed to get back for a Bible Study with Remya.  I finished walking to the Pier and called my mom and then my Aunt Kelly and Maw Maw.  I found out that Mom was at Jamboree Days in Hartford and was running a Mary Kay booth.  I am so proud of her (I recruited her, haha.)

I swam for a little while but then had to hurry up and shower before heading to Wal-Mart.  Today cashiering was crazy busy.  There were a lot of tourists stocking up for their condos.  The locals always get kind of crabby when the tourists are making the lines longer and the aisles more crowded.  I did have about an hour of downtime though when I went to be a greeter in Lawn and Garden so that a coworker could go to lunch.  Hardly anyone uses that entrance, so it was basically an hour of quiet time.  I used this time to reflect on the talks that we have been having and to pray for guidance in applying them to my life.  So Wal-Mart pretty much paid me $8.30 to pray for an hour.  Not bad if you ask me.  J

I was super thankful for that peaceful hour when I went back to cashiering.  The lines were unending.  I tried to go fast because there were so many people (some with multiple shopping carts full of stuff) and I ended up with quite a few paper cuts from grabbing and scanning so quickly.

I was feeling kind of stressed when I got back to Project and ready to just call it a night.  Then I checked my mail and saw a package from my mom.  She sent me a shirt that says “I Love Target.”  J  I love her sense of humor.  This shirt could not have come on a better day.  I can’t wait to wear it.  All of my STP Wal-Mart coworkers will think it is funny.  I am very thankful for my job and overall I enjoy it.  I love my coworkers, managers, and the customers (they make my life interesting); but it is always good to have a laugh.

Well, my roomies will be back from Wal-Mart soon.  We had different schedules today.  I am just sitting at Lindsey’s laptop eating PB&J grits with strawberries and attempting to catch up on journals.  Good Night!

Friday, June 17th

I sipped my coffee with my new Hersheys caramel chocolate creamer at Bible Study Training this morning.  The topic was:  “Attentive to the Purpose of Study.”  We learned about how you should not study the Bible.  I always thought that as long as you were reading it, then you were doing something good, so I actually learned a lot from this.  Growing up I had friends who would brag about reading the whole Bible or would boast of the verses that they had memorized.  Here are a few quotes from the talk:  “Scripture does not say to memorize it in your head, but to let it be held in your heart and to let it lead to transformation.”  “Does your Bible knowledge humble you or make you feel superior to those who don’t know as much?”  Eric (the speaker) also summed up the Bible in an interesting way.  “The whole point of the Bible is faithless people being pursued by a faithful God relentlessly.”  I can remember reading stories from the Bible when I was younger and thinking how dumb people were when God would specifically tell them what to do and they would still do the opposite.  Now I realize that I do the same exact thing every time that I choose to sin.  I know what God wants me to do, but by a lack of faith and trust I choose to do my own thing.  This ends up being a horrible choice and even though I don’t deserve it, God is right there with His grace ready to pick me back up.  He continues to pursue me even when I do not deserve it.   Before moving into our passage study, Eric said, “Everyday we need to read it because our hearts are prone to wander.”  I have been reflecting on this and I believe that regular Bible reading is something that I really need to add to my life.  I cannot just rely on church or even on the talks and Bible studies here.  God has so much that He wants to pour into my life and I am so thankful to have the Bible as one way to get to know Him better.

Linds and I had about an hour between Training and work, so we had a lot of rushing to do.  Friday is the day that room check is done, so her and I cleaned the bathroom while our other roommates cleaned the room.  Haha, Linds said that she had never cleaned a toilet before, so I was honored to be there for this groundbreaking experience of hers.  She did a great job and I am very proud of her.  She joked that she has definitely done grosser things at the hospital.

At Wal-Mart it got to be pretty slow up front so I said that I had heard that they needed help back in claims.  I ended up getting to spend the rest of my day with Lindsey in claims and she taught me how to shrink wrap, write defective tags, and we even scanned and boxed up returns to mail back to the companies.  We had fun and went back and forth from having funny conversations to deep ones contemplating our faith.  It was a good time for sure in the claims cage.  J  We all got free steak, potatoes, salad, and cake for dinner because our Wal-Mart won a safety or sales award or something.  Thank you Wal-Mart!

After work, a group of us went to Fire and Ice to get ice cream and go on the internet.  I enjoyed a delicious scoop of banana pudding ice cream.

Thursday, June 16th

Not too much went on at Wal-Mart.  I was chewed out by a customer though.  I was standing at the end of my lane and waiting for a customer to come check out.  I saw a 60-something guy walk by and asked if he was ready to check out.  He said no and then glared at me and told me that we did not have 24-pack of the water that he likes; we only had a twelve pack.  I smiled and told him that we did have 24-packs in a few other brands and that I could help him find them.  He told me that if he wanted that kind of water he could just get it from his faucet.  Then he asked me why we did not order the 24-packs of his water.  I told him that I was not sure because I am not in charge of ordering.  He asked me again, even more irritated.  I said that I was sorry but I really had no idea why.  He told me that he was going to talk to management about how he was upset with them not having his water in a 24-pack and then stormed off.   Later on I saw him talking to one of the managers and overheard him complaining about me being rude…I am not sure how I was rude.  My manager must not have believed him about me being ruder though because a few minutes later he walked by me and smiled and thanked me for working hard.  Take that evil water man.

For our Project Supper we had Ultimate California Pizza and fruit.  It was soooooo good!  We brought our supper back up to our room because we had room devo time.  Amanda led us in prayer and then we all went around and pointed out topics from the Relationships talk that we either liked or had questions about.  Then she gave us stationery and had us write letters to ourselves that she will hand back to us at the end of the summer.  Next we got all dolled up for Project Social:  Salsa dancing!!!!  J  We had the dance on the deck by the beach.  They made an announcement that the guys had to ask the girls to dance.  Everyone ended up letting loose and it ended up being extremely fun.  Eric Sazama was the first guy that I danced with and later on I got to teach Kreath how to dance using 8-counts.  After awhile they turned off the music and we had a piñata.  We all snacked on candy and then they turned the music back on but this time it was dance party music.  My night ended with sitting by the pool with Ethan Graham and some girls from other schools.  It was nice to cool off with our feet in the water.

Wednesday, June 15

My friend Katie (from Bethel) and I partnered up for beach evangelism.  The first people we talked to were a mother and daughter who are from the area.  We explained the ministry we are with and went through what we had been taught.  They also told us about their church and their beliefs.  They were very sweet and encouraging to talk to.  Next we went over to a middle age couple.  They were kind of abrupt and told us right away that they were already Christians.  We told them that that was awesome and asked if they could tell us about their church.  The lady said that they had just moved here a few weeks ago and had not yet found or looked for a church but they are Baptist.  We told them about a few of the Baptist churches that we knew of in the area and then wished them a good day.  We were walking by the ocean when we saw three older ladies walking along.  We decided to try talking to them.  We walked up by them and started a conversation just about the ocean.  The ladies were very friendly and the conversation developed into all of us explaining why we were here.  They told us that they are actually here with a group of Lutheran church ladies.  Katie talked to two of them and I went over to talk to the other woman.  She asked a lot of questions about Summer Training Project, Campus Outreach, and my own faith and college life.  Then she told me about her three sons and their lives.  She gave me a few prayer requests for her children and I felt very honored to be trusted with prayer requests that were so close to her heart.  Before Katie and I headed back, we asked them to keep STP in their prayers this summer.  The lady I had walked with asked for one of our tracks that had the CO information in it so that she could learn more about it.  Katie and I met up with Ali and Maura and talked about our experiences.  Ali and I fell behind talking and then were stopped by a woman sitting in a chair on the sand.  She asked if we were from the college ministry and then told us that some other girls had talked to her earlier and how thankful she was to have us down here talking to and praying for people on the beach.  She said that she has two teenage sons that have faith in the Lord but that she has been worried about them because of the girls they have been hanging out with.  We assured her that we would keep her boys and the girls in our prayers.

Lara got a group of us together to go to Waffle House for dinner.  Haha, it was basically fourteen girls and Ethan Graham.  J  What a brave man.  Linds and I split a breakfast platter that consisted of scrambled eggs, sausage, toast, and a chocolate chip waffle.  YUM!  It was cheap and delicious.  Joel and a few other guys showed up a little later to hang out with us.

That night, Linds, Ethan, Chris Buller, Karli, and I went for a walk along the beach.  We were gonna go to the pier, but it started getting too close to curfew so we had to head back.

Monday, June 13

The Holloways, who are involved in CO down here, came to Myrtle Beach to talk to us about relationships.  There have been jokes down here that CO likes guy-girl friendships and marriage, but that they don’t like dating.  Haha.  There are so many questions that can be asked when thinking about relationships.  We know that we were designed for relationships (including:  marriage, family, friends, etc.).  It can get confusing because the Bible does not specifically address dating.  The way that we date has really not been around that long.  Heck, less than a century ago parents required escorts to accompany their sons and daughters on dates.  We were told that dating should reflect and prepare you for marriage.  It should display and develop our dignity and diversity as male and female.  They also told us that dating needs to take place in community.  It is important to include your friends and family in your dating life because they will be able to help guide you and make sure that you are on the right track and that your intentions are pure.  This is also a good opportunity to grow in relationship with your sisters in Christ because you are letting them in.  One thing that really hit me was when they told us that the way that most people are dating is preparing them for divorce rather than marriage.  They cling to a person, give them a part of themselves, and then when the friendship or relationship is over they let go and move onto someone else as if nothing is wrong.  I find this extremely sad, but once I thought back to relationships that I have watched even in just one year of college, this made sense.  Hopefully this trend can be changed.  There was encouragement at the end of the talk when we reflected on how Christ already died for anything that is in our pasts.  Sin should not make you feel secluded from God.  They said, “The depths of your sin will help you feel a greater height of the Gospel.”

Sunday, June 5th

We had time before church to get together with the people from our schools.  Andrew Knight, the adult project director, came to sit with us and facilitate the meeting.  The USF students at Project are:  Lindsey Fowler-Wacholz, Maura Bickner, Amanda Johnson, Crista VandePol, Jodi Blackinton, Lara Wilson, Suzi Erb (she is from ND, but is with our group and we are trying to sway her to come to USF next year), me, Ethan Graham, Tyler Spilde, Eric Sazama, Chris Hull, Kyle Richards, Matt Harsch, and Kreath Karlen.  We went around and gave our reasons for coming here this summer.  Haha, a lot of people credited their discovery of STP as being a results of conversations with Chris.  So way to go Chris!  :)  Then we played a hand slappy game...I was one of the first out because I am not coordinated and get confused by those kinds of games.  It was fun to watch how into it other people got though.

We were assigned which church to go to based on the team that our room was with.  The name of our team is Fun Fun Fun and we were matched up with Garden City Chapel.  It is a cute little white church located between the condos and hotels of Myrtle Beach and only a few minutes from our hotel.  I believe I heard that it was started as a summer church because there are a lot of families that come here for the summer and they wanted to have a church to call their own.  We drove up to see a lot of Southern high school/college guys greeting in their suits.  They showed us where to sit and a few of them played guitar/drums during worship.  The pastor is really welcoming and announced to the congregation who we were and what we are doing here this summer.  They seemed enthusiastic to have us and it will be nice to get to know them.

After church, our team went out for lunch at a sandwich place.  Linds and I split a chicken quesadilla in an attempt to save money.  It was delicious.  :)

We had about two hours of free time, so Linds, Suzi, Maura, and I went to Krispy Kreme to get some internet access and doughnuts.  It was refreshing to have so chill time and to hear each others' stories of how Project was going.

A large group of us wanted to go down to the Pier, but then it started raining and we figured that it would be safer to just stay put.  A few people brought guitars so we sat in the hall and sang Praise and Worship songs, with rain accompanying in the background.  It was a nice time to just reflect on the fact that we are all here for the same reason:  we want to grow in our faith in a community of believers.

After a while, a group of us went up to the porch and did a few silly worship songs until it was time to go to bed. 

Saturday, June 4th

WAL-MART ORIENTATION!!!!!!!!!!  :)

We put on our khaki pants and navy shirts and headed to work. (Thank you to my little brother Charlie for so graciously donating his navy Catholic school polos.)  There were a lot of us at orientation, so we were split into two groups.  My group was sent out onto the floor.  We got a tour of Wal-Mart first.  Oh, and for some background knowledge, our Wal-Mart is about five minutes from the hotel and just opened in October.  Then we were divided into different areas of the store.  At first I started out zoning cans, but then one of the managers came over to me and asked if I would rather do make-up.............YES!!!!  :)  Haha.  I was ready to get away from the cans because I couldn't reach the top shelf so I was standing awkwardly on my tippy toes and then dodging the cans that I knocked over.  I enjoyed organizing the make-up and nail polish.  Haha, I knocked over a few baskets, but a really nice customer helped me re-stack them.  In her sweet Southern accent she said, "Bless your heart, that looks exactly like something I would do."

After lunch, we went into a room to have the orientation talk and watch videos on how to properly clean up spills.  I never knew how complicated spill clean up could be...haha.  Linds and I sat by a really fun guy named Josh.  We enjoyed his fun spirit because he kept breaking out into random top 40 hits.....but usually just repeated one chorus line from each song.  We still danced and laughed.  He really made our first day at Wal-Mart fun and memorable.  When the name badges got passed around, the three of us decided to make new names for ourselves.  Josh became Jake, I am Jade, and Linds took the name of Jenny.  We asked permission first, and our orientator (that is probably not a word...oops) looked at us slightly confused, laughed, and said it was fine.

That evening, our room walked down the beach and then to Yum Yum's Ice Cream Shop.  All five of us got yellow cake batter and cookie dough ice cream.  The owner was very friendly and asked if she could take a picture of us to put up on the shop's wall.

Friday, June 3rd

We woke up to the sun shining in through our beachside window.  The girls told me that they saw two dolphins, but this was while I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth, so I missed it.  We went to one of our meetings on financial responsibility and got our job talks for how we are supposed to behave at our jobs while down here.

A large majority of us received jobs at Wal-Mart for the summer, so we were required to take drug tests.  We headed over there and did not think that it would take too long, I mean how complicated can a drug test be?  When my room walked into the building, we saw that it was full of STP students.  They were overflowing from the chairs to the floor and even a few sat outside.  After we handed in our Wal-Mart sheets, we overheard the lady tell the group behind us that they should come back later because the wait would be at least two hours.  We asked her if we could leave and come back as well, but she said that once you hand in your sheet and have had your id checked, you are not allowed to leave the building until after your test.  So we got comfortable...or as comfortable as we could, haha.  We played Catchphrase, had introduction conversations, and basically just stared at each other.  Lindsey, Tyler Spilde, and I took a few pictures and recorded Tyler saying things in a weird voice.  We also took creeper pics of people not paying attention.  Laura and I found a decent radio station on my MP3 player and that was entertaining for a while.  I watched Linds and some people play a game where they bounced a tennis ball into cups.  We all just tried to not get frustrated from the wait.  You know how it was supposed to be a two hour wait?  Well, it ended up being more like four hours...or a few minutes over four hours...  We got a little crabby because we didn't get out of there until around 2:30pm and the last time we had eaten was breakfast at 7am.

Luckily, June 3rd was National Doughnut Day, so Krispy Kreme had been advertising free doughnuts.  We heard someone say that Dunkin Donuts had free doughnuts as well, so we stopped there first.  We found out that you had to buy a drink at Dunkin in order to get the free doughnut.  Linds and I got peach tea, but it tasted funky so we didn't drink it all the way.  She got a mammoth blueberry muffin for free and I chose a chocolate cake doughnut.  After not eating for seven and a half hours, I can say that that was the best doughnut ever.  We continued back to Project and saw a Krispy Kreme, so we stopped and got more free doughnuts.  :)  Laura and I chose chocolate with sprinkles while Linds, Amanda, and Jesamine opted for cheesecake doughnuts.  This was a great room-bonding experience.

Wednesday, June 1st and Thursday, June 2nd

The USF group met up with the Summer Training Project caravan at 6am on Wednesday, June 1st in Minneapolis, MN.  I got into a car with Lindsey Fowler-Wacholz, Tyler Spilde, and Eric Sazama.  I feel like after riding in the car with them for 24 hours, we are now much closer.  Tyler and Eric were both gentlemen and took turns driving the entire way.  Linds and I offered to drive, but they never accepted our offers.  The two of us rocked out in the backseat, well when we weren't napping.  We drove 15 hours on Wednesday and then met up with the rest of Project at Knights Inn in Louisville, Kentucky.  On Thursday we drove the remaining 9 hours and were greeted by the beautiful South Carolina sun.

Lindsey and I were surprised that we had been placed in the same room.  Our room leader is Amanda Johnson, who is also from USF.  Laura and Jessamine are the other two girls in our room.  Linds and I had about 20 minutes of "free" time so we went to put our feet in the ocean.  We saw the guys from USF and walked over to them.  They were all swimming.  My clothes were already partially wet from the waves, so I jumped right in and swam with my clothes on.  I had to change quick before dinner and attempted to wash the sand out of my clothes.  The first night we made a massive Wal-Mart run and stocked up on PB and J, cereal, milk, and fruit.  That night we also had our first Project meeting.  We went through rules and introductions and sang Worship songs.

Wow, so that was only the first two days and I already have to go.  Right now I am at Krispy Kreme with Lindsey, Maura Bickner, and Suzi Erb.  We do not have internet access at the hotel, so we had to find a wi-fi spot...the donuts were a plus as well.  ;P  I am not sure when I will be able to get back on, but I will try to keep you updated.