Rainy Day

Today was a decent day. Work was incredibly slow because there was litteraly almost no one there because of the monsoon that was happening outside. This gave me a great oppurunity to talk to and get to know several of my coworkers better, which was great.

I even got to "be magical" and juggle muffins and oranges, because we were that dead. I had an auidience in the ice cream shop. I mean hey, when its raining and there is nothing better to do, why not attempt to entertain the guests.

Also, tonight was the first time I began to feel like a "real" employee. I was able to help close one of the ice cream shops, and do my part without asking how to do things, and without help! I am ecstatic to finally be getting the hang of things and being able to do them on my own.

Furthermore, I received a Great Service Fanatic card from one of the coordinators today. These cards are basically recognition for being a great employee and doing something right. It is very rare that they are given out, especially to someone as new as me.

So despite the fact that it was rainy and wet and boring. I made the best of the situation. I got to know my coworkers better, spend time entertaining the guests, and even got a GSF card! So I'd say today was a great day at work (although I did just get off and its 4:30 am.... awesome work schedule i have....haha oh well)

Refinding the magic

Today reminded me why I was here and why I wanted to even do this project. I was begining to have doubts as to why I was here for several reasons. 1) the job itself is very humbling and not all that glamorous. I don't really find the food service industry enjoyable, especially an industry as large as Disney. 2) I am struggling with several issues in my personal life right now, which have made me want to go home and doubt my role here.

But today reminded me as to why I am here. and why I love Disney, and what made me want to do this in the first place. I was able to spend several hours just standing outside Auntie Gravities Ice Cream Shop with a Stitch glove on and just spend time interacting with the guests. I had the best time just talking to guests from around the globe and making magic for some of the children. Seeing the joy on the childrens faces brought joy into my own life, and knowing that I had played a part in lighting up that childs world for the day, made me incredibly happy. The few moments I have like that, that allow me to see and bring joy to the children that come to the park, make all the hot dog making and cleaning worth it.

Not only was I able to experiance seeing and bringing children joy today, I was able to interact with my coworkers, specifacally several international students. One of my co-workers speaks fluent spanish, and he and I have miny conversations. He is attempting to teach me spanish (and I am picking up on it fairly well which is awesome!!) Furthermore, tonight after work several of my fellow project goers, went to waffle house with one of our coworkers, who just so happens to be from France. Today also reminded me that my main goal in this job is not to make money or bring joy to children, it is to reach out to and show my co-workers Christ's love through my actions and conversations, and to develop real relationships with these people in order to help lead them to Christ.

So even though I do not enjoy working with food 8 hours a day, and even though I am facing potentially one of the hardest struggles of my life, I still manage to find happiness in the small things, such as a late night trip to waffle house with co-workers, or seeing the pure joy light up a child's face as they recount there adventures of the day!

So yes, I had begun to lose focus on my goals for this summer, and why I was even here and putting myself through this. But days like today are what give me the strength and encouragement to stay and do God's work this summer.

The thing I keep reminding myself of this summer is that "HE is worth it." God is worth everything. He is worth the job, he is worth the struggles I am facing. Because ultimatley in the end, HE is worth it. 

Earning my Ears

Today I finally completed training! after 3 weeks of being trained by Walt Disney I have now passed all the test to be considered a full fledge employee (about time!).

Not really that many interesting stories from work today, excpet I passed my test and got to participate in a "magical moment." A magical moment is where we as cast members do something extra special for the guests. One of the locations I work at does a magical moment every hour where we create a huge sunday and serve it to one lucky family that just happens to be walking by. I participated in 5 of these moments and had the priveledge of actually making one of the sundays! (even as a trainee):

So now that I am all done with training I can finally start being a "normal" employee without a trainer breathing down my neck every step of the way! I'm excited to actually for real start work on Thursday!

Day 18: (Saturday June 16th)

Well today was interesting. I spent the morning in a Community team meeting. (We are each on a different team to lead the project once the staff leaves in two weeks. Mine is community so we plan and organize all the events that will happen over the next 7 weeks)

I then spent the afternoon/evening at work. I am technically still being trained, and will not be done with training until this coming tuesday, however, I am finally doing actual job type things. I worked in Auntie Gravitys icecream stand today, and spent 10 hours making icecream. Lets just say I am going to be making the best ice cream cones at fountain dining hall next year. Be jealous.

I met several more of my coworkers today, and I am begining to develop the relationships with them, so hopefully they can see me live out the Gospel in my lifestyle, and I pray God gives me the oppurtunity to share the Gospel with them.

Overall, while my job is not the greatest and is definilty humbling, I am enjoying myself tremendously. Spending the summer growing in my relationship with God, and getting to share what I believe on a daily basis makes the not so great job in food service worth it.

Collosians 3:23:
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.


So while I may dislike my job, I will still give it everything I have, and do so with a joyful heart.




P.S. I was unable to get a blog up for June 15th, but here is an awesome picture i took after spending the day at Clearwater beach and meeting up with some of the people on project there: 

Its amazing how awesome our God is!

Catching Up

Hey Guys!

Sorry I havn't blogged in the last two weeks. It has been crazy with training and work and trying to get everything started here on project! I am not going to go into detail of what happened the last two weeks, just know I had a blast, did some awesome evangelism, spent some time on the beach and in the parks, and am making some great friendships. I will try to start blogging again daily, or at least every other day, that way you can stay updated on whats going on in my life down here!

Thanks for your patience as I attempt to make heads or tails of this hectic schedule!

Day 6: A day of rest

Today was a great sunday. We got a lot of resting in today to prepare for our busy week.

We woke up and went to celebration community church this morning and heard a great message from the Gospel of Mark. Then after church I had every intention of going out by the pool and reading a little bit of Radical by David Platt, but I fell asleep on the couch for a few hours instead.

We then got to meet the head of Campus Crusade. He and his wife came and spoke to us as a group.

Afterwords, I played volleyball with several of my fellow project goers, went to a praise and worship session in one of our rooms, and then randomly decided to go to skecthy amusement park. After the amusement park we went to Mcdonalds.

So not a lot happened today, but it was a much needed day of rest. Please continue to keep us in your daily prayers as we allow God to use us this summer in the way we live and work.

Day 5: Stepping out of my comfort zone

I just want to start this blog off saying how incredibly blessed I am. Everything about this trip so far has been awesome and it is only day 5. Just wow... im amazed at how God has blessed my life :)

This morning we woke up and went to downtown Orlando, where we shared our faith with seemingly random people on the streets. (btw, downtown Orlando is gorgeous)

But anyways, today one of my roommates, Nick, and I were partnered up while sharing. We were walking around and we happened upon a young guy sitting at a bench by himself, so of course we went up to talk to him. His name was Devon and we spoke to him for a while, and the conversation got to the point where we were able to go through the 4 steps in the booklet (pictured above) with him. We even got him to call up one of his friends and she is going to take him to church with her on Sunday! He didn't accept Christ at that moment but we were able to plant that seed, and found someone in his life who would actually be able to follow up with him! (another awesome thing about this part of the story is that he found us later and introduced us to his mom and little brothers! And he had already talked to her about us, and we could tell she wanted to talk as well but she was incredibly flustered and busy because one of Devon's younger brothers is autistic. So we left her our numbers, a copy of the booklet, and told her to call us if she wanted to talk since were going to be here all summer!)

We were downtown for about 2 hours today, walking around and evangelising, but afterwords, I got to have lunch with Lee and Chelsie (the project director and his wife) and that was awesome! Not only did we eat my favorite of Mexican, but we had awesome conversation over lunch, and on the car ride back!

I then had a few hours of downtime so I hung out at the pool with everyone for about 2 hours, and then after that I went and played a game of pick up soccer with about 10 of  the other project students! I didn't realize how much I actually missed playing competitively.

But then at 6:30 we had mens time. All the guys on project got together to do fun activiites. While I am not allowed to disclose what actually happened so as to not ruin it for others who may do a project in the future, I loved it! It was physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually exhausting and I am barely staying awake right now to share this with you all, but it was awesome!

Overall, today was great. I was pushed way out of my comfort zone to approach random people and share my faith with them (and actually enjoyed it), I got to hang out and get to know some people better, and then the awesomeness of mens time!

My Daily Quiet Time
Today I read Luke 3:1-20

The part of this passage that stuck out to me the most was when John talks about how we are cleansed by fire. At first this confused me, because fire = hell so why would Jesus use fire to cleanse us? But upon further research, fire is used often to get rid of impurities in metals and also to steralize things. So Jesus cleanses us with fire to remove impurities from our lives (sin) and to make us pure.

Day 4: Embrace the Awkward

Yet again, we had an early morning! I woke up around 8 a.m. and we had another long day of evangelism training from 9 a.m - 5 p.m. Today we learned many things!  The thing that stuck out most in my mind was how to approach those from different cultures because we did this really interesting activity where half of us went outside ( i was in that group) and the other half stayed inside. The half that was inside were given instructions on different behaviors on how to act. One group could only talk to you once you shook there hand, one group couldnt look you in the eye, and one group had to agree with everthing you said. The group that was outside had to interact with the group from inside and figure out what they were doing, without having any idea as to what they were doing. This is synonomous with trying to interact with people from other cultures, because it can be different and sometimes awkward but we just have to 

 

                                              "Embrace the Awkward!"

After evangelism training several of the students on project decided to head over to krispy kreme for:

              NATIONAL DONUT DAY

We were all given a free donut! After leaving krispy kreme we decided to walk across the street to dunkin donuts and see if they would give us donuts as well... of course they didnt... So Krispy Kreme is the official donut place of project!!!

                                           So this is the Krispy Kreme we went to this afternoon!
                                          Even my favorite, Chocolate Cake Donuts, were warm!!


We then had a "surf school" graduation! It was a huge surprise but the staff actually took us surfing! It wasn't "real" surfing but it was surfing nonetheless! It was at this awesome indoor place right down the road from where we are staying and we all had a blast!!  I am only putting one picture on here, but im sure there will be tons more on facebook soon!

Face is kinda intense!! 

While we were surfing, we were remdinded of the greatness of our God by this beautiful sunset!

Daily Quiet Time

Today in my quiet time I read a passage from the Gospel of Luke and also Psalm 103. I want to leave you with a verse from the Psalm.

Psalm 103:8

"The Lord is merciful and gracious! Slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love!" 

This particular verse stood out to me today because I need to act like Christ through my actions this summer with my job. I need to be slow to anger while I am working and show steadfast love to all the park guests and my co-workers. If I do these things I will be showing Christ's love through my actions while also giving off a better witness than someone who is bitter and angry all the time about my job! So no matter what happens at work this summer, and no matter how irritated I may be, I will always be merciful and gracious, and also not show anger towards others but the love of Christ.