New Beginning

Hi everyone! :)

Summer Project Orientation ended yesterday. It was by far one of the hardest weeks of my life. On Thursday and Friday, I returned to working full-time. This summer I will be working with Summer Crew which is through Marquette University's Office of Residence Life. We do renovations and prepare the residence halls and university apartments for the Fall. Also, we have been preparing rooms a lot lately because we host conferences. Some of the residence halls function as hotels for these conferences. The job itself is physically draining. On Friday, I just wanted to cry from how exhausted I was in the afternoon. It's really hard for me to keep myself going all day when I am exhausted all the time. Friday after work I had dinner with my Action group and we formally meet for the first time. This summer we will be studying the book of Ephesians.

Yesterday was the highlight of my week. Probably the best day ever! :) I got to sleep a few extra hours and it felt good just to recharge myself. We did our 2nd Outreach at 2 local parks in Milwaukee. I personally spoke to 5 individuals. I was really blown away at how God is working in the city of Milwaukee. All of the people that I talked to after going through the Quest survey (Cru tool we use to evangelize) with them rate their desire to know God as a 10! I remember one conversation in particular that really just broke my heart. There was an 8 year old boy alone on a swing and we approached him. One of my Action group leaders gave him a Gospel bracelet and I got to explain what each different color bead meant. We asked him if he went to church and he said no. I asked him if he would want to go to church and he said yes. It just really broke my heart to see the desire this little boy had to know God and pray that God would place people in his life that can pour into him. After the Outreach, we returned to City on a Hill and were left instructions to go find the Staff. They were scattered throughout Brady St. which is a very colorful street in Milwaukee with a lot of restaurants and businesses.

Here are a few pictures from yesterday:

Some of the students on Project

My summer family! :)

Summer Project Staff

My roommate Laura Velasco! :) She's from Sacramento, California.

The Staff Scavenger Hunt was a lot of fun! Afterwards, we went to the Urban's condo for dinner and to watch a movie. We were on the rooftop and the view of Milwaukee was beautiful! Our Project Director Jeff Hoffman shared his love and vision for the city of Milwaukee with us. It was really touching just to hear him talk about the city in that way. I'm starting to see Milwaukee in a whole new different way. My desire is to get to see this city and the people in it the way God does. We prayed last night over the city and the different ministries that we will be working with as well those who are in the Marketplace track.

Beautiful view of Milwaukee! 

We finished the night by watching Remember the Titans. Today is a rest day or what we call a Sabbath Day. We will be visiting an Ethiopian Church this afternoon.

This coming week is our first typical week for us students. Those in the Vocational Ministry Track will be working with various ministries that partner with Here's Life Inner City and will be working with children. As for those of us in the Marketplace Ministry Track, they will start working. In my case, continue working. Please pray over our week and that God would give us opportunities to share the Gospel with these individuals whether it be children or our co-workers. My prayer requests remain the same as my previous post.

Thank you everyone for your continued support and Happy Father's Day to all fathers out there! Have a great week everyone! :)