The end is always the hardest and yet it is the sweetest

Bueno!

We have entered the last 2 weeks and the proverbial dog poop has hit the proverbial fan. Lets pause a second and rejoice together ........................................................ WOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!! Need I reference all the verses referencing our call to rejoice in our suffering?! Need I reference all the verses speaking to our future glory in Christ which will cause any struggle here to seem insignificant?! Praise God! Have you not seen? Have you not heard He is the Lord God almighty! The Alpha and Omega whom has created all things! I digress.

Moral of the story, conflict is rearing its beautiful face in our team! I would be lying if I thought it was beautiful at first. In my weak spirit, I wanted to run, I wanted for these next two weeks to be over, I wanted to go and die and be with my Lord, lying on my back in desperation looking up at my God, pleading with Him to pour His Spirit out upon me that I might serve, love, guide, and lead well. That I may know when to speak and when to be silent. He has answered my prayer! I am still clueless as to what will happen or exactly how I will respond. All I know is that my spirit is refreshed by the Spirit of God and it is His time to act through me, to act strongly with graceful truth. Praise be to Him for I am nothing, merely a tool for His work. May I be laid low and He be lifted up!
- Please pray that the team would be gracefully truthful with one another, leaving this program with a greater ability to deal with conflict and friendships which they will treasure for the years to come. To not look back with disgust for one another because the conflict was handled poorly.

These past few weeks conversation at work was not what it started out to be. There was little to no depth. I would pray before work consistently asking for the Spirit to lead and make deep conversation happen. I am unsure if I was too weak to listen and act, but I know He has acted now. In the Spirit's strength I was able to have a discussion with my lesbian co-worker on homo-sexuality and what she perceived to be the church's response to it. It was a sweet conversation where I believe I was able to speak truth gracefully. It also led to some deeper issues in her life. I believe we both left the conversation with a greater understanding and love for one another. I know I love her more as a result.
- Please pray for her and for God to be opening her eyes to the truth. That only through faith in the saving blood of Christ can one have life, now and after death.

P.S. A Christian guy just started at my Starbucks. He is here intending to plant a church. It is a sweet blessing to see that what God has used me to start or continue in someones heart will be continued after I leave.

A lesson I continue to learn is that I MUST maintain consistent time with the Lord. I went two days without having a quiet time with my Lord and I felt like I would die. It extremely limited my ability to be useful for the King.
- Please pray that I would be able to say no to fun things when they get in the way of me getting time with God

God is a baller! Recognize.

Team Weekend!!!!

Had a sweet time in bible study last night. I love my team and how they pick up where I leave off. I just show up and watch them and God do work. It ended with a sweet run back to the dorm through the rain where I personally was prancing around like a crazy person singing at the top of my lungs "I am singing in the rain! I am singing in  the rain! What a glorious feeling! I am happy again!" This run was awesome and enjoyable because God has blessed us these past few days with 90 degree weather and 50% humidity. When we got back to the dorm everyone else was outside playing in the rain too! So we proceeded to join them, splash around in puddles, use the slip n' slide, etc. One of the funnest evenings I have experienced so far. God is good and brings much joy!

We head out tonight for NYC! Where we will be staying in the worst congressional district for crime in the U.S. Some nav girls from NYU are putting up with us and feeding us.
Basic Sched:
Get T in the dub in Central Park
Group discussion time
Lunch
Broadway show
BBQ

Sunday
Tim Keller's Church
Lunch
Watch World Cup Final
Head home

Prayer
- For this to be a pivotal moment for everyone on the team and propel them with strength for the remaining 3 weeks.

More than halfway

Work
Continues to go well. I continue having discussions on faith with the jdub girl, she referred to herself as a jdub so I feel okay calling her that. Still waiting to see where we differ greatly in views, though we have only talked for about 15min. I have been meaning to get coffee with her.
- Please pray for our interactions
While getting t in the dub at work I was randomly asked to write a story by one of my co-workers for her. I plan on writing a modified judge story for her. ( A judge story is basically any story where the law must be upheld and a penalty paid where someone who is innocent steps in for the person who is guilty. Usually the creator of the law is the one who sacrifices themselves. )
- Please pray that the Spirit would be leading as a write it.
Asked one of my co-workers  to read the bible, he said maybe if he has time. Previously while I was on a break and reading my bible he asked to look at it and we briefly chatted it up about some of his favorite Psalms. I worked with him two years ago and he is a man I deeply love and enjoy. We shall see what the Lord does here.
- Please pray for him to have a desire to study the bible with me and make the time for it.
Been watching the world cup with one of my other co-workers. It has led to some sweet conversations. He seems pretty comfortable around me and we are able to discuss real life things and not just surface things throughout the games.
- Please pray for God to be working on his heart and for the Spirit to be leading my tongue.
As I look back and read this I am amazed what God is doing in such a short time. Once again none of this is me and I have just shown up on the scene, not been weird, shared my life, prayed, and watched God work.
- Please pray for God to be opening the hearts and minds of all those whom I am working with.

Team
Starting to develop a deeper love for all of them, but I still want more. We are starting to get to the point where deeper issues are coming out. Some core issues which have reared their head.
- Please be praying that the men on my team would be pursuing the Lord whole heartedly the remainder of the summer and that He would be doing great work on them in these areas.
I still desire, we desire, for evangelism to be the focus of our faith. My prayer is that all of these men would be become solid men of faith or reproduce other men who produce other men who follow Christ, and so on.
- Please be praying for this to happen.

Program
We are all amazed we only have 4 weeks left. The summer has zoomed by. More of a family feel continues to develop and I feel we are coming out of a brief slump.
Parents weekend just finished up. It was fun to meet some peoples parents. I also had my aunt and uncle come up whom I had not seen for 2 years, so that was a sweet.
We are going to attempt to have two people in the program give their testimony every evening to encourage the family feel all the more.
- Please pray for a continued program wide focus on God and sharing of each others burdens.

Myself
Currently doing well. Time in the word has been good. I have been taking drastic steps to fully eradicate portions of lust from my heart. In these steps and desires to pursue righteousness and present my body to Christ, sin has seized the opportunity to make my lustful passions more intense than they were before. Satan is fighting hard to maintain his stay in a portion of my heart, but I want life! Eternal life! I am a slave to Righteousness! Not sin!
- Please pray that I would rely upon the Lord in this struggle and not try to defeat it out of my own weakness.