This past week has been a week of lasts….last Family Night, last TNT, last bible study, last Women’s Time, last life group dinner, etc. etc. It hasn’t really hit me yet. I don’t think I’ll even realize it until I’m getting on the plane heading back home. I really hope we all don’t cry like crazy…I don’t want to end on a sad note! But really, I don’t know what I’m going to do without people at school with me. It feels like we’ve known each other FOREVEr. I feel like we’re related or something. But Meg and Lauren said they are coming to visit me in the fall, and they BETTER come!
Natalie and I served most of this last week at work. I didn’t really like it, but I prayed alot about having a good attitude every day before work, and it ended up not being that bad. It’s still not my favorite, but I made some money, and it gave me experience. Plus, on the two slower days we had, I got to talk to alot more people. This week we passed out Hope bracelets at work. Originally we ordered about 300 and were going to pass them out on the Boardwalk as part of our outreach, but we didn’t get them in time. So instead, we took them to work and gave them to our co-workers. They’re these really cool bracelets with five colors on them: gold, black, red, white, and green. They’re made by Filipino women who used to be prostitutes, but became Christians and now they support themselves by making these bracelets. And they illustrate the Gospel:
Gold: God is absolutely perfect and controls everything.
Black: We are sinful, and because we are not perfect, we cannot know God personally.
Red: Jesus died on the cross and took the punishment for our sins upon Himself, so that we can have a personal relationship with God.
White: Christ takes away our sin and makes us pure in God’s eyes.
Green: We grow in our knowledge of Christ and our relationship with Him.
So it was really awesome to give them out at work because not only is it a way for our co-workers to remember us, but they are an easy and effective way of sharing the Gospel! I was surprised by how much my co-workers liked them. We had ten, but those got passed out really quickly, so I got five more and passed those out on Friday. I even had some people ask me if they could have one, but I had already run out of them 
The really cool thing was, I got to give them to two of my managers. I was nervous to give one to my boss, Kevin, because he’s DEFINITELY not interested in Christianity…or if he is, he makes it seem like he’s not. But he came up to me and asked what they were, and why he didn’t have one when everyone else did. So I explained it to him, and he was like Oh, that’s pretty cool, and wanted me to tie it on his wrist, so I did! One of the coolest things is that some of our co-workers came back later and wanted us to explain it them again. They wanted to know exactly what it meant so they could tell people when they asked! How amazing is that? I don’t think any of them are believers, but they will still be able to be part of spreading the Gospel, even if they don’t really believe it themselves. I think it’s cool that God uses unexpected ways of spreading His love like that. Needless to say, Natalie and I were really excited!
On Friday, we made cupcakes for everyone and brought them in. SO many of our co-workers were legitimately sad that we were leaving. And even though he had not really said anything all summer, Kevin told us that we were great workers and he loves us working there and would welcome us back there anytime. He told us if we came back next summer, he might even go to church with us! Hahaha. We aren’t going back obviously, but I’m so glad that everyone there was able to recognize a difference in us. I think alot of times as Christians we don’t really see ourselves as THAT different from the world. But at the Dough Roller, we were SO different from everyone else there, and at first they kind of made fun of us for it, but as they got to know us and work with us, they really appreciated us. It was a completely different environment on Friday than it was at the beginning of the summer. I remember our first week, when one of our managers made fun of us, and other people just seemed to want to ignore us. I’m so grateful that God provided us with jobs there, and I really, REALLY hope that my co-workers will be curious about that difference in us, and that God will start to pull on their hearts and show them how much He loves them!
Yesterday we had a free day all day until our Farewell Banquet that night. I went to the beach for a few hours, and deposited money at the bank FINALLY, and then we all got ready and headed to the banquet. The Harrisons are a family who go to Stevenson, the church where I went this summer, and they own multiple hotels and restaurants in Ocean City. They’ve been so great to us. Not only did they provide jobs for about 9 people on project, but they also sponsored the food for the dinner that Stevenson held for us project women, and they’ve done other things too to just really make our experience here great. So for the banquet, they let us use one of the conference rooms at the Holiday Inn, and they even set up the tables and decorations and screen and everything! All we had to do was bring the food. It was SO NICE! I walked in and was shocked. We got food catered from Carrabba’s and got two Smith Island cakes for dessert. It was absolutely delicious. It was so much fun to just fellowship with each other and celebrate our project. At the end, we watched a movie that Tyler made of project. It was so wonderful. It had videos from project, as well as pictures and some of us talking about what we’ve learned here. And they burned a copy for everyone, so I get to have it forever! Of course we took TONS of pictures as well. I think I took about 70, no lie!
Today was our last day at our churches. Although Stevenson isn’t a church that I would choose to go to, today I just realized how great they have been to us. Not only with the dinner they had for all of us women, but they were so welcoming to us and really made us feel like a part of the congregation right from the beginning. We led two songs in worship today, and we were nervous about it because we had practiced and did NOT sound good, but once we got up there everything just clicked. It was totally a God thing, because this morning when we practiced before church we were awful! But it worked. And I think the people really loved it. Pastor Carol came up and hugged each one of us after church and just let us know how much they enjoyed having us and how they were praying for us. And even though I will never see them here again, I will see them in heaven one day. How awesome is that?!
This afternoon it is POURING! Michael and Chrissi came back to close out the project, and it’s hilarious because now that they’re here it’s raining like it did the entire time the staff was here! I think they must bring the rain or something. Haha. It’s supposed to be sunny tomorrow, but it’s our house cleaning day—hopefully everyone will work hard and we will get it clean so we can play outside on the beach one more time!
I can’t believe project is basically done. Part of me is really excited to go back to school and see everyone, but I’m also really not looking forward to it because that means we are DONE. And I won’t see alot of these people again, especially if I don’t go to Radiate in December. So Natalie and I are DEFINITELY going!
This is the last time I will post on here…weird. I hope everyone’s enjoyed reading it, and I will see you soon!
<3 <3 <3
*Alison*
