Week 7.3

The rest of this week was pretty relaxing.  It was nice getting a little break from camps/ a working environment and get to know the interns and others out of the FCAV "working" environment. 

We got to spend July 4th on the beach all day!  We got to the beach at 6:30 am to reserve a court and played beach all day with the FCAV family.  When it was time for the fireworks we all camped out  next to each other on the beach. It was definitely one of the best ways to spend the 4th of July! The only down side about the day was having to say bye to our friend, Jordan Cheng, who is leaving for an internship in Taiwan. :( Jordan has been like a brother to all of us.  He has an awesome testimony and loves others deeply with all of his heart.  The love he displays is a love that can only come from God. 

Jordan- Thanks for being a great friend and for hosting us in your awesome home in Utah!  You were a great camp director and touched so many lives, including mine.  I miss ya already!

Thursday we had a meeting to get ready for our South Carolina tirp. We leave on July 16th and will be running a few camps out there.  All of the camp and leadership training we have done up to this point is getting us ready for South Carolina.  In South Carolina we will be spread out and have more leadership responsibilities.  We will be leading a huddle group and be the "spiritual coaches" to young players.  I am getting excited about this trip and am so excited that Coach Witham (my assistant coach at JBU) is coming! :)

Thursday night we had our family night dinner together with the inerns and staff.  Family night is always full of great food, great conversations and lots of laughter!  After dinner we played some games and watched all of the inern application videos.  It is so cool to see how God has worked in all of our lives.  Making that video was only the beginning of this wonderful journey.  Actually for me it was more of a halfway point since I wanted this internship for so long! I am still so grateful to be here.  It is so cool to look back and see the person that I was when I made that video.  I already feel like a new person.  The things I said in that video were true, but now those words have so much more depth and meaning to them.  Praise God. :)

Friday was a relaing sabbath and a supporter dinner at Lauren's house.  We are so blessed to be able to have home cooked meals and time to spend with supporters of FCAV.  After dinner some of us went and played in an open gym.  This was the first time have had the opportunity to play in a game setting- a team, an opponent, and a scoreboard.  It was a perfect opportunity to apply all that I had learned about playing with God in a more competitve environment.  We lost both of our games but I feel like I played with God more than ever before. 

Here is what I wrote in my journal after:
7/6/12
Playing with God give me peace, joy, and confidence in Christ.  Playing becomes an act of worship and overflowing thankfulness to Him who blessed me with the body and talent to play the sport that He created.  I find peace in the midst of trials and chaos.  I don't focus on the score but the teammates and opponents around me.  I see the image and characterics of Christ through my teammates and oppentnts.  The peace allows me to quickly forgive my teammates and myself when mistakes are made.  I am able to rejoice when others succeed because we are a body of Christ. 

The week ended with a few hello's and goodbyes.  I had to say bye to my investment lady/ mentor, Kelly.  I have been blessed by Kelly in soo many ways.  There is so much that I could say, but to keep it simple, Kelly has made a huge impact on my life and has given me such great wisom from God.  I have realized how important having a spiritual mentor in your life is. 

Lastly, two of my former teammates from JBU who live in Cali got to come hang out with me in Hutington.  It was so good to see them and share with them about my life out in Cali.  I think they are crazy for going to school in Arkansas after growing up in Cali.  Who could leave this place? I sure don't want to. :)