Update: Halfway through

Dear family and friends,

How are you all doing? I hope you all had a relaxing holiday weekend. Project is now officially more than halfway over, so the novelty is long gone, we are tired, and as with all CCC summer projects, the staff have handed leadership to us students and will actually be leaving Saturday morning. Each student is now in a position of leadership, whether small group leader, ministry coordinator, or project director. My partner Theo and I are the new training coordinators, so we teach the material for training twice a week. While we do have suggested curriculum, we are also encouraged to be sensitive to the students' needs and adjust the curriculum as necessary. Please pray that we we as student leaders will seek wisdom for the remainder of the Project.

On campus sharing has become much easier for me to initiate conversations, but carrying them can still be difficult for content reasons. I had a very draining conversation with an atheist last week, where I felt like I had to constantly defend and represent Christianity. I spoke with one of the project directors afterwards, and he told me that nobody randomly hates the church as a historical institution for philosophical reasons, so I didn't need to feel pressured to give one, and that it was perfectly fine to admit, "I don't know." Besides atheists, we've also run into members of questionable denominations. Two of our teammates randomly met a guy from the International Christian Church (anyone know anything about them?) who ended up leading them through a Bible study that made them question their faith and our work here. In the end, they felt really challenged to know the Word better and have been eagerly studying the Bible since then.

On a much brighter note, one of my teammates and I had the incredible privilege of leading someone to Christ this week!! Neither of us have ever done that before, and it was just awesome having God use us in this way. I believe there have been 12 decisions for Christ so far since Project started, so praise the Lord for our new brothers and sisters in Christ! Please pray that He will protect them and grow them in His truth.

Please also pray for the following:
- For my teammates who are still short on support. Praise God for what He's already provided (one teammate raised $2000 in one week!)
- That my teammates and I will make quality time with God a priority and to rely on His strength every moment of every day. We are getting tired, and it is very easy to neglect quiet time because there's so much free time to drivel away doing nothing and because there are so many distractions.
- That we will be firmly rooted in the Word and keep our eyes on the big picture.
- That we will have vision for our campuses here and at home
- For post-graduation plans for the rising seniors. The staff challenged to consider interning for CCC for a year or two after graduation, and while the application isn't due until March, the first round of job offers are given around November, so we really need to pray about this soon.

In Him,
Jessica