Ready. Set. GO!

Yay! The City Project has finally begun! This has been a super exciting past few days! Let me see if I can explain some of the amazing things...

Meet The Hatchery (or "The Hatch"), my house of 10 girls for the summer:

Living with these girls has already been one of the coolest experiences of my life. Just talking, sharing, worshiping, and praying alongside each other is incredible. This is going to be a great summer getting to know them and building this community. In Galatians 6, Paul writes, "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ...So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith." (Galatians 6:2,10) I can already see how our house is building by bearing each other's burdens and how we're growing by sharing our walks with the Lord together.

So we're only on day 4 of City Proj, but here are some of the cool things we've gotten to do so far:

• Get oriented to Durham and plan for NYC. We're starting to learn our way around Durham! Woohoo!
  
• To help us with directions, we got to go on a scavenger hunt kind of activity around downtown Durham. It's a beautiful place!
  
• Cook dinner together as a house and spend the night worshiping and praying.
  
• Meet some incredible people! I'm so blessed to get to spend this summer alongside 34 other college students who are so passionate about knowing Jesus! Not to mention, the staff at Summit is awesome.
  
• We had lunch with our summer d-groups (discipleship groups) a couple days this week. Mine is comprised of six girls from UNC and our leader, Katherine, who graduated from UNC last year. This is going to be a fantastic group of girls!
  
• We met with our supervisors for our community/church internships that we'll be working in when we return from NYC. I'm interning with Summit Kids, which if you know me, you know how much I love serving with kids. So I got to meet with my supervisors, one of whom happens to be my friend/small group leader, so needless to say, it's going to be awesome! I get to learn a lot of what goes in behind the scenes during the week to prepare for weekends in kids ministry. This is where my heart is, so I'm super excited and blessed to be working in this area this summer.
  
• Yesterday, we devoted the day to prayer and quiet time with the Lord. We met in Duke Gardens and spent some time alone with God, really focusing in on what He's teaching us and getting our hearts in the right place with Him. That was a really beautiful time for me because I don't really spend time alone very often, especially for extensive amounts of time.
  
• Last night, we had Skit Night. SUPER fun! My group got second place, we had a lot of fun, and we made complete fools of ourselves.
  

So clearly, we've been having a lot of fun and learning a lot. I'm sure I've forgotten to list some of the things we've done, but it's for sure been awesome. For now, we're preparing to leave for NYC tomorrow, which I'm extra excited about because I've never been. Please pray for us for safe travel, for boldness to start conversations with people, and for the people we're going to interact with during our time there.

A couple of verses I've been reading & studying...

All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made...The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. - John 1:3,5

Already you are clean because of the word that I (Jesus) have spoken to you. - John 15:3

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. - Romans 8:19-23

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace...For through Him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a hold temple in the Lord. In Him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. - Ephesians 2:13,14,18-22