An Attempted Summary (OGN 2012- Katie's Input)

Not sure how to write this after reading Abi's post! I'm thrilled!

So Canada weather is a lot like San Diego. It's only been a week and I'm missing it more by the second! I was truly blessed and there's no possible way to put into words the incredible week God gave all twenty of us. :)

May I just say I love traveling with my youth group? They make life interesting. Very interesting. I think Carley might have some input on Billy the Flight Attendant. And who knew they let passengers use the intercom in the back to start a sing-along?

But the odds and ends at the airport and the late night food runs, every moment that brought laughter and a feeling of a family, all that pales in comparison to hearing what God did the entire week.

Personally, my favorite day was my fasting day. I'm sure Carley and Abi have stories to tell (please do, there's no way to do this on my own! :)) about fasting- which might have something to do with almost falling asleep at one point- but honestly, it thrilled me. If I could get paid to fast and pray for a living, I would. It's my dream job. It was more like a worship service than I expected. For those who went to Chris Tuttle's prayer meeting that went til two, it was very similar. My day in particular was the second day of witnessing, so I had been out on the beaches one day. I was struggling with doubt and I think a little fear and confusion. Jesus totally stepped in and calmed everything inside me, and walking away from the room when it was all over, there was this unexplainable joy and a feeling of anticipation for the next day, no matter who I got paired up with or what beach we were going to. And I got to see God at work when we attended the worship service that night and saw God respond to the prayers that were prayed over every object in the room. It was breathtaking.

The other really major story I have to tell was the last day. It was Sunday morning, we had finished our last apologetics class and church meeting of encouragement and we were prepping to go out to the beaches. I was partnered with Andrew Jensen that day and I totally hadn't planned on that. Looking back, that's where I noticed God begin working on the beaches that day, even though we were still on campus. Andrew was one of the three students in our group who had ever been before, so he had experience and different classes than the ones we first-years had been taking. And since he was a guy, we could approach anybody on the beach. He had also fasted the day before, so he had the same joyous energy I had the second and third day. We were literally bouncing in our seats waiting to leave. We had only three prayer requests that day. He wanted the chance to talk to someone who was firm in their beliefs, no matter what they believed in. We both wanted a hard conversation. And I desperately wanted to talk to an athiest after meeting nobody but different denominations of Christians all week.

We hopped into a random van and ended up with no one we knew, save for Whitney, the FSM girls' leader, and John, the man from Fellowship who organized everything. The van was taking us to La Jolla, a beach I had yet to visit. After prayers of people to talk to, I was kind of shocked to find a tiny beach beside a park. It was maybe a tenth the size of all the other beaches I had been to. Maybe less. Andrew stopped us right then and we prayed for God to send the right people to us.
Then came the rejections. This man doesn't speak English, she doesn't want to, watching kids in the ocean, not now or come back later, excuse after excuse not to talk for a half hour straight. A half mile or so down the sidewalk, we discovered more little beaches, which led to our first conversation. God answered another prayer- this man we talked with for maybe ten minutes, was a firm believer in his faith. He had even moved from his home country in Egypt for it. Andrew was thrilled. :) I frankly was thrilled to see God answering and banishing all doubt from my mind that He was on the move.
An hour or so passes. We begin walking back with an hour or so left when Andrew spontaneously begins chatting with a man sitting on a little wall bordering the sidewalk. His name was Kevin, and he didn't know what to think of all this faith stuff. Only by God's grace did he continue to talk with us, asking questions and responding openly. In the end, we all had to leave, but we were able to hand him a copy of the New Testament and an extra copy of John. The second meaningful conversation- a hard one that was totally unplanned and only by God's prompting.
Thirty minutes. Cori and Parker, the fasters of the day, are sharing encouragement and asking how it's going. Parker texts me: "I'm still praying you meet an athiest." We're still analyzing our conversation with Kevin, somewhat overwhelmed, when Andrew suggest talking to a man off by himself. Why not?
Our third meaningful conversation and last one of the week- a man named Tom. He's an Irish athiest.
I'm not sure I understood how speechless I could get. With ten minutes left before the van arrived to pick us up, we stood there silently praying on our own, thanking God for the awesome week. I broke down in tears. I literally had no words (and still really don't) to thank Him. God works wonders, guys. Just ask. :)

So... Those were two of my favorite stories of the week. There are so many more, and nineteen others with totally different experiences. This post is long enough, so I'm going to get some shuteye (or try to) and tell as much as I can in person! Love you all so much!
Soli Deo Gloria! Katie