Jesus Hits the Beach

Beach evangelism today was amazing. I was definitely nervous about it, but I've found that I'm very, very good at faking confidence. And after the first couple of people, it almost seemed easy. I went with a girl on my team named Hannah (from Vermont) and it was good to get her feedback too to see what she thought I needed to improve on and I could help her out, too. The Lord was so good to Hannah and I. Both of I had never really shared our faith before and no one rejected us.

We talked to a woman from Puerto Rico who said she was a believer but the bridge illustration (based on Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord) was really good for her because English wasn't her first language. She asked me if I had another word to explain "sin" and Hannah jumped in (she's a Spanish major) and said "pecado" and then the woman immediately knew what we meant. It was so cool. She told us about her daughter who just had eye surgery and who is a senior in college. We told her we would pray for her daughter and she was very glad we stopped and talked to her. There was another girl whose name we didn't catch, but we approached her as she was burying a surfboard in the sand -- we call her "Surfer Girl" -- she was probably in high school, and she shared with us that she believed in all religions and all gods and we showed her the bridge; I shared with her the verse when Jesus says, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6) She seemed not interested, but we left the illustration with her. She said she grew up in a Catholic school but doesn't want to be Catholic. We just prayed as we walked down the beach for her that the Lord would stir up a desire in her heart to know her Creator.

The other women we talked to all said they were believers; one girl we talked to, Stephanie, said she thought she was "on the bridge" (in between knowing and accepting). The thing about being "on the bridge" is that a bridge is not a good place to build your home. Hannah and I didn't feel very prepared to lead her after this point, but we left her with the illustration as well. This was only week one, and it's so encouraging to know we'll be out there every Saturday afternoon for the next several weeks. We should be a lot more confident by then and ready to share the reason for the hope that is in us. Pray that the Lord will continue to prepare hearts for the truth we will bring as the Holy Spirit uses us as vessels for the Good News.

We had a debriefing period afterward where people shared their experiences. Several people on the beach made the decision to accept Christ, and some of them agreed to go to church with some of us STPers tomorrow.

We stopped by Sonic afterward for diet cherry limeades. Hannah says there are no Sonics in Vermont (which I suppose makes sense. Cold weather and drive-ins do not mix) so it was her first experience. She liked it. :-) Saturday evenings and all day Sundays are free for us (except for church) which will be amazing because after a week I'm pretty much physically and emotionally exhausted. On Monday I start my job at the Hyatt working 8am-4pm every day. I still don't have a ride there yet, so you can be praying that carpool stuff works out smoothly for me. :] Thanks.

More updates later -- I'm not sure how insane next week will be, so sorry if my updates are scattered and not-so-often. Adios.

ps. One of my goals for this summer and probably by Christmas is to memorize the book of James. I have the first eight verses down. My memory verses for this week are:

Psalm 1:1-3
1 Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.