Monday, Day 1
- The day after I graduated, Boaz, who was my roommate last summer during WWSP, and I joined Mercy, who is my friend from RIT, on the road trip to her hometown, which is only an hour from Wildwood, for 6 hours
- It's about time! Leaving Rochester is not the end of the chapter of my fourth year at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) because I am still with college students in New Jersey and need to complete an internship in Florida. It is just a few chunky paragraphs about how God used me here in Wildwood before He will turn the next blank page to begin new chapter.
- Arriving at the project house, I was greeted by Dave, who is the director of the WWSP, and told that I will stay in a little blue house for next 6 weeks ^.^
Tuesday, Day 2
- At the first staff meeting, we had discussions, including the theme. The theme for this summer is the same as last summer, and it's "treasuring Jesus, making Him known". It's the theme that help us focus on the work of God here in Wildwood because we all need to experience intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. That way, we can pour out His love, which we received through relationship, onto people in Wildwood through our thoughts, words, and actions.
- Jenna, who interpreted for me last summer and is interpreting for me once again this summer, and I decided to meet Joe for a while
- Here is the story about Joe:
- Joe grew up here in New Jersey, and he finally came to know Jesus in American Sign Language only last summer. He had been attending church for his whole life, but never got the chance to know God personally. I understood his situation, and Jenna and I seize the opportunity to explain the Gospel. He desired to live with God forever, and we had him pray asking Jesus to enter his heart. From the moment on, Jenna and I have been studying the book of John in the Bible to this day. I saw his growth in God's love, and it was exciting! ^.^ Here is the picture of Jenna and I baptized Joe in the pool in his backyard last summer
- At the end of the day, I joined Boaz and Tyler, who are my roommates in the staff project house, to the beach. Boaz and I jumped into the ocean! Water is not too cold, so it's not bad for the beginning of the summer!
Wednesday, Day 3
- At the staff meeting, we had devotional time together, and Dave used the article called The Music of the Gospel.
- Dave said we were taught that the Bible was "written by God to me about me", but we can look at the Bible as it "was written by God for us about Jesus Christ". That's new perception!
- The article encouraged us to ask the following questions:
- “What is the sin beneath the sin?”
- "What does this reveal about my brokenness that requires the work of Christ?"
- “How does this passage point me to Christ?”
- I wanted to share my devotional time using the questions, and it actually opened my eyes. You see, I was reading 2 Kings 4:8-37, and saw my brokenness in this woman. I often held my expectation so high and ended up being disappointed and hurt. So, I protected myself by withdrawing myself from people to whom I am drawn or running away from people who make any promise. I don't want to become closer with people and then build up wrong expectation from them. I do not want to hold on their words and then hold grudge against them for not keeping their words. That answer the second question. The answer to the first question is lack of trust in God because He placed people into my life to be my friends. However, I often push them away. I began to see that friends are gifts from God, so I am learning to appreciate friends. So, third question led me to seeing the need of Christ because He sent the Holy Spirit to lead me to right persons to form healthy, intimate friendships.
- If you read the Bible regularly, I encourage you to read the article and apply the questions to your reading ^.^
Thursday, Day 4
- Window to Soul meeting, and it began at 12:30pm and ended at 6pm!
- Window to Soul is the time where all of staffs got the opportunity to share their lives from the time they were born to this today, what they have learned from God, certain facts about themselves, and how they feel at the moment in regards with being here in Wildwood for the summer project.
- I was amazed to see how I can related to some staff with certain struggle, perception, and habits. It's awesome to know staff personally =)
- Just FYI that it's the possibility that I'm going to lead a group of a few male students, and what's more is that they are hearing students. So, it will be interesting to see the dynamic between the students and I for a month, especially that it may be their first encounter with a deaf person ^.^
Friday, Day 5
- There is a married couple with an infant who lives upstairs in the little blue house invited us for breakfast. You see, they are staff on WWSP as well. It was probably the best breakfast of the week! ^.^ They served turkey bacons, whole wheat pancakes, fruit salad, and scrambled eggs! The couple wanted to get to know each of us personally, and it was awesome
- We, staff, prepared home for the students by doing "spring cleaning". I joined the team with painting job, and it was pretty fun. I did painting and spackle ^.^
- There were several teams who did deep-cleaning around the bedrooms in the project house, set up computers, organized files & folders, pulled weed and planted flowers in the front yard, raked in the backyard, and many more! See the lobby below, where I helped painting! We ended up cleaning and preparing home for the students for 9 hours! It was the opportunity for us to show our love for these students
Saturday, Day 6
- We once again had devotional time during the staff meeting with an article called The 5 Things on Campus.
- The article helped me to realize the importance of community within the mission team. Because the team is united through the faith in Jesus Christ, passion, which is instilled by the Father, the power of Holy Spirit to serve, we are given the freedom to give and receive truth and grace to each other.
- That is, we, brothers and sisters in Christ, should not thrive to be perfectionsts in order to get approval from God, but to do our part with another part from God. It is inevitable that we, humans, will fail one another; therefore, we are urged to show grace to others. That way, we will grow without fear of failure. That's deep, right?!
- Colin, who is going to my co-leader for a team of three students, and I were given information about each student in the team. We learned about those students and contacted them to see if they are ready to come to Wildwood. Two students are from Massachusetts, and a student is from Indiana. I'm excited to be their leaders for this summer!
