Ocean. Mountains. People.

I had the wonderful opportunity to visit some friends in San Diego this weekend. We were fifteen total strangers prior of meeting in Italy last summer for an FCA internship. This was the first time I had ever been with some of them in the United States! Jen came from Baltimore, Meagan from Oklahoma, Paul from Arizona, and myself from Atlanta. Marlena lives in San Diego and we stayed at her sister's house (who was out of town) for the weekend. We went to Sea World, In and Out Burger, San Diego Zoo, wine tasting, swimming and surfing on the beach, and more! I think of the other interns as family. I feel free to be myself with them. We fight and argue. There are times that I don't even like some of them! But I still consider all of them to be brothers and sisters.

Here are some pictures of the trip. I have enjoyed photography
more everyday and I am actually taking some classes
in August to learn more about the art.

Pink Flamingos in Paul's sunglasses.

Shamu show at Sea World. Look out for those Killer Whales!

Jen surfing.

This will be the last of my summer trips!
I am OH SO close to reaching my goal of $40,000.
Target start date, Aug 2.
It's a miracle.

Beginning of the Beginning...

I went up to Chattanooga for the weekend to see a college roommate get married on Saturday. I was also able to go see the soccer games of the ministry I used to work for, Chattanooga Sports Ministry. I love seeing the girls there and how much joy they have when they see old coaches like me come back around.

These are some of the friends that I used to Coach. I am making a magnet to give my supporters to put on their fridge, so they can remember to pray for me! I always remember seeing the faces of missionaries on the fridge growing up, never thought I would ever be one of them!

I miss the Chattanooga community so much (you probably figured from my last post). It was such a great place to me and it is hard to think I left that! But I am sure that the Lord has me back in Atlanta for a purpose and I couldn't see myself not doing this ministry with FCA. It is truly a God thing that he brought me back here and I am excited to form a Christian community here.

On the job front, I have been doing a lot of work with the Atlanta Beat. Joey (FCA International Director) and I have been talking to players that are interested in going from the Women's Pro Soccer League. It is really exciting to hear these players' excitement about going on a missions trip. For many of them, it will be their first one! We are looking to use their platform as professional athletes to recieve fan's financial support. I am working on a brochure for Honduras to give to fan's at the home games. I will be going on this trip and Joey just told me today that I won't have to raise the support to go! I have a couple thousand left until I will have $40,000. PTL (praise the lord).

We are presenting our strategic plan for soccer to the inner city board August 13. We have a strategic plan meeting coming up and hopefully we will express what we see happening in a detailed manner. Stay tuned. The beginning of the beginning is coming soon...

Slow down

This is a picture of my friends Megan and Luke. To me this picture signifies orginality, spunk, freedom...

Becky Galage and I went to visit them in small town Elizabethton, Tn. I coudn't help but be a little restless in this slow moving environment, but it just takes some time for me to slow down. I love being in a city like Atlanta where anything can be done, but it seems to be lacking genuine community. I would say more than half of the 5 mil people that live in Atlanta are very lonely and don't feel plugged in. Covenant was a great community for me and it is hard coming back to Atlanta and wanting that again. But it could happen.

Don't forget your Roots

I spent the last week in Florida. There were several purposes for this trip: To have some support meetings, to visit with old friends before starting full time in the fall, and to see my sick grandfather whose health seems to be declining. It was such a delight to spend time with people that have known me my whole life. It is a weird feeling to see these people and feel like they know me but don't really know me since I lived away from them for the past 11 years. The friends I grew up with from birth are all in such different places in life. Very few are in school or have started down a career path. Even worse, several have completely walked away from the faith. Countless times I found myself analyzing the different home situations that my friends we were raised in and came up with several theories. However, GRACE is the only answer. It is only by God's grace that he chose me. And I will pray for my lost friends and plead with the Lord to bring them back to Him.

I was able to get some work done while I was in the Sunshine State. We had a few conference calls to discuss soccer logistics. We are working on an equipment grant that will be very helpful. We are also in the process of getting together with the existing FCA staff in the inner city to finalize the strategic plan for urban soccer. I am working to have an end of the season cookout for the Atlanta Beat players. I am working to get t shirts made for them, and we are looking at our international trip to Honduras with them in October. I am attending my first Atl Beat Bible study tomorrow night and I am excited to meet the girls and start building relationships with them.

Also, we are starting to brainstorm who will be on the Soccer Ministry Board! I will be attending the Inner City Board meeting in the morning. One of the topics we will cover is how sport specific ministry will fit into the geographic structure of staffing. I am interested to see how this goes. Obviously a little nervous, just because I know this is new territory and I want to be respectful of others and not come across like I know it all.