The students have arrived!

What a day. . .and time for a quick update! The long anticipated moment has come as most of the 73 students from all over the nation rolled up to the Palm Motel to begin Santa Monica Summer Project 2008 today! We had a quick staff meeting this morning, going over lots of last minute details and then we headed over to the Palm to finish setting up and begin welcoming students. I zoomed out to the LAX airport to pick up two girls from the University of Illinois - it was so fun to be the first to welcome them to sunny California! It was also kinda fun trying to figure out the LA airport. . .it's a whole other very fast paced world out here!

One of the girls I picked up, Megan, is in my "action group". This is the name for the small group Bible study that each staff member is leading. Megan is a 4th year student. Then I also have Rose, a 3rd year at UC Santa Barbara, Jamie, a 2nd year at Cal Poly Pomona, Flora, a 3rd year at UC Davis, and Anna, a 2nd year at Cal Poly SLO (yay :)). After dinner and a brief orientation with the whole project this evening I took my action group to Panera to hang out and get to know each other. I am very excited about these girls and am already enjoying them very much. . .which is a good thing because we'll be spending a lot of time together for Bible studies, one-on-one discipleship, evangelism, and tons of other stuff.

The Lord is answering prayers left and right so keep them coming! Tomorrow begins some in-depth orientation, the students' first time doing some evangelism in the city, and lots of bonding and connecting. Pray that I would keep the Lord as the center of my life, that I would connect well with the students in the coming days, that I would take time to rest, and that I would have wisdom and discernment from the Lord as to how each person on project and in Santa Monica need to hear and experience God's grace and truth in their lives. Thanks!