Donut.Friar.

Hey Guys!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while!
Not too much has been going on, but we did have Bible Study and Evangelism last thursday. I got to go out with Sammi, my team leader and we talked to multiple people, all of whom were christians. Its really encouraging to talk to people about their faith and what was even cooler was that I got so excited about it on our way to evangelize. The Lord just really put a fire in my heart to talk to these people and to make the Glory of Him known to them.... How cool that He would put that in my little brain!?! Ah!

Then Friday through Sunday we went to work again, which is fun. However, it got really hot this weekend and this coming weekend its supposed to get up to 100... yikes, but the Lord will sustain!

This is the Donut Friar Entrance!

Today is Monday, so I'll catch you up on my life today! This morning I had my one on one with Sammi (some of my favorite time). Today we went to the Donut Friar in The Village in Gatlinburg, which is now one of my favorite places and we talked about the fear of the Lord once again, but then she incorporated the power of God and why we are in awe of who he is from Isaiah 40:18-25. Knowing that the Lord uses the skies for a tent and could pull them back as a curtain is just mind blowing... However, it is also crazy to think about how each one of us is so small, yet so special to Him! He gave his son for us, sinners. Its so awesome that it just boggles my mind and that in itself is more than enough reason to give my life for Christ, just as he did for me!

After going there for a while, the rest of the day has been spent at various places working on Bible study! In this one we had to do word studies, which is different from anything I have ever done, but really cool to find different ways the words are used!

And tonight we are going to team dinner, then to Nav Night!
Tomorrow we leave for our team overnighter to Chattanooga!
Pray for and a relaxing team time!

In Christ,

Rach

It's been a happenin' week!

So this week has been pretty crazy, but it's been great fun as well! They keep us busy around here! All kinds of stuff has happened so I'll just start day by day!


Wednesday (June 13) we had our off day, so it's just a good day to hang out with people and relax! Nothing too big went on!


Thursday (June 14) was when everyone (well half of our group) went back to work! But for my team it's the day for Bible Study and 1 on 1's if you don't have it on Monday (which is when I have mine)! Bible Study was great! We holed up in a little corner in McAllisters and got 2 dollars off of our meals because we work at Dollywood! Woohoo! In bible study we are going through Romans and it is so cool to see that all throughout Romans, Paul is basically giving them guidelines to the Christian life - a rule book! And also informing them (over and over) that it is both to the Jew and the Greek! What a blessing! We did the overview this past week and then will be doing chapters 1-3 this week! It's been great to do some inductive reasoning with words! Also, Thursday is usually our day to go evangelize and share the gospel in Gatlinburg, but we were unable to go because it rained (well, stormed) that night! So since we didn't go, we all played outside and made a sonic run! It was a great time of fellowship and fun with everyone being together from the program! 


Friday through Sunday was the dreaded back to work days...! But we actually ended up having a lot of fun up at the ropes course! Friday I was doing harnesses once again, so the day went by fairly quickly! Saturday I worked in "Camp Teachittoomee." This is the place for little kids to play who can't go on the big ropes course. They were so fun to be around and watch! And Sunday I worked my first day on course! It was fun, but somewhat boring.
However, we did work late that night for what is called "CoasterCon." This is a group of major fanatics that love themeparks and coasters! I guess you could just call them daredevils..? I don't really know! But they were great and we just watched them do the ropes course as well, even though some of them scared me a little bit with their uncautious ways, it was still fun!


Monday (June 18) is probably one of my favorite days! It's really chill and relaxed because half of our group is working, but it's also my favorite because I have my One on One with my team leader, Sammi! At the beginning of the program we prayed and asked the Lord to show me one thing that He wanted to teach me -- turns out I'm learning about the Fear of the Lord and how that plays into being a Godly Woman, while also how it plays into sharing the gospel, which is ironic because my (impossible but Possible with God) prayer for this summer is that I would fall in Love with sharing the gospel! So naturally thinking about fearing the Lord and being in awe of who He is, Sammi and I went to proverbs 31(shocker, right?) haha! But through these verses I learned so much and have been looking up fear throughout scripture! They all point to the fact that those who fear the Lord are righteous, have wisdom and derive their strength from the Lord and nothing else! They are humble and only want to praise God! There are so many instances when this is true and I'm so excited to learn more! Also on this day after my one on one - 8 of us girls went out thrift shopping for clothes for our square dance on Tuesday night! We may or may not have gotten a little lost! But we had a great adventure for about 2 hours! It's been great getting to know girls other than my teammates as well!

Then came Tuesday (June 19) where we had Ex-TAWG (extended time alone with God) in the morning and then had "gender day" where we split off into male and female and went our separate ways! The boys played sports all day, but we went to the Sevierville city Park and had a lesson on the purpose of women, which was great! Then we played bucketball and some frisbee, while also just chatting away and crafting some cards with cute paper! Typical girls, I know! After that we all came back and got ready for our fabulous square dance with the boys! I had only square danced once before So it was pretty new! But we did get to wear fun outfits all night and had a blast learning the moves to keep a square!

And today is once again, Wednesday, our day off! Nothing too big is happening except for some Bible Study Prep, blogging and some letter writing and catching up with people who aren't here with me!
And while we were out at McAllisters I found a Lady Bug on my salad... I don't know about you; that was a new one for me! I didn't eat it, but I got a free cookie! 

Sorry that it's so long, but now you're all caught up!

Romans 1:16 & 17 are officially my summer verses, along with Proverbs 31: 18, 25, 30

In Christ,

Rach

Team Days that turn into Date Nights!

Yesterday was our team day, which means we have extended TAWG - or time alone with God - and then afterwards we went to one of Dollywood's more fun events called Cirque de Chine. In this show we got to see all kinds of Chinese Acrobatics! It was so cool. We loved going to see it! My favorite was at the end when they brought out a big metal globe and had four motorcycles going around in it at the same time (pictured below). Apparently these kids start training when they're about 4 in China and then get picked to be an acrobat when they are about 8 or so! They all came straight from China so they didn't know much English... The only thing I knew was how to say hello and I can't even spell it! Haha.

Anyway, so before we left for team day, we found out that it was team "date night." This is where a boys team asks a girls team out for the night! We got asked at 1:00 on Tuesday afternoon by opening our door to a towel elephant with sunglasses on with a note that is pictured below! We ten had to go in a scavenger hunt to find these boys and when we found them they sang to us to ask us out on our date! They were so sweet and did a really great job of asking us! After we said yes to their song, we were told to look nice and be ready to have 'cruise-like' fun in Gatlinburg at 4:30!

We met them at the lobby and headed to our secret destination which turned out to be the aquarium! We got to see all kinds of fish and sharks and they even have a Nemo exhibit with all the fish on a coral reef, along with some really cute penguins! I even picked up a horseshoe crab! After that we walked further downtown and they took us to TGI Fridays and after dinner, we split up into 2 groups for a picture scavenger hunt! Some of the items we had to find are pictured below as well - like finding someone's school mascot (we found the UGA bulldog), finding a spiral staircase (there's only 1 in Gatlinburg) and a picture with people in rocking chairs! Needless to say, it was a fun night and our guys did a fabulous job of making a perfect date!

Spiral Staircase.

UGA Bulldog.

Workday Funday!

Hey from Pigeon Forge!


Saturday we had work all day shadowing people for our jobs! So after work of course we were starving! In this starving state we decides to go to Buffalo Wild Wings and met our awesome waitress, Ivory, who allowed us to get kids meals while everyone else had to get adult meals... If you know me, that's a big deal in my book! Anyway, se played a couple jokes on Jennifer! She had a pen that blew up in your hands when you opened it and was also funny and a little sarcastic! It was so awesome! Needless to say she made our day and night!!


Also, last night (monday night) we had Nav night, which is like our big worship service in a local church! However, last night we wore our awesome team sweaters that we found while thrifting! They were about 3 dollars and we also got iron on letters to be sure to create the full effect! We put our names on the back and then hearts on the front with smaller hearts on the collar! They. Were. Baller. Everyone loved them and we may have been named the most respected and coolest team in the world... But maybe not! Haha. And just to answer one last question. Yes, the collars came on the shirts!!! And, the white is actually glow in the dark!

When we put our sleeves together it spelled...
"WE LOVE DOLLY"

With Love in Christ,

Rach

Getting to know the Area

So we officially started work today at Dollywood and had a sort-of fabulous time doing it. It was fun getting to learn the ropes courses, but was so stinkin' long, however I'm working with 18 people from our Navs group so it will be great fun!

We learned all about harnesses, how to climb up the course and we got to belay off of the side for emergency training! These are our (my team and I's) super cute outfits! You get the idea.. Beautiful, Right? Not! More like a female crocodile Dundee according to my father! haha

This past week we also endured the ever famous JJBR -- full name: Jurassic Jungle Boat Ride because we get in for free with our dollywood IDs.... This may be one of the dumbest but funniest things I have ever been on! But this is what this gem looks like!

Also, last Thursday we left to go out into Gatlinburg and share the "Bridge" with people that we came across that night while walking on the sidewalks of Gatlinburg... SO SCARY! But the Lord provided as always and gave my partner, Jennifer and I a great couple to talk to, Gary and Kathy. They just loved the Lord so very much and gave us so much encouragement compared to the other people that we had talked to that same night! It was definitely from the Lord because we were so scared to go out on our own... but we get to go out and share the Gospel/Bridge every thursday night in Gatlinburg so I'll let you know how it goes. We're just praying that we will get the courage from the Lord to go up to people that we normally wouldn't talk to versus talking to those who seem sweet and make us comfortable!

This was our sweet E-Van Group!

These boys were too sweet and paid for our parking, so we heart attacked their door!

(aka - put sticky notes on it and left encouraging messages!)

And then finally today, I had my first official day working at Dollywood with no shadowing or anything! It was really fun, just was a little stressful and needless to say my arm muscles are gonna be rockin' when I get home! ... Just wait!

More to come!

Love in Christ,

Rach

An Introduction

Hey Guys!

These are pictures from our room!
We are in the Hotel Pigeon Forge!
Its more affectionately known as the "Hot Pig."

Hope all is well with summer! I'm officially in Pigeon Forge and I'm loving it! We've been here for almost 3 days and its been a lot of meeting new people, questions and introductions along with countless meetings! My team is awesome and all of the people here are truly sweet and genuine! I'm so excited to see what the Lord is going to do while we're here.

Also, we got our jobs today! I had to do a drug test, which I have never had to do before and also had to fill out a ton of paperwork. But I ma working at the Ropes Course called Adventure Mountain that I was told is a workout that you get paid to do, while also beingthe job that uses muscles you didn't know you had! But it should be fun to be on the course all day! I don't have my outfit yet, but its not going to be pretty, I know! I'll be working 12 hour shifts from Friday to Sunday and then I have weekdays off to do Program stuff, while other people work 7 hour shifts from Thursday to Monday! We have training literally all day tomorrow and it will be great!


In Christ,
Rach