Getting Ready for Send Off

I will be leaving tomorrow morning at about 10 and I couldn't be more excited!  I have almost got everything packed and prepared.  I went shopping at Target to purchase some extra Program materials and I have prayed extensively about my staff.  To say the least I am ready to begin this wonderful adventure of the summer. I believe I am most excited for staff reveal at staff training.  Finding out who you are working with is just such an exciting adrenaline rush and it lets God's plan for the summer begin to take motion.  Also,  being time to leave means my money had to be in, so I want to thank the United Methodist Men of FUMC Dallas for also providing about half of my way as a staff member and giving such a generous gift.  I couldn't be more proud and appreciative of what my church family has provided for me.  Lastly, I want to thank my Grandmother, Margie Abernathy, for providing the last little bit I needed for partnerships.  God did provide the money I needed and I am so thankful!  Please continue praying for my summer and what God has in store, but for now I am off and I am super excited about it!

College Week

So as previously mentioned I wanted to expand a little on College Week and what all happened.  I will be the first to admit that I didn't know if it was the right choice, as I only have a few weeks this summer not already devoted to CCC and I did have to pay a chunk of my summer salary toward the trip, but I now know it was completely worth it!  Each CMG (Christian Mission Group) was six people strong and my CMG was named P Squared (Patience and Perseverance) and each member with nickname following was Alison Strader (Shawty), Ashley Coleman (Catwoman), John Huneycutt (Papa Johns), Shane Butcher (Doing Good), and Ginnie Hinkle (Over my Dead Body).  My nickname was Rooroo and I don't really know why we all came up with nicknames it just sort of happened.  I have had some good CMGs over the years, but I absolutely fell in love with my CMG for the week!  We got along so great and it was wonderful getting to really know two other fellow staff members (Alison and Ginnie) for the summer as well as making great friends with the rest of the group.  My CMG had the one adult John, but no complaints there because I had been a little nervous about being the most knowledgeable about construction and such from being a field, but John and I worked really well together bouncing ideas off of each other and such.  Shane was also austitic, but his attitude throughout the week was simply put inspiring and Shane did more for me in that week as far as life lessons are concerned than many of friends have ever been able to!  Thank you Shane!  Moving on to the projects we had a really exciting week!  Our first project was a kitchen re-tiling for Babbiette Neal and she was such a sweet lady, but unfortunately we couldn't get it complete in one day, so the staff had to finish it on Saturday.  Our two day project was painting the whole exterior of Jerry Lawson's house.  The first day we had to Killz the house and the second day we painted it Olive Green.  Jerry was such an inspirational guy!  He had just lost his mother after moving into her old house, and he just beat throat cancer, but he couldn't be more satisfied and appreciative of life.  On Thursday we built a small 10 foot wheel chair ramp, which was an exciting little construction project probably my favorite of the week, for Bunny Guynn.  Our final project on Friday was a simple Handrail for a very nice older gentleman who really just needed someone to talk too.  Not only were the projects great, but also the worships!  They focused on barriers, anger, frustrations, fears, and expectations and being able to let them go so you could better serve God.  I truly felt that they were very appropriate for my current walk of faith and they really helped me in analyzing my life.  The week was also filled with a lot of journaling, which I fully enjoyed!  Other than worships and projects, there were a lot of great people at camp and I believe a true community of Christians was formed.  I had some great times at College Week and going back as a camper was definitely a great idea!  P.S. I think everyone was really entertained, by my volleyball playing! haha

College Week

These pictures are just a few from my experience as a camper for College Week 2012.  The week as a whole was an amazing experience, but the little instances throughout the week where God shown through into our lives were amazing.  More to come about the week tomorrow!

Only my actual service as a staff member doesn't start till June 1st tomorrow I will be leaving to go to College Week at Camp Guilrock near Greensboro.  Service in a slightly different way, but I have to say I am super excited to go back to CCC as a camper.  I am sure Alyssa and Josh the two fields have some intense projects picked out so we can really give pack to the Guilford County community.  As always I am a little nervous for the week because I want to be able to provide as much possible for the communities and now that I have been a Field I guess I should really know how to do most of the projects, haha, we shall see!!!  I am excited to get to see someone of those I was on staff with last year as well as some faces who are going to be on staff this upcoming summer.  I think I'm most excited for the worships though, getting to experience worships again in a surprising and absorbing way versus leading them is always refreshing and I know the College Week staff we have prepared some amazing ways to grow toward God for us!  Tomorrow I will be riding with Ashely Coleman up to camp, and I've never met her before, but I needed a ride and God provides, so I'm thrilled to meet someone as pumped for this week as me!  I will update after the week with pictures of the complete projects, so get ready!

If anyone would like to enter into a Partnership with me as a staff member for the summer with a financial gift through the Carolina Cross Connection ministry, you can go to the link below to access my online Partnership website, which will allow you to donate with a credit card.  Your donation will be tax deductible and is helping to pay for my salary as a staff member, which allows CCC as a ministry to focus its funding into the projects, communities, and campers we will have throughout the summer.   

http://www.carolinacrossconnection.org/royabernathy

I want to take the time to thank my church, First United Methodist in Dallas, for the overwhelming support last Sunday.  I have had a hard time getting started with raising sponsorship money this year and I got up last Sunday during the service to make a general announcement and ask for support.  After the service, the congregation gave me in total $600 and that puts me over a third of the way to raising all of my sponsorship money!  Thanks again FUMC in Dallas and my church family for always being there for me, I hope God blesses each of you for the gifts and I hope you take the time to read my blog to see the many things God is doing with the gifts!

And the blog is here!  This will be my 2012 Summer Blog just to keep everyone updated on the happenings of the summer.  Especially if you are one of sponsors this will allow you to see just how your financial support has enabled me to make a difference in so many lives, as well as, save money for the ministry of CCC and allow greater purchases of materials and supplies for our camps and projects.  Even if you were unable to support me financially throughout the summer your prayers are greatly appreciated and needed as God's graces are fully essential for the summer to function.  Get ready and get excited cause I know I am and this summer is going to be crazy, fun, moving, spiritual, a lot of hard work, but a lot of God's grace and good times!

The above picture is from Hump Day (when the staff dresses crazy for breakfast), from last summer with my JYC staff!