Friday night: Free night!

Now would be the appropriate time to sing the N'SYNC song, "Just Got Paid"......if I had a job!

It has been a week and a half here in Daytona. Tonight is our free night and we're going to a place called the Lighthouse to hang out. I need to eat dinner (gonna make myself chicken! yumm), but I wanted to share a little something beforehand..

I was going to blog this when it happened but I didn't get a free chance to sit down and write. Ok, so on Tuesday we were challenged to really be active in sharing the gospel with people. They told us that sometimes asking the question, "can I pray for you" gets in the door and allows people to open up as it breaks down walls. So, I decided to try it..but I didn't know where or on who I would.

Wednesday was the day we're supposed to have reflection time. It's just a time where we reflect on what we've been learning and soak it all up. Well, I woke up that morning, started to get ready to go to the beach and have my reflection time. I made myself a bowl of oatmeal, ate, and went to go wash my dishes. I began rinsing off my bowl and soaping it all up, when all of a sudden I looked down and saw water flowing out of the door from under the sink. Uh oh! Now, the normal person would get..the sink is leaking...without opening the door...but I'm not normal. Woops! You know how that turned out.

So for maintenance, we're supposed to call Cara, one of our Project Directors so that the staff isn't bombarded by that kind of stuff. I called Cara immediately and she said she'd get someone to help out. A few minutes later, a knock came at the door. I opened the door, and there stood a tall, semi-lanky man with slightly peppered hair. He came in, and I went back to my business. Of course, I was ready to get down to my reflection time..I had other things I had to worry about besides a random man in my room (P.S...Emily was here too so I wasn't alone..phew). Ok..now pause..if you read my last blog post, you can see how much my attitude has changed toward evangelism. Oooorr not. My eyes were not on the prize at this moment. I went about my business while he went about his. He came around the corner and told me he'd fixed the sink, but he had to go get towels to clean up. Thank you, God, for knowing I sometimes need a kick in the pants to get me going. A few minutes later, another knock came at the door. I opened it, and started thinking, "Ok, Rachel, you need to take advantage of this opportunity." So, I walked up and started talking to the man in my kitchen. I noticed he had an accent and asked him where he was from. He told me he was from England and we began talking about his family and his time in the states. It was an interesting conversation, but I didn't bring up Jesus. The conversation began to die down, so I said, "alright, well thanks for fixing our sink! What's your name, by the way?"..his name is Paul.

And I walked away..

Now, God knows me better than to just let me be able to walk away and have it not bother me. Yeah right. I couldn't stay there..I had to keep talking to him. So I thought of something to restart the conversation and I walked backed over to the kitchen. "You know, my school does a study abroad to Oxford. And I visited England when I was 10." Another entry to a conversation. We began talking once more. Thank the Lord. This time, I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity.

My wheels started turning. The subject we were talking about started to fade out, and I asked him if he'd seen the other students walking around the hotel and if he knew what we were here for. He said he'd seen us all and I told him we were here on a mission trip for 10 weeks. We talked a bit about that, and then I did it..I asked if I could pray for him. He told me I could pray for his father who was recently diagnosed with throat cancer. He started going a little further into details and opening up a bit more. I asked him if I could pray for anything for him and he said no because he was agnostic. He told me he grew up Catholic in England and was an alter boy for several years. He never missed a Sunday until one day he had a high fever and woke up later for church. When he got there, the other alter boys had already started lining up, and the priest told him if he didn't want to be there, he shouldn't come. Wow..that's a great experience. It was great to see him be honest. I started sharing basic principles with him. He said he believed there was a higher power but didn't want to "commit" really to anything. He told me he was a good, moral person. I told him that's great, but that's not what gets us into Heaven. It was so good to hear him be surprised when I told him that. He kept telling me he was happy that I'd found something for my life, but it just wasn't for him.

The conversation ended and he left. I told him I'd be praying for his dad.

Romans 10:15
"And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news!'

Time for dinner and the lighthouse! Pray for God's provision in jobs..and Paul the maintenance man from England.

Happy birthday, Mrs. Maroon!! Hope you are having fun in France!! Tell Mr. Maroon not to ask any kids how old they are (or TRY anyway ;] ) P.S...we've been playing BOGGLE and Nerts (however you spell that) here!!