Reflection

Well now that it’s been a couple days after project, it’s time for the last blog entry (sad day).  I thought it’d be good to do a little recap of what I actually learned this summer.  It might be a tad long, so stick around.  First, let’s do a fun list of 10 things that I learned from working at Disney:

1. It’s not wise to drink your weight in the free soda that you are allowed to have for working in food & beverage

2. Last year, on vacation, when my family ordered 8 root beer/pineapple floats, the cast member was dreading our order.

3. The best deal at Disney is a free cup of ice or ice water.  Granted, there are still hundreds of guests who go for the $2.50 bottle of water (or worse, the $3.25 Smart Water)

4. The lyrics to the Wishes nighttime fireworks spectacular

5. To make a big Dole Whip, you have to make a “bubble” at the bottom of the cup to give it support so that you can swirl higher.

6. Never will I ever be that guest that hands crinkled up dollar bills.  People, do you know that I have to straighten them out to put them in the register?  Nor will I be a guest that pays in all nickels and dimes…

7. People actually do order pineapple floats with chocolate ice cream on top…whether or not they actually enjoy it, who knows.

8. It gets hot in Florida in the summer.  And when it gets hot, ice cream melts.  Quickly.  Who knew?

9. People cannot read menus.  No, we don’t have chocolate ice cream at the Aloha Isle.  Nor do we have smoothies, milkshakes, cones, sandwiches, turkey legs, or anything else not mentioned on our menu.

10. Extra Magic Hours for guests (when the park is open for 3 hours after regular park closing a couple nights a week) = Extra Tragic Hours for Cast members

But on a serious note, God taught me a lot more than how to perfect the Dole Whip Soft Serve Swirl.  I could ramble on forever about what I learned, but here are 3 things that I can really take from this summer:

1. Vulnerability builds community instantaneously. 

This summer I’ve had the privilege to have lived with a group of 39 other awesome students who have come from all different lives and stories.  Being real with each other has brought the most growth in my relationships with others.  The second night when 4of us went to the Wilderness Lodge and shared our life stories (the good, the bad AND the ugly), it brought us together immediately.  There was so much grace and love, unlike I’ve experienced in any other community.  Also just confronting conflict with others helps the community grow.  But in order to do that you must approach the conflict with a humble, loving heart.  This is something that I definitely plan on taking back to campus.

2. We are links in a chain. 

This summer had a missional aspect too.  We talked with people about Jesus and spiritual things.  But as a very “results oriented” person, I can have an unrealistic approach to evangelism, expecting people to come to Christ instantly.  Obviously this doesn’t happen as often as I’d like it to.  But there was one metaphor that stuck with me regarding this.  When someone accepts Christ into their life, it is the result of a chain link of people who introduce or talk to them about the gospel.  So when we go out sharing we don’t know if it is the very first time that someone has heard about Jesus (the first link in the chain) or we’re in the middle somewhere.  And if he blesses us, he can use us towards the end of someone’s chain link, even perhaps the final chain link.  Regardless of what chain we are in a long string, we don’t know how our actions or words will affect people in the long run even if they are hesitant in the immediate moment.  We can provide the good news, but after that, it’s in God’s hands and his timing…which brings me to number 3.

3. God’s timing is far superior to mine. 

I came into project with some expectations for my future.  God took those and threw them out the window for his perfect plan.  I am very much a planner.  Therefore, I LOVE picturing God as the Ultimate Planner!  He has an excellent plan for all of us, and he orchestrates them so that they all ultimately bring him glory.  One clear example of this during this summer is how I thought I would have to wait at least a year before becoming a discipler (or spiritual leader/mentor).  I felt like as a relatively new Christian I couldn’t be able to lead others.  But God was like “NOPE!” and placed me as a discipler of two amazing, spiritually sound men.  I learned a lot from both of them, and the whole process of being a leader was a very helpful time of growth in my relationship with God.  He has also put it on my heart to disciple an incoming freshman this upcoming fall.  Who that might be, who knows?  God knows.  But so much for waiting around for a year…

As I was crying my eyes out at the airport coming home, one of my roommates said to me (and I’ll never forget this), “Stephen, you did a lot of growing up this summer.”  It’s true.  I became a lot more independent as a human, but I became a whole lot more dependent on God.  I grew in my relationship with the Lord like crazy.  The whole summer was on hyperspeed, with no concepts of time or sleep or hunger, etc.  I’m really excited to continue living for Him as I return to USC and take what I learned from this summer and apply it to “regular life”.

Final group picture.  I love these guys a lot!  They helped me grow incredible amounts these past couple months.

Thanks everyone for reading this summer.  I hope I gave a small image to what life on project was like.  If you’d like to know more, I’d be more than happy to discuss life with anybody

Circle of Life

Well yesterday was the last day of project and boy has the time flown by like crazy!  I remember the first day when we all met each other and we moved into the Cabana.  But now I’m sitting in the Orlando International Airport ready to board a flight back to the west coast.  I haven’t slept in 20 something hours…

The past few days have been a flurry of emotions.  On Sunday after church I had a really great conversation with a coworker who had been coming to church with us but is not a Christian.  I went through the gospel message very clearly and slowly, making sure that he understood everything.  The part that I reinforced over and over was that our salvation in Christ is not about “doing good” but rather the faith in Jesus as a savior for all of the screwed up stuff that we do.  By the end I told him that if his heart was not 100% sure that he wanted to accept it as truth, he shouldn’t do it; it wouldn’t be real.  God knows where his heart is at.  I’m glad that God could use me present the gospel to this guy, probably for the first time.

The last days of work were sad.  Having to say good-bye has never been an easy thing for me.  We’ve gotten to know a lot of the fellow Adventureland workers pretty well, and they were very sad that we were leaving.  My last day of work I worked at Aloha Isle all day.  I worked right up until park closing at 11pm.  I made my last pineapple float quite large!  I will miss the swirling, the guests confused about our menu, and the busy atmosphere for the small, tropical soft-serve place.

For our last day we had a free morning/early afternoon.  I went and turned in the last of my costumes.  We started to clean up the Cabana.  I packed all my stuff…sad day.  At 4:30 we had one last project dinner.  It was a really good time and an awesome time of sharing stories about how God has worked in and through people’s lives.  After dinner we went back to our resort and watched a FANTASTIC slide show and video that one of the teams created.  It was a great collection of pics and clips that truly wrapped up the whole project.

We then rushed over to the Polynesian Resort (which is the hotel across the giant lake from Magic Kingdom) and, as a project, watched the fireworks (Wishes) from back there.  Then we boarded the monorail and went into the park for a little bit.  I purchased a Pineapple float, said good-bye to the Aloha Isle, and rode on the last Splash Mountain boat of the evening.  We all met up as a project at 12 (the park officially closed at 11) to watch the “Kiss Goodnight” where they have a little closing speech and they change the castle lighting.  It was the perfect ending of a wonderful day.  It would only be appropriate for us to end our project at the Magic Kingdom.

Getting back from Magic Kingdom a little after 1, it would have been a waste of time for me to sleep because I left for the airport at 5:30AM.  So I went around to all of the condos and said my good-byes.  I cried.  A lot.  I hate good-byes.  But one thing that gives me peace and that I love about Christian community is that it’s not good-bye forever.  It’s “See ya later”.  We have that hope.  Doesn’t mean it’s not sad, but it makes it a little bit better.  Said my last good-byes at the airport about an hour ago, and my flight should be boarding soon.

I’m going home.  Through despair and hope.  Through faith and love.  I experienced it all this summer.  It was a great experience.  I would not trade it for anything else.  Don’t worry I got 1 more blog on the way in a couple days after I reflect (hint hint) about what I’ve learned from this summer, so keep looking for another update.  Thanks again for everyone’s support and prayers.

P.S. I was writing this in the airport but couldn’t connect to the internet to post it then.  Yes, I did sleep on the plane, so we’re all good.

Can You Feel the Love Tonight?

Yo.  It's been entirely too long without an update.  We have a grand total of 4 1/2 days left here.  It's insane how quickly time flew by.

This past Wednesday was a fantastic day!  Well actually starting on Tuesday night at 9pm, all of us on project as a whole started a 24 hour fast.  I had never fasted before, so I was nervous, curious, and excited all at the same time.  It was a great experience overall, but we had so much else going on throughout the day that we didn't really focus on our hunger.  Plus, it was a great reminder of how much God provides for us on a daily basis.

In the morning we all met as a group and prayed together.  Then we all split up and had personal time with God.  I went to Animal Kingdom Lodge and chilled with God outside while looking out on the animals.  It was a fabulous time, especially when I was reading Matthew 6:25-27.  In there Jesus says "Is not life more important than food" and then he talks about how he feeds the birds of the air and says "Are you not much more valuable than they?  Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?"  It just brought the fast and the animals together in such a neat way.

Then in the afternoon we divided into 3 groups to do community service projects.  One group went to help at the Salvation Army.  Another went to Habitat for Humanity.  My group went to the Osceola County Historical Society.  It was this little area with a bunch of old looking colonial buildings.  It honestly looked like nobody ever goes there.  We helped pick up trash around the property and the nature trail.  We cleaned a lot of the buildings and just tidied up all around.  The lady there was so thankful.  Just from looking around it didn't look like they get very many visitors let alone volunteers.  It was an enjoyable afternoon.

For the evening we all gathered in 2 separate condos.  1 place showed the Jesus Film, a full length movie produced by Cru about Jesus' life.  In our apartment we showed the Passion of the Christ.  I had never seen it all the way through.  It was a flurry of emotions and a great reflection on how much Christ actually suffered for us.  It was a very emotional evening where I definitely felt Jesus' love.  After the movies finished, we all gathered together and had a solid worship time.  You could feel the love being expressed in that room.

We broke the fast a little after 9 with a feast of Chick Fil A.  It was just an amazing day of service and giving back in gratefulness for the love that Jesus has shown us.

This'll be probably the last blog while on project, but I'll have a couple more wrap up ones after I get home.  Hope everyone is enjoying their summers!

You've Got a Friend in Me

As project is winding down, we're trying to make the most out of our time here.  We have a grand total of a week and a half left of work, and 13 more days total.  Oh, I'm starting to tear up...

But actually, I'm so thankful for the friends that I've made on this project.  The 38 other students in this group will probably never completely understand how much each and every one of them has had an impact in my life.  Being able to grow in our relationships with God alongside each other is just so rewarding, and to see that progress in individual lives (including my own) is a great thing.

It's also not just the people on project that I've become good friends with.  Our coworkers are so much fun!  I will miss standing in Aloha Isle during the fireworks and singing the words to "Wishes".  I will miss the fun and joking around in Sunshine Tree Terrace.  These people have become close friends to us too, and it's sad that we have limited time with them.  But I don't like to dwell on the sad part.  I'm happy and grateful for the fun times that we had this summer with coworkers.

This past Wednesday we all went to Daytona Beach.  It was a PERFECT beach weather day.  The sand was so soft.  The waves were powerful and fun to play in.  Everyone was together and having a good time.  We grilled burgers and hot dogs for everyone.  Had a couple of beach volleyball games thrown in there too.  The day could not have been any better.  There's something about looking out into the ocean and just being in awe of God's creation and his power.  Gives me goosebumps.  It was definitely the best of the 3 beaches that we've been to this summer.

Anyway, we ended the night with all of us praying on the beach after sunset.  What a glorious feeling of community.  We sang a couple of praise songs, but then booked it out of there because there were literally (no exaggeration) thousands of mosquitoes eating the living daylights out of us.  And if I'm covered in 50+ mosquito bites (and I got off easier than some other people) and that's my only complaint, I'm be perfectly satisfied.  It was a fantastic day.

Here's a group pic from that evening. 

Love these people!  Prayers for a strong last 2 weeks of project are encouraged.  And to all back at home, see ya in a few!

Whistle While You Work

Question:  What's the difference between the Dole Whip Soft Serve and the Dole Whip Soft Serve Swirl?

That's the most frequently asked question that we get at the Aloha Isle.  We also get asked if we have chocolate or cones, both of which we don't and they're clearly not on the menu.  Or you'll get the occasional guest who buys ice cream with dimes and pennies.  Or perhaps that day a certain pineapple/vanilla ice cream machine will be malfunctioning, yet even after telling guests, they don't believe you.

Yeah, I'm not gonna lie, it can get frustrating.  It is during these times when I really need to just take a step back and feel God's grace and love.  This reminder keeps my sense of joy going throughout the work day, even if I am tired or frustrated or whatever.  Honestly, though, looking past the small annoyances throughout the day, I love my job.  I love getting to sing 'Happy Birthday' to random guests wearing their little birthday buttons.  I love making giant pineapple floats and seeing a little kids' eyes widen as I hand it over the counter to them.  I love telling guests where Pirates of the Caribbean is.

I love the people that I work with.  We have so much fun together making ice cream.  We'll joke around and just have fun with it, even after an 8 or 9 hour shift.  Yesterday, at around 9/10PM, Sunshine Tree Terrace was empty!  No guests in sight.  So I just started singing Disney songs with my coworker.  We also got talking about life and stuff.  Got to slip in my testimony conversationally, which was super neat.  Also got to understand a bit more about her life background.  I love hearing people's stories.  I find them so interesting.  Especially since we work with a lot of international students.  We all have such different life experiences, but at the end of today, we make ice cream swirls right next to each other.

Also, I talked about being a Bible Study leader and Discipler.  That's been so much fun, but also a different type of work.  Our last B-stud was good.  It was about that taboo topic on purity, and it was in a coed setting...which never happens.  It was great though because that topic doesn't ever get talked about with both men and women together, so it was good to get the opinions of everyone.  We did split up part way through so that we could go deeper with our respective genders and small groups.  As for discipling, I met with both of my guys.  We went out "sharing" (talking to random people about spiritual things) and had a couple decent conversations.  Then we went through other material.  I love these two guys.  I'm so excited to learn from both of them.  I can relate to them in very different ways, which keeps things fresh.

I can't believe that I have exactly 2 weeks of work left.  The summer just flew right by.  But it's been so worth it.  The relationships that I've built with other people on project and with coworkers have been so rewarding.  I've grown so much closer to God by reading more of the Bible with purpose, talking to him a lot more, and just being here with 39 other peers who have the same intentions. 

Hi Ho, Hi Ho...it's off to work I go.  Literally.  I'm leaving in approximately 11 min.

P.S.  The Answer:  A Dole Whip Soft Serve Swirl is just two of our flavors swirled together, while the Dole Whip Soft Serve has one flavor only.

Go the Distance

I will find my way.  I can go the distance.

Sound words from Hercules.  Project has been going really well the past few days since last blogging.  Friday we worked and we are continuing to build friendships with coworkers.  It's so cool to be friends with people from all over, including Quebec, Mexico, and tons of other places.

Saturday we had off, and so did a few of our coworkers.  We decided that we would go to Magic Kingdom (as guests) with our new friends and give the day to God.  It is frustrating for me to go to the parks without a plan because that's my psycho Disney personality, so it was a lesson in patience and surrendering control.  We ended up with more people than expected, but it was a lot of fun.  Our coworkers had a blast, and we did too.  We all were praying on our way in that we would be given great opportunities to talk to them about Jesus and his love for them.  God provided.  2 of our coworkers came to church the next day, and 2 others showed interest also.

That brings us to Sunday.  We also had Sunday off (2 days in a row, never happens, but that means we have work the rest of the week...oh well).  A big group of us (like 25-30 people) had the day off so we drove 2 hours to Clearwater Beach (which ironically did not have clear water) to hang out for the afternoon/evening.  It was a really fun time hanging out with people and coworkers and other people's coworkers and just enjoying a day off, relaxing.  Just in talking with coworkers, they have really appreciated the love and the inclusiveness that our group has demonstrated towards them, especially our international friends.  We have gotten into some great conversations with coworkers, and many of them are so very close to finding love and forgiveness in Jesus Christ.  We need prayers that we can go the distance, and continue to invest into these friends so that when we leave, they have a solid foundation to build upon.

We watched the sunset on the beach.  It was wonderful.  Here's a pic of me being all epic and such and basking in the amazingness of God's creation!

And then we ran into a man who was walking along the beach with a huge cross with him...and we're like uhhhhh let's go talk with him!  Turns out he goes to the beach a lot with his cross and uses it to tell others about Jesus ("witnessing" or "sharing").  It was so encouraging to see someone else going out on their own and doing God's work.  We prayed with him and he encouraged us to continue sharing the message about God's love.  It was the perfect ending of a great day (that's him in the back with the bandana)

If anyone has any prayer requests, shoot me a text or email or fb message.  I'd love to be praying for you.  Also happy 7/11!  Free Slurpee day!  I already got mine earlier today. Mmmmm

You Can Fly! You Can Fly!

It's been a long week.  So many things have happened.  We'll just go over a few highlights.

Last Saturday it was one of our coworker's birthday.  All of her roommates were working and she wasn't with her family because she's here with the Disney College Program.  My work group also had the day off, so we took her to get ice cream at a place called Beaches 'n Cream.  They have this thing called the "Kitchen Sink" which is basically many scoops of every type of ice cream that they have with all of the toppings that they have and a whole can of whipped cream on top.  Basically, the ultimate sundae.  4 of us BARELY finished it.  But she told us that it made her day.  It's so cool that we've made super awesome friends through work and we can celebrate and have fun like that.

Another amazing thing happened two days ago.  Every Tuesday we go out to random locations around the area and just start spiritual conversations with random people.  Awkward?  Sometimes, but it's really interesting to listen and see what other people believe.  Anyway, this past Tuesday we went to the local outlet mall and I started talking to a guy, but he didn't speak any English.  I immediately asked if he spoke Spanish and he said yes.  We started talking (me fumbling around with my limited Spanish), and he was legitimately interested in spiritual things like having a personal relationship with God.  I got to share about how God loves us all, how Jesus died in our place, and how we can experience his love even though we're broken people...all in Spanish.  It certainly was not of my own doing.  It was God working through me.  Do I know how that guy responded to what we talked about?  No.  But I trust that God will use my broken Spanish to even just plant a seed in his mind.  Crazy stuff.

Finally, the staff leaders on our project have left.  They left this morning.  So now, this project is all on us to do the leading.  It's a little scary, but really exciting at the same time.  I will be taking over as a Bible study leader and a Discipler (I get to learn and grow alongside 2 other guys, one on one).  Considering I'm relatively "new" in my Christian faith and real relationship with God, I was nervous and had all of these doubts.  "Do I really know enough about God that I can teach others about him?"  Stupid stuff like that.  But over the past few days, God has reassured me that he will use me no matter how much I know, and that I should just rely on him to provide the wisdom and everything for me.  He's telling me that with his help, I can fly...I can do crazy things with him.  It's a lesson in letting go of control.  So I'm pumped, but the project is going to look a little different now that everyone has different roles to play.

We had a final dinner celebration last night to send off the staff members and bring in the new student leaders.  It was a lot of fun.  Tears were shed, but that just means that the staff has made such a huge impact in our lives.  They've really put in a lot of time and effort to help us grow in our relationship with others and with God.  So thankful for them.

Also, a little side note.  I promised a picture of my costume a long time ago, but I never went through with it.  Well here's a pic, finally, of my work group and our snazzy Adventureland costumes (pajamas)!  Hope everyone is doing well!