New Friendships and Rediscovering Old Truths

This is a post that I wrote last Saturday, before we left for New York. I was having issues with blogspot so I could not post it then but here it is now:           

Today is our first day off in the City Project and I can definitely say I did not realize how exhausted I was until I began to rest today. This week has been so wonderful already and I am so excited to see how much happens throughout this summer. God has already been unbelievably faithful to our group during support raising and it’s neat to already see the relationships that are being formed among the group. I’m pretty sure I have the best roommates ever, Shea, Bailey and Cat. We get the privilege of living in a purple (yes purple) house that is a few blocks over from Duke’s East Campus. Our house is adorable and we’ve had so much fun getting to know each other. This week has been crazy and we’ve been super busy but God has already started to teach me. Yesterday we spent the entire morning in the Duke Gardens. We spent two and a half hours alone with the Lord. The night before, one of my roommates showed me this video that I absolutely loved. It takes about five minutes but I encourage you to watch it, it is such a beautiful picture of the Gospel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOaWb7AIVVc

While spending time in the Garden, God kept reminding me of how beautiful His love is for us. I’m definitely a sucker for a good love story and it’s never really sunk in to me how truly amazing the Gospel is. I began reading Hosea and was reminded of how patient He is when we continually reject Him. Day after day I sin against Him and His love for me never changes. “I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord.”-Hebrews 2:19 That, my friends, is the definition of beautiful, unconditional love and it can only be found in Jesus Christ. Nothing in this world has the capability to satisfy us. 

Much love,

Julianne

The Big Apple

Hey y’all! Sorry that I am just now posting something. I had some issues logging on to my blog haha and I had no time to blog in New York. We just got back to Durham Saturday night and God did some amazing things while we were there. We stayed in an old hospital-turned-motel in Queens called NYSUM (New York School of Urban Ministry). In the mornings, we met with a pastor named Brad Wall who does full-time ministry in the City. There are over 150 different languages spoken in New York and everywhere you go you can meet people from different countries who have immigrated to the City for various reasons. Brad taught us about different religions and good techniques for sharing with different types of people. One morning we went to a Sikh temple and another morning we visited a Hindu temple. The Hindu temple was especially hard to be in. You could feel the heaviness and darkness there.

In the afternoons, we went to different areas of Queens to meet people and talk with them about their beliefs. We went around in groups of five. It was incredible to hear the stories from each group. One of my favorite moments was when I was in a park. Two of us were assigned to pick up the trash on a cement block that was right next to the highway. I was with my friend named Mallory. We were both a little bummed because the place where we were stationed was away from people and we didn’t think we were going to get to really talk to anyone. We decided to just use that time to pray for the other conversations that were going on and that more would happen. A few minutes later, a homeless man named Joe walked up and asked us why we were picking up trash. When we told him we were from a church, he told us that there were a lot of Muslims in the area. When we inquired about his beliefs he told us that he wasn’t sure what he believed. He started telling us all about the Islamic faith. When Mallory and I started telling him about Jesus he began to ask us questions. After a few minutes, he asked us if there were any books he could read to find out more. Luckily, one of our sweet friends was nearby picking up trash and she had a Bible in her book bag that she gave to Joe. We showed him how to read it and he even let us pray with him.

We even had some of our group who were involved in a robbery! Don’t worry, no one was hurt. Craziest part? The Gospel was shared through it. Here is the link to the NY Times article about the robbery:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/08/nyregion/a-thief-in-queens-is-thwarted-by-missionaries.html?_r=2&ref=nyregion

So, all in all, we had a great trip to New York and we saw God do some amazing things. Many of us were completely broken down by our own sins of pride and selfishness. God was so gracious in emptying us of ourselves while filling us with Him. Please keep Brad Wall and his ministry in your prayers. They are doing a great work for the Kingdom and Jesus is so desperately needed in New York City. Here is a picture of our entire group in Central Park:

The City Project

 For those of you who don't already know me, my name is Julianne Welch. I am a rising Junior at Clemson University. This summer I have a wonderful opportunity to go to new places, meet new people, and most importantly, to get to know my Father better. I will be participating in The City Project with The Summit Church in Raleigh, NC. We will be traveling to a church plant in New York City and helping with various ministries in Queens for a week. After that, we will be in Raleigh for a month. During this time, I will live with other City Project Students and we will be taking seminary classes in the mornings. In the afternoons, I will be interning with a non-profit called World Relief. You can find out more about this organization here: http://worldrelief.org/. Finally, in July, I will be flying to Kenya. In Kenya we will be partnering with Uhuru Child.
  God has been showing me a lot recently about what it looks like to truly follow Him. To surrender everything and trust Him and only Him. My prayer for this summer is Philippians 3:8-10, "⁸ What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ ⁹ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law,but that which is through faith in^[a] Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. ¹⁰ I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings,becoming like him in his death,"
  I would love to share with you this summer through my blog as we see God move and as I learn more and more about Him. In order to participate in this missions opportunity, I have had to raise support to pay for traveling and living expenses. Because these checks are made out to the City Project, your gift is tax deductible. If you feel led to donate to help me as I begin the summer, you can do so online at http://tiny.cc/CityProject. Anything you can give is greatly appreciated but if you are unable to give, I am counting on your prayer support. Not just for me but for all the other students that will be participating this summer and for all of the people we will be coming in contact with in each city. Thank you so much to all of the people who are already supporting me! I cannot thank you enough. God has already blown my mind with His provisions and I can't wait to see Him move throughout the summer.

Much love,

Julianne