New Friends Made in Christ

It seems this summer is going by so quickly... even though it feels like I have been here forever. Last night though, we went out on a group date with the lifeguards from one of the other Christian organizations here, the Navigators. Our program allowed only men to be lifeguards at Splash Country and their program allowed only women to be lifeguards, each group had their own legitimate reasons which worked out pretty well since we had 9 men and they had 9 women trained to be lifeguards. We have teamed up at work to tackle the 200 lifeguards that work there beside us every day and the fruit of our actions have been evident. Sadly though, the ladies are leaving soon and their last day of work is Saturday....

So in light of this soon coming departure, we had a lifeguard group date, where we went out to eat at Cici's and talked and shared our testimonies with each other, then went and rode on the Jurassic Jungle Boat Ride (aka JJBR) Which if you are ever in Pigeon Forge, DO NOT spend your money on it. haha. Since we are considered locals we got in free and it was funny but not worth the $13 tourists have to pay... Anyways, I will sincerely miss my fellowship and friendship with these strong Christian ladies and look forward to where God may have me cross paths with them again or when I see them in heaven.

A New Update!!

Since I had trouble last time sending photos in my email, I decided to begin a blog at bobadams12.blogspot.com to help share with you all what is going on with me here on project. So it has been quite a while since I have been able to send an update, and I apologize. My free time seems to be sparse and very non-frequent. But anyways, God has been very active in the passed time:

-Working at Splash Country has been very helpful in creating relationships with other lifeguards, as I have previously said, there are even a few people that I meet with on quite a regular basis to just hang-out and discuss spiritual matters. It is crazy how God has made a desire in them to want to hang out with me and it gives me a chance to share with them what I have learned and put into practice all the evangelical tools that I have been learning.

-Evangalism Outreach, which we do every Saturday night has been awesome! Two of us actually got the chance on July 4th weekend to pray with someone that they may accept Christ as their Lord and Savior!! I can't think of anything else that could possibly beat that!

-To go along with that, last night we had evangelism outreach again, and I was with two of my friends, Chris and Alex, and we passed a group of five guys just a little younger than us and we started talking to them. We ended up being able to share the gospel with them and invited them to come play some ultimate frisbee with us on Wednesday so that I might be able to follow up with them.

God has been so great to us on project... just the material that I have learned and courage that I have built up to help me share with people is awesome! I'll try to send out another update soon and using the blog is a fun way to do it. In the mean time though, here are a few things to pray for:

• That while living in the dorms next semester, that God allows us to create a ministry to reach the other lost guys living there with me.
• That the other lifeguards will be open to what we have to say about God and his Word and not shut us out.
• That everyone on SMP has an open and teachable spirit so that we may absorb as much as possible of what God has to tell us and show us.
• That we be courages and fearless in our mission to spread the love of Christ.

Thank you all and I love you deeply!

Pictures...

The first picture here is of my room... We are the only room on the project this summer that has five men in a room which makes for an interesting living arrangement. Just try fitting five guys into one average hotel room that comes with two queen beds. Thanks to my host family for donating a bunk bed to our cause, because it would have been impossible for our situation to work any other way.

(From left to right: Fields Fouse, Bobby "Buddy" Adams, Ian Turnbull, Donavon "Room Boss" DeGrie, Charles "Never Scared" Malilu)

This is a picture of my host family in their keeping room. (aka living room haha) They have been nothing short of amazing toward us. They provided us a full-size fridge for our hotel room, allow and encourage us to do laundry at their house, take us out on the lake, and have us come over just to visit with them all the time. I couldn't have found a better host family if I would have held interviews. haha. Also, the really cool part, just to show how great God is again, the friend, Kendall Turnbull, that discipled me while I was at TTU this past year had them as his host family last year too! Talk about a small world... and he is the guy in the green polo in the middle of the picture. Past and Present!

(From L to R: Donavon DeGrie, Tina Thomas, Brian Thomas, Bobby Adams, Josh Thomas, Kendall Turnbull, Fields Fouse, Ian Turnbull, and the cool dog in the floor is Cade)

This day, the family all went out on the lake with one of Brian's friends, his name was Dack. Not too sure of the spelling but that seemed the most reasonable for you to read and pronounce correctly. Anyways, the boat that Dack had created a wake of around 3-4 feet that actually allowed us to surf behind it! My first time ever surfing and it was on a lake in Tennessee... cool no? The weather was great and we made it back in time for the evening Sunday service too.
(L to R: Josh Thomas, Donavon DeGrie, Tina Thomas, Brian Thomas, Bobby Adams, Ian Turnbull)

Just so you can have a better idea of who I have met and what I have been doing, because if you are like me then you are a better visual person than just reading what is going on!

My best wishes to all and may God watch over you!

The First Update...

Dear Friends and Family,

Thank you all so much for offering me your support and prayers!! It has only been 2 days and God has already started moving in our lives here. I arrived without trouble on Thursday and we got everything settled into our room. There are four other guys rooming with me, three of which I went to college with and one is a new christian from Panama beach that we reached during Beach Reach in Panama City.

On Friday we went to Orientation for Splash Country and received all of our uniforms and IDs.

Today though was the most exciting day so far though! This morning we had Evangelism training then this evening we actually went out into Dollywood and Splash Country and shared our faith with other people as we waited in line. It was definitely out of my comfort zone but I started around 10 conversations with people so that is a start!

Please continue to pray for me and I will give you updates whenever I get a spare bit of time!!

Thank you and God bless!