Whether I am ready for it or not, the next two weeks are going to pass by faster than I can possibly imagine. Tomorrow morning I am headed to Orlando to celebrate the birthday of a good friend who moved to North Carolina two years ago for vet school. Sunday I get to reunite with some old Emporium friends from last year for breakfast before headed to play at a park with Sam, one of my roommates from project who made me laugh harder and think deeper than anyone else.
This Wednesday marks the start of a four day celebration for one of my best friends on the planet, Sadie. She is getting married to her Prince Charming on Saturday the 21st and I am incredibly excited for her. However, I am battling an especially evil nagging sense of dread for that weekend. I know in my last post I briefly mentioned how much my church, Anthem, means to me, but that doesn't even begin to describe the depth of my love for the people there. On Saturday as I wave goodbye to my best friend and her husband as they head off for new adventures, it will be like a massive door in my life closing, one that I am not ready for. That weekend will be my last with my church family as a whole, and I don't even want to think about the hole that it will leave in my heart.
This is one of my favorite pictures of Sadie and I, taken this Christmas at Disney. Sadie also works there as a Pirate in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.
It is still no easy task to describe the heart behind this project. It is really two hearts that beat as one unit- the first is to establish a Campus Crusade community at the Walt Disney World resort. Thousands and thousands of college students from across the US come to Disney to take part in the
College Program, which is a semester where you work full time at any of the Disney properties while taking classes to receive college credit. A lot of these students are accustomed to having endless resources at their fingertips at their campus back at school, like Campus Crusade, FCA, and other ministries. WDWCRU is set up to fill that void while they are in Orlando.
This is a picture of Team Emporium with a bunch of college program kids after work one night at IHOP
The other purpose, perhaps more important, is that it exists because thousands and thousands of international students also come to take part in the International College Program. I personally met students from China, South Korea, England, France, Italy, South Africa, Mexico, Haiti, Poland, Austrailia, Canada, Japan, Morocco, Sweden, and probably a lot of other places I have probably forgotten. Depending on where the students are from, their view of church, God, and Christians is either skewed or non-existant. It is the heart of the project to let students from other countries and cultures experience what it is like to truly follow God so that they can return to their home as ambassadors for Christ.
This is Lulu, Ray, Ceclia and I at one of our outreach pool parties. All three of them worked at the Emporium with us. They are all from China. By the end of the summer, all three of them came to church with us at least once (Lulu came three times, she loved the singing and the enthusiasm of the South African pastor) and all three of them returned to China with a bible.
My story from last summer would take days to write and would fill thousands of pages of paper. And mine is one story of thousands. I came into contact with over 200 cast members who knew exactly why I was there and where I stood by the end of the summer. So did each of my 32 other project mates. So did each of the four dozen students from the two projects before me, and so will each of the 40 students who haven't started to pen their story yet. God is always at work in a bigger way than we could ever imagine. That comforts me and excites me and sometimes intimidates me. It reminds me how little control I actually have. Not that I want that control.
These next two weeks are going to be difficult and wonderful. I ask that you join me in praying for the staff team I will be a part of, the students who will be sharing God's word beneath a magical castle, and for the thousands of people who will come into contact with the gospel this summer.
Also, I am at 90% with support raising! I am so close to being finished, but I still need your help to get to 100%. The option is still there for you to mail a tax-deductable donation in the form of a check, made out to Campus Crusade for Christ, to
Kelly Wood
6946 Finamore Circle
Lake Worth, FL, 33467
OR, even easier, you can make a donation online at
Again, thank you for taking part in this journey with me. I am eternally grateful for each and every one of you.
Kelly
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