"Hi, please insert your ticket and place your finger on the scanner..."

The last couple of days have gone by super fast and have been extremely crazy. My group (I now realize that I didn't even mention who they were before) Ashley, RaeLynn, Heather and I are in Parade Audience Control (PAC) and Park Greeting, so the last couple of days we have been bombarded with all sorts of facts and information about the park since we are the first people that the guest will be interacting with and we will be just interacting with the guests while we are waiting for the parades. I know more about how to interact with guests, run a turnstile, and Disney knowledge than I ever imagined me or anyone I even knew would know about these things. We keep getting told a ton of the same information over and over again so that we will remember it and be able to assist guests with all of their common questions and needs. Yesterday we were introduced to what we do if we are working PAC. We go to a meeting before the parades where they relay any relevant info about  it to us and then we are assigned a certain position along the parade rout. We go out and begin setting up the ropes and stanchions that don't impede too much traffic flow before the parade starts, then we get to go around and play games with the little kids, talk to guests, and just be part of the show. This is the part that I am the most excited about; I think I will enjoy just getting to have fun this way and help guests enjoy their time here. Then we will set up the complete barricade so that no one gets in the way or hurt from the parade as it goes by. Next we begin to tear down the perimeter right after it passes by us, so that everyone can be on their merry way again after the show. PAC seems like it will be a lot of fun and I can't wait until we actually get our full training on that.
Then we went back to the condos and ate some supper. Johann, my condo-mate who broke his arm, and I got invited over to hang out and watch a movie with "The Greenhouse," one of the girls condos. All of the people on project have had fun nicknaming their condos and coming up with theme songs and such. Me and my condo haven't determined an "official" name yet, but we have a motto, "Don't mess with the Johann!" Anyways, The Greenhouse: Dani, Sara, Shannon, Sarah, Jen, and Bri, had us over to watch Tangled. It was a lot of fun and it was funny to see all those girls joking around with each other.
Today we had our first training on Park Greeting. We started nice and early in the morning at 7am, which means we had to wake up at 5:30am or so to get there early enough we knew we wouldn't get lost and end up being late. We were told all about how we prepare the park in the morning, but for us, in our agreement after training, we will just be working in the evening, so it really didn't apply to us, but we listened and payed attention anyway. We went all over the Main Street area learning about where things are and what we are responsible to do. Then began our training on how to use the keypad for the turnstiles in case they don't work properly or people are trying to use expired or invalid tickets. It seems fairly straight forward, but there are a lot of different problems that arise with the people or with one of the 300+ different tickets that a guest may have to enter Disney World. We had the opportunity to work in one of them for a little while this afternoon during a little rush. It was pretty fun, but a little frustrating when people won't just hold down their fingers until the light turns green and they can come in. It is fairly simple, just insert your ticket into the slot and place your index finger on the designated place, but people are in such a hurry that they don't even look at the obvious steps to entering the park, and unfortunately some people decide to not follow directions and use other fingers. It makes in difficult when they don't remember what finger they used to get the ticket to work since they have to cycle through their fingers, but it is all part of the job, otherwise they wouldn't need people to work at the turnstiles. Haha! We have two more days of training left in Park Greeter before our assessment day, and then we finally will get a few days off. I am enjoying my time training and working at the park, but I am ready for a day off to just relax and get some energy back. Time for another early day tomorrow!

Crazy days

The last few days have been pretty crazy and a whirlwind... On Wednesday we started off with a little lesson and some testimonies on time management. It is increasingly crucial that we have this as we are starting our training and work schedule at Disney while trying to manage project activities and our own walk with God. As I said earlier, if you don't want to be challenged physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally, then don't go on a summer project! After we finished that little time, we headed over to the Cru International Headquarters in Orlando. It was really neat to see the amazing things that are going on all over the world with their ministries and really encouraging to me. It was amazing for me to find out that they have translated the "Jesus Film" into over 1000 languages! They are just doing some great work to try to reach the whole world with the gospel and I get to be a part of that this summer with all the people from around the world coming to Disney World. Since we got a taste of this mission, the staff gave us some time to have fun, but also to realize that every time we go to the park, we should be going with a purpose. We were told to go to Epcot last night and go explore, but talk to all the cast members there. In Epcot, they have a bunch of different nations with exhibits and the people working them are from the country they are trying to represent. We were supposed to go talk to them and make connections, maybe invite them to hang out, or just love on them. My buddy Nick and I decided to go off and see if we could just talk to a bunch of people in the short amount of time we had. We were able to have quite a few good conversations and we were even asked by a guy in "France" to come back and talk later after his store got less busy, so we did and were able to give him our numbers, so hopefully we will be able to build a relationship with him. It was really awesome to see how receptive they were to talking to us, so I just am hoping that we can build a lot of relationships quickly.
(Quick side note, we saw Topher Grace at Epcot, the first celebrity actor I have ever seen in person.)

Then today, we had our first day of training for our positions in the Magic Kingdom. We had to wake up really early in the morning, so it has been a long day. We were shown all around the Magic Kingdom because we need to familiarize ourselves with the whole park so that we can assist guests in the best way possible. I have already learned more about Disney than I ever thought I would in my whole life; I never envisioned myself working at Disney, or on a summer project at Disney, but that shows how God has other plans than our own. After we got a general overview of the whole park, we were split up into our groups of what we will actually be doing. I was hired in attractions part, and I have been eagerly awaiting knowing what I will actually be doing as a "Main Street Daily Operations" person. Now was the time to find out; I will be doing greeting/turnstyle working and Parade Audience Control or as Disney says "PAC." We walked through all of the Main Street area in great detail because we will probably be asked a lot of questions about this area since it is where we will spend all of our time. We need to kind of figure out what stores sell what and where the nearest restroom, ATM, map stands, ect. are located. It was a lot to try to remember, so there is definitely a learning curve with it. Then we got fitted with our new costumes for our different jobs. I will put up pictures later, but as a greeter I get to wear these awesome dorky looking yellow/orange shirts with dorky blue shorts and as a PAC I get to wear a white button-down shirt, dark pants, and a vest.
This will definitely be a big push for me personally since I am not exactly the world's biggest outgoing, friendly person, so the Lord definitely wants to push me in different ways this summer. I am a little low on sleep, so I am going to not go into too much detail about training or anything.
Then later this evening some of the lovely ladies on project had our condo over for dinner kind of for our condo-mate Johann since he broke his arm and won't be able to work at Disney this summer. Hopefully he will find out how he can best serve this summer and stick around to bless everyone on project. After supper, we a great men's time where God is continuously challenging me in different areas in life, sometimes when I think I maybe have more of life figured out, God comes and gives me plenty more things to work on that I didn't even think of before, but have needed work all along. This will be a great summer filled with magic, hard work, growth in life, and God. I am so excited, but we as a project and I personally could use all your prayers for God to really work and allow us to do everything for His glory.

It all started with a mouse...

Yesterday was a big day for us here on the Walt Disney World Summer Project; we attended Disney Traditions today at Disney University. It is the first "class" that you take when you start at Disney before you become a cast member. It told us a lot about the company, values of the company, and how we are to act while working at Disney. It was a long day from 8am to 4pm sitting there in the same room with small breaks to go observe Magic Kingdom, the cast, and the park design for safety ect., and a lunch break. I'm not sure that I can really say anything more than this about it, but it was a lot of basic info that you get before you start any job.
I did learn about what I would be doing while at Disney: Main Street Daily Operations. You may wonder exactly what that means, and you are not alone in this. I would also like to know exactly what I am doing, but the group of 4 of us assigned to it haven't been told yet what it is. We were able to talk to some other cast members later on in the day who said that it could be like setting up and parade control along with guest interactions, so I am still not sure exactly what it will all entail, but I think that it will be fun whatever I really get to do.
After we were done with our day at Disney University, we changed and headed immediately to go see Magic Kingdom. We had a little trouble with this since our cards weren't actually activated yet, but we finally got it figured out. Then we got to just have a ton of fun around the park riding a few rides, observing how things go on in the Magic Kingdom, and getting to know some of my other Cru project people better. It was one of the most enjoyable times I have ever had in a theme park because I was able to really get to know some people a ton better and we were not just rushing through to get to do everything. We enjoyed talking to other people we were standing next to in line as well. Then the last thing we did in the park was watch the parade, projection show on the castle, and fireworks. The projection on the castle and fireworks were two of the coolest things that I have ever seen. The castle would transform from one type of castle to a completely different one, and I am kind of a castle fanatic. I used to fill up notebooks with drawings of castles, create Lego castles, and play a 3d castle creator game on my computer when I was younger, so this was super cool to see. Then a car of us guys went to Pizza Hut afterwards and just discussed some things about the project and some of the concerns we have. It was just a great time to talk about it and really figure out that we all have similar concerns and we are all in this project together. I am super excited to do some great things this summer and hope God can be brought into Disney World through us!

Working together as a team

As many of you already know, I have the unbelievable opportunity to take part in a summer mission project sponsored by Cru with over 60 other students to Walt Disney World. I get the awesome opportunity to live down here in Florida and work at Disney world through the partnership that Cru has with Disney.

But more importantly, we have an incredible purpose and vision for being here this summer; we get the opportunity to share the love of Christ with tons of people. The Disney College Program attracts countless young adults from across the globe who work at Disney and then return home a semester later. This allows us to bring the message of Jesus to literally hundreds of nations, many unreachable but all accounts. I feel extremely blessed to take part in this vision and I know that it will have far reaching implications for the gospel and the kingdom of God. This opportunity is not so much for me, because I could be doing numerous other things with my summer, but this is an enormous movement that will equip the future leaders of the church and change eternal destinies the world over.

As you might imagine, raising the necessary funds is extremely challenging and many of the students have struggled to raise all the money necessary. The money donated is only to cover room and board for the mission and cost associated with ministry. We pay for all other expenses ourselves, so this is not about a moneymaking opportunity. I could have made a good amount of money if I had stayed home and gotten a job there, but that is not the purpose of my summer. As a project we are behind in funds even though I have worked hard to achieve the goal of what I needed, I would encourage you to consider giving to the project through my account. 

https://give.cru.org/give/View/5652939?pp=

These gifts are tax-deductible and would be a great blessing to all of us here on WDWSP. If you are not financially able to give, I would appreciate your prayers, because with God all things are possible. 

One of the most fulfilling days of my life

On Saturday morning we got up and ready to go out and start our "training" by being thrown out into the fire and just going out to share the gospel. It was our first scheduled time to go out and share the love of God with people. We had a quick time where we reviewed over some of the stuff that we had been talking about and just how we can love on all the people we talk to regardless of what they say or how they react. The whole point of what we are trying to do is bring glory to God, and sharing the gospel with people is just one form of that.
We headed out to Lake Eola, which is a park of sorts, and slit up into groups of two. My roommate Chris and I headed out and just started walking around the park. It was quite a different situation that we were expecting because there was a big event for special needs children going on all around the lake and people were just walking everywhere, so there weren't too many people just standing still so that we could approach to talk to them. At first we just were confused on what to do, but then we just approached any person we could find who did not seem to be busy. I will just share one huge highlight from our time doing this, there were other encouraging stories, but this one is by far my favorite:
We approached this girl, Chelsea, who was probably about a junior in high school and who was working one of the games they had going on. No one was at her game, so we decided to take a chance that she would have the time to talk to us. First we asked her if any of the topics on our sheet interested her, and she said that she guessed that she was interested in 6 Reasons God Exists or Prove That He's God. We asked her why she pick those and she said that she believed that there was a God, but wasn't really sure about how that it really had any impact on her. We were able to present the whole gospel to her while asking her questions about what she thought to see if she understand what we were saying and just trying to show her God's love for her. We had a few distractions with little kids running around and wanting to play a few games, but I believe that she was really responsive to it and really understood what we were telling her. She did not think that she was ready to give up her life to having God as the center of her life because she was a little skeptical of putting her faith into something like this and living for God, but she said that she had some grandparents that always take her to church when she stays with them. She seemed really interested in the information and resources that we left with her and we prayed for her and her brother, who has a bone disease, but she was thankful that he could still walk. I think that she is really close with how interested she seemed, but just needs time to realize the joy and freedom that Christ brings. It is really exciting and encouraging, so I am going to continue to pray for her and encourage you all too as well.
After we returned from our time at Lake Eola, we met up at the pool and exchanged cool stories about what happened, and then we went and had a ton of fun playing soccer in a small field across the street from our condos. It was a blast, but maybe not the brightest idea because immediately after we finished with that, we had our men's time.
This was the most physically demanding men's time I have ever been a part. We all sweated, were in pain, fought hard, and were emotionally and psychologically challenged together as men. That is all I will/am allowed to say about that. It definitely was something else, and I would not recommend going on summer project if you do not want to be changed and challenged mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. It was one of the most fulfilling days of my life where I really feel like I had a impact on others.

More training and some surfing fun!

On Friday we had a full day of training. I won't go into a ton of detail, but we had some excellent lessons and dialogue about Grace vs. Truth and how those can work together to produce growth. Also we discussed some developmental skills: bonding, boundaries, sorting out good and bad, and adulthood. It was very encouraging and helpful for me since this summer is a huge opportunity for personal growth as well as ministering to others. I just have been extremely encouraged by how open everyone has been to discussion and conversation in our training times with everyone in the same room. Sometimes people do not feel comfortable sharing in front of everyone, but it seems as though people are very willing to state what they think. After we had done our training from about 8:30am til 5pm, we got to have some supper and then celebrate with a surprise from our lovely staff.

The staff set up a time where we got to try a place called "Fantasy Surf." It was called "flowboarding," kind of like surfing in that you are gliding on a board over the water, but it is more like a combination of snowboarding and skateboarding. There is a powerful engine that shoots water up a slope and you get on a mini surfboard and try to stay upright and "surf." It was a ton of fun even though we all got knocked down and shot away by the water. I ended up with a few bruises, but nothing too serious. Unfortunately one of my condo-mates, Johann, broke his humerus, and may have to have surgery, so your prayers for him would be appreciated. Overall it was a really great time! After that experience, we headed back to the condos and went to have some fun in the pool and hot tub. It was a good day!

Casting Day at Disney

Yesterday was the casting day for our jobs at Disney World. We also had some other things scheduled for activities for our Cru group.

I started off the day with a meeting to discuss the financial support for the summer that we needed to have. After we met, I talked with my mom on the phone, as my parents were headed to the airport on their way to their trip to Europe for their 25th wedding anniversary celebration, and she let me know that my grandpa had donated the rest of the amount that I needed to have for the summer, so I should be funded at least for the general amount I need for this mission trip.

Then I had a few hours to kill before I got to go into the casting center for Disney to sign paperwork and get everything straightened out for that, and also get assigned to where I will be working at Disney. So while I waited for my time to arrive, I made good use of it and prepared some of the paperwork and information about myself for project and getting to know others. I was able to get these done and then dressed for the casting appointment in clothes completely not my own except my underwear, socks and shoes. I had to borrow nicer clothing from my condo-mates since my nice clothes are still in the mail somewhere between here and Lincoln, NE. I came straight down here to Florida for project after spending 3ish weeks in Italy, so I did not have any nicer clothes with me that I took to Italy, so I had pants that were too small, a shirt that was too big, and my attempt at tying a tie not my own. The pants were too short and they kind of flared out at the bottom, so they just made me look a little bit ridiculous, but it was all good and it worked. We headed over the the casting place and got all the paperwork filled out and signed... And I am pleased to say that I will be working in attractions department somewhere in Disney! They have not specified where exactly I will be working or which ride I will be working with, but I do now finally know basically what I will be doing.

After we had finished that, we had a scheduled time of soul-to-soul time with our discipleship groups, and we ended up going a little late, so by the time we were done, it was time for bed. Soul-to-soul, if you can't guess, is just each of us telling our own story of our life, who we are, how we got here, and what we are like now in total confidentiality so that everyone can feel better about being completely open and honest. Since we have such a short time here, 10~ weeks, to get to know each other, it is a great way to really get down deep and see where the others in our group are coming from. It is also good to think and evaluate your own situation and where you are, so I was thankful to get to do this with an awesome group of guys. It is hard for me to look back on some of the painful experiences that I have had, but it just brings me more amazement at how much God has worked in my life and changed me into who I am today. There is always room for improvement, but it is great to see God's work in my broken life.