He's Faithful to the End

I am now in the 4^th week of project. I have been here exactly one month today. That just seems crazy to me. But life is great here in Hew Hampshire. I can’t help falling in love with the area and the people. I miss you all back home, but let me just tell you, New England is one special place. Home (good ol’ Virginia) will always be first in my heart, but New England, specifically New Hampshire is a close second. I kind of don’t want to leave—so I’m glad I still have about 6 weeks left. And I know that God will be faithful until the end of this project.

My job at the Hampton House Hotel, as I have mentioned before, is wonderful. My co-workers make me smile, and honestly, the hotel has enough character to create a hit sitcom.  The Russian kids that work there are hilarious (I say kids, but most of them are older than me). I have been learning a little bit of Russian here and there, and whenever I come in to work and have a new phrase to say, they all laugh and smile. I’m hoping to be fluent by the end of the summer…  But working with them has ignited an interest once again in my heart of other countries and languages. God definitely knew what He was doing when he placed me at this job. Am I am so thankful. It reminds me a lot of my job back at the YMCA in Staunton, with the old cash register and a lot of things done with pen and paper and not the computer. It is very old fashioned, and I love it that way. I spend my days answering the phone, checking guests into the hotel, and taking reservations as well as keeping up with the housekeepers to make sure all the rooms that need to be cleaned are, in fact, clean.

Time is something that I have been struggling with over the past couple weeks, which is why I have not posted more often. The project just keeps getting more and more busy. I honestly have not had time to sit down and write. I was struggling to just write letters back to friends, which takes like 5 to 15 minutes, but even then those few minutes were no where to be found. It is intense. My schedule has never been so full, and it will only be filling up more as the summer continues. This week especially, I will be going to bed and will think to myself, “I can’t wait to sleep in!” but then realize that I will not be sleeping in pat 8:30am until I am home on August 10. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday are work days, so I wake up at 5:45 and am at work by 6:55. Sunday and Tuesday I get to sleep in until 8ish because I don’t have to be ready for the day until nine. But still, having activities go until 10 or 10:30 every night does not leave time for much rest. That has been a struggle. Then, on top of work and planned activities finding time to dwell in the peace of the Lord. Do I wake up earlier? Stay up later? Both of those options are kind of impossible and would end up killing me. But if I do not have a time set aside to spend with the Lord, I feel as though I would die spiritually, which is much worse. So I have found some time between getting off work at 3 and starting the evening activities around 5:30 to try and be still and know that He is God. With his spirit leading me and giving me strength daily, I will be able to keep on keeping on.

Here is the entire group.

The weekly meeting team!

The lovely ladies with whom I share a kitchen.

Here is something neat that happened within our group recently:

One of the guys on project, Santei, was walking on the beach during the first or second week we were here. He was trying to meet people and get immersed into the community, so he walked up to this one girl who was reading a journal. He began small talk by asking her if she keeps a journal regularly and what types of things she writes about. He soon discovered that the journal was not hers, and that she had found it and that it has some suicidal thoughts written within its pages. As the conversation ended, she headed toward the trash to throw the journal out. Santei chased after her and then took it from her and said he would try to return it to the owner. And he did just that. Before he shipped it off to this girl, he asked all of the students to sign a card and write an encouraging note to this girl, Annie. So all 24 students in the house wrote something, letting Annie know that people in this world do care about her and her well-being, even though we had no idea who she was. A couple days later, Santei heard from her mother. She was touched beyond words and wanted to meet with us to say thank-you. So Saturday night, we all went outside on the porch as this girl Annie, her mother Jill, and friend Emily came to the front of the house. Annie was very nervous and would not make eye contact with anyone. She looks frightened and there just seemed to be darkness around her. So one by one, each of the students walked up to her, and introduced themselves. This is a moment that I will never forget. I could feel the love pouring out of everyone, and then came the tears. Annie had tears streaming down her face, and her friend and mother stood by her side for support. Her mother was very touched as well. Because having 24 college kids introduce themselves to a 13 year-old can be somewhat overwhelming, a couple girls and myself took Annie inside and talked with her for a good while. Here she began to open up, and let her personality shine through. She was funny, spirited and just lovely. One of the strangest things was to see not only this emotional transformation, but the physical transformation. I cannot explain in words exactly what she looked like walking down the street to meet us, but after I had been sitting and talking with her for some time, I realized that she looked nothing like the girl who had reluctantly traveled down G Street. Remarkable. While some of us were talking to Annie and her friend inside, another girl was talking to Jill, her mother, outside on the porch. I do not know all of the details, but one important fact I do know.

 Jill came to know Jesus Christ on that porch.

Yesterday Jill went to jail. I am not sure for what crime or for how long, but at least a few years. She did tell the girl who was talking with her that she had been scared about going to jail, but then when Annie received that letter and encouragement from us, she wanted to talk to us. How magnificent, He is. Jill now has hope. While she still has to serve her sentence, she will no longer be alone.

I Corinthians 3:17 says, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom”…

..and my prayer for Jill is that she will not feel imprisoned while in prison, but feel the liberty that comes through Christ Jesus.

Thank you all for prayers and support. Toady I received a check for $50 dollars, which means I have raised all of the support for my trip!!!

PRAISE THE LORD!

It is so encouraging. It amazes me. I had really thought that no more support would come in, but of course, God is faithful and proved me wrong. I received one check from a family who had already supported me earlier in my support raising, and then the check came today. So I have received the exact amount I need. 

So again, I cannot express my thanks enough. You all are such a blessing, and I am so very thankful for you all. 

Have a Little Faith

For those of you who don’t want to or do not have time to read the more in depth parts of this post, I will do a short little summary of what is going on in my life!

I’ve had a rough week, but the Lord is never far and His arms of love and comfort are right there waiting for me when I finally decide to turn back and face his wonderful embrace. THUMBS UP!

I GOT A JOB! I’m working as a receptionist at the Hampton House Hotel here in Hampton Beach and am also helping to train new housekeepers and make sure that they clean all of the rooms necessary. I love my job. My boss is great and the lady, Andrea, that I work with is a sweetheart. Here’s something cool: the hotel has a coffee shop attached to it and I LOVE to go and sit in it to journal and such. Well last Wednesday I was there journaling and this guy came in and was playing guitar and singing. Music is a passion of mine, and I was entranced by his great skills! It was one of the most peaceful times and I was completely lost in the music. Well, I walked into work Saturday and who do you think my co-worker is? COFFEE SHOP GUTARIST! I walked in, and the first thing I said was, “Hey, you played in Jumpin’ Jacks!” Great start to our co-worker relationship. He’s a fun gent to work with, though. If anyone is planning a vacation up this way, feel free to call the hotel in order to book a room and talk to me!  But God has TRULY blessed me with such a wonderful spot to work.

So you know the family that I have mentioned, Amy and Dave? Well here is another way that the Lord has blessed me: I have them as my host parents while I am here. I cannot even begin to explain the deep respect I have for them and how much they mean to me. I hope to be half the person they are 10 or 15 years from now. Incredible. 

And now a special thanks goes out to those who have sent me snail mail. Honestly, I cannot even begin to say what an encouragement it has been. The other day I received a letter from a  dear friend and it rbought tears to my eyes. My friend Kayla and I usually have a letter every day when we check our mail boxes and its just so comforting to know that people back home are thinking about me. I think about you all a great deal as well and am really missing spending some lazy summer days with friends and family but loving being right where God wants me. With all that said, if anyone would like to send me any snail mail, I’ll post my address again:

Rachel Hrovat

20 G St.

Hampton Beach, NH 03842

I am also doing pretty well for support raising. God really has been providing. I still need about $500 but know that the Lord will bring it in. So many of you have contributed and I appreciate it in more ways than you can imagine. But if you would like to support me, please don’t hesitate! I would deeply appreciate it! Here is where you can: DONATE

Now on to what God has been teaching me and working on me with:

I know its been quite a time since I have actually written a decent post. I’m going to be completely honest with you all by saying it is because I’ve had one of the most trying weeks that I can remember. It felt like I was hanging from a precipice with the devil pulling me downward by my ankles. Because I felt like I had nothing to share, I thought that “if I had nothing nice to say, I wouldn’t say anything at all”. But things began to change Saturday and then yesterday at church God was basically taking a respite on my earlobe and opening my ears to hear a great message from Him via one of his faithful servants.

I’ll start with a quick re-cap/background info to let you guys know why I was feeling spiritually drained and just out of sorts. First, it was because so much information has been thrown at us. All of it good. But my mind can only hold so much, so I have been frustrated because I cannot harbor these great thoughts, ideas and stories of Christ. Basically, I have been upset by my lack of knowledge. I’ve been a Christian for around 15 years, so of course I should know just about every Bible story and characteristic of God, right? Well I certainly thought so and was beating myself over the head for not knowing these beloved stories. For not knowing what was the focus of a particular book of the Bible. For not knowing or understanding who Jesus was as he roamed this earth. So instead of humbly accepting that I did not know or recall all of this information and striving to learn more, I became angry. Bitter. Unwilling to listen and annoyed with many around me.

So Saturday morning rolled around and I’m not sure how my mind got on this track, but I just became SO very aware of the wretched state my heart was in. I have not been loving towards others that are on project with me. I have been nasty. My heart began to ache and I then I Timothy 1:15 came to mind (which I shared on this blog) and states: “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.” Sitting and comprehending that I am no better than anyone else, but in fact, much worse than my neighbor was quite a humbling and breaking realization.

My discipler, Abby, said something to me in our Bible study last Tuesday that has stuck with me. When I was explaining to her how frustrated I was that I cannot remember verses, stories or anything from the past 15 years, she just simply surmised that perhaps it is a humbling experience.

Pride really can get the best of a person. I am reminded of spring break when I went to Orlando with CRU for their “Urban Immersion” trip. I spent a whole day cutting vines and clearing brush and thorns from the side of a highway in the blazing sun. The women who had asked us to do this said that they don’t even remember when it got so overgrown…it just seemed to happen out of their view. Hebrews 12:1 came to mind when it mentions the “sin that so easily entangles”. That brush overtaking the fence along the highway is a great picture of what it looks like when sin overtakes our lives.

So back to what Abby said: this hit me like a sack of corn off the side of a train. Maybe….no not maybe, it IS God humbling me. Him desiring for me to draw close to Him and to dwell in his presence. To soak up his goodness, his love. To start afresh with my knowledge of him.

This pushes me to spend time with him—more than I ever have. And this is all very good. And I am looking forward to it.

Yesterday at church during the Adult Sunday school the pastor was discussing reason, and how there are all of these books trying to prove that the Bible is true and that Jesus really existed and so on and so forth. I have dealt with some doubts here and there and especially in talking to others about the Lord, trying to somehow convince them that He is the truth! But that is just not the way it works. The Holy Spirit himself moves in others hearts. God prepares people and all that we can do is be His vessels. And we must be willing vessels at that. Anyways, the pastor said that if we use reason to try and “win” people over to Christ, than we are totally leaving the Holy Spirit out of it. We with our brains want to convince people why they should believe rather than just letting Him move in their hearts to lead them to believe. God says that he is true. What more do we need? By having faith in the Lord, we believe what He says. He says that his word is true. Therefore, we have to believe it. Sure it’s nice to have all of these ancient scrolls and artifacts that solidify it as being true, but nevertheless we must still just BELIEVE! This has been revolutionary in my life—to have a little faith…

A Trustworthy Saying

"Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners--of whom I am the worst. "

-I Timothy 1:15

P T L

I have found a job. Praise the Lord (PTL). At the end of last week I went into the Hampton House Hotel inquiring about a job. The owner, Bob has hired students from project before so he said that he would try to make accommodations so that I could work there. I filled out an application, then went back Sunday afternoon to talk with him again. He told me to come in Thursday morning at 8am to work out my schedule and start working!!! I am thrilled. I was so excited I neglected to ask what my pay would be or what I would be doing exactly…but I am pretty sure I will be the hotel receptionist! It is so true that good things come to those who wait. As Lamentations 3:25 says,   “the Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him”.     He has been so good to me and I am in speechless adoration and awe of his goodness.

Here are some photos to share the adventures in Boston from last week!

The three amigos! Me, Collena and Santei.

Mike and Santei.

Santei and I.

Collena and I waiting to board the Duck-Boat tour.

Driving the Duck Boat! 

Riding some chap's long-board.

Chatting with the local musicians in the park.

Tourist "thumbs up"!

Santei, Collena and me at the start of the Freedom Trail!

Dave, Mike, Josh, Amy and Collena. This family is going to be my host-family while I stay here at Hampton Beach. God is GOOD! Collena and I both have them as our parents and we are excited to get to know them even more than we already have. Honestly, this couple is incredible and I'm thankful I am able to spend some more time with them during the summer. Their sons are gentlemen, too and have the same serving hearts as their parents.

Ice cream right outside Quincy Market! It was so good (I almost dropped mine inside and so I was  reenacting the moment here)

Ok, so these next photos are a little strange but I thought I would share this fun moment with you all:

A pigeon somehow flew into Quincy Market and then made friends with this little chid. We watched the boy and chuckled as he tried to get the bird to sit on his arm. Even when we smiled at him, he chose to look at us in this manner. It was somewhat frightening.

He was captivated by the pigeon.

Still no smile.

Now talking and trying to persuade the bird to sit on his arm.

I Am Blessed.

Today has been 4^th full day of project. Let me tell you, this week has been tiring. The rest of the students arrived on Tuesday, and I was not at all excited about them coming, but as soon as the first girl got here, I could not help but love the idea of having a house full of friends! And that is how this week has been—we all have been getting to know one another, spending time talking, learning about each other and laughing. The sense of community, and how quickly the community was built has been truly amazing to me. I attribute it all of God, and do not think that one can say that it is because of any other reason. All 24 of the students share many commonalities but the greatest thing we share is our love and faith in Christ Jesus. That is what has helped us grow so close so quickly and be comfortable around one another and vulnerable. I have loved it. There are some pretty special people here.

Two very special people who are near and dear to my heart are Amy and Dave MacArthur—the couple who purchased this house in order for the Hampton Beach Summer Project to continue. Because I was here a week early, I was able to watch this couple, their sons and family members come quietly into the house, work late at night, then slip quietly out. They are self-less. God has blessed them in great ways and they turn right back around and bless people with what the Lord has given them. I have never met people as giving as they are and cannot even explain how much it has meant to me to watch them. On top of ALL of that, they also decided to use their day off (Memorial Day) to take three strangers (myself and two other students) to Boston to tour the city. We got to go on a Duck Boat tour—which is awesome and I recommend it to anyone who ever travels to Boston—and they fed us at Quincy Market and walked all over the city with us. Completely self-less. Dave and Amy, the Lord truly shines brightly through you two!

Some beautiful Boston scenery (this picture is bad, I know, but I was unable to get other photos from my first trip yet! Sorry I'll try to post them when I get them! )

Wednesday evening we had our first group nightly meeting. All of the students and staff gathered in the church, sang some songs of worship, listened to Jeff Highfield (the project director) bring the word of the Lord and then we got to choose our servant teams. Long story short, one of the members of the staff team basically called me out and told me that I was going to be worship leader for the summer because I was the only student who brought a guitar. This made me very uncomfortable. While I adore music and singing and playing guitar, I in no way, shape or form enjoy playing in front of people. But, as Jeff Highfield recently shared, 

“the great thing about Jesus is that he loves us too much to leave us where we are.” 

I feel like that is going to be a consistent theme throughout my summer. But I have been praying for growth, and what better way to grow than to be put in situations that are awkward? This is surely going to be awkward. But one thing that I have to keep reminding myself of is that this is in no way about ME (once again I am realizing this) and that the focus should not be on me. I do not need to be worried about leading worship, but rather just praying that God would use me as His vessel. That through the music I create through the gifts He has given me others may enter into a worshipful state with their creator. That is my prayer.

Every spare moment this week I have been job-hunting. I have been leaving my name at many different locations and exhausted the main strip along the beach to no avail. Earlier this week I thought that I had a job set in stone, but when my friends Will and Shelby and I returned to the sub shop, the lady told us that she only needed 2 students instead of three. That meant I was out. Sometimes it is hard to just leave things in God’s hands but I know that whatever He has planned for me and whatever job He has for me is better than anything I could have chosen.

Ok, here is something awesome that helped me out a great deal this week. One of the main focuses of this trip is relational and initiative evangelism. I have always said that I prefer relational evangelism—however, I repeat, God will not let me be comfortable this summer. Lisa (Jeff’s wife and a woman on staff with CRU) told me that 

“initiative evangelism should be relational and relational evangelism needs initiative” 

which makes perfect sense. If I am sharing something as close to my heart as my walk with Christ with someone else, I always want to know that person. To have known them. To have had a long relationship with that individual. Something that I had never considered is that I can meet new people and begin relationships with them BY sharing the most important thing in my life with them. This happened on Tuesday afternoon.

After the students arrived there was a group meeting in the living room of the house. We all sat and listened as the staff introduced themselves and their families. Then Jeff just came out and told us we were going to have to go out on the beach and share our faith with people. Looking back, there could have been no better way to start off the summer. So out we went (I went with a student named Kathryn and a staff named Abby) and at first we just prayed as we walked. Abby and Kathryn pointed to two girls on the beach and said we should go and talk to them. I was looking at two completely different girls so when they walked by the first girls, I was confused. In spite of this, we proceeded on to introduce ourselves to these two girls who happened to be from Macedonia!!! Now I will give you a bit of insight into my life: I LOVE PEOPLE FROM OTHER CULTURES. From other parts of the world. Those who have traveled all over. Those who are visiting or who have immigrated to the United States. I love the US and am proud to be an American and all, but my heart for sure does NOT lie here in the United States. I honestly feel the Lord tugging at my heart to work abroad, whether it be in ministry or just pushing papers. So having the first people I share my faith with here in Hampton Beach be from Eastern Europe was just a nod from God letting me know that it is He who has shaped my heart to have such a love for other cultures. Pretty awesome.

Good grief this will be my longest post yet. I will try to post something more often so there is not so much to catch up on! I am even leaving out some stuff just because I can’t fit it all. But this WILL be the last thing!

We have discipleship groups here on project. What these consist of is one discipler (mentor) and then two or three disciples (students). We meet with our discipler and go through scriptures and pray with one another. It is really a special time. Today we took a trip into Boston (yes, this IS the second time in one week that I have been to Boston—I consider myself SEVERLEY blessed! ) in order to have a “Soul-to-Soul” time. 

Abby, Collena, Kayla and I = My discipleship group!

During this time, each woman shares her life story: things that she has struggled with, regrets, hurts, relationships, friends, school, just all the details of her life. Each of the girls in my group took around an hour to tell their story. I cannot emphasize how meaningful this time was to me. To see so deep into one another’s lives just drew us closer as sisters in the Lord. We were vulnerable before one another. We confessed the mistakes we made, realizing that we have forgiveness in Christ alone and wiping the tears from one another’ cheeks to show that no matter what we had gone through or were going through, we would be there for one another. Powerful. This day is very draining though. To hear the hurt that has occurred in the other girls’ lives made my heart ache in an inexpressible way. I found myself growing angry—angry at God for allowing these horrible things to happen to his daughters! Angry because my life has been nothing but a life of ease—nothing horrible has happened and I was raised by an incredible man of God and a humble and strong woman of God. My parents have been incredible…no where near perfect, but hands down awesome parents. I aspire to be half as great of a parent some day. But to sit and hear of broken families made my heart ache something terrible. I found myself wishing that something had happened to me to replace the hurt and pain that these wonderful women went through. I finally just sat and convinced myself that all that happened was in the past. Nothing can be done. These women were hurt, and all that I can do is be there for them now. Instead of desiring bad to befall my own life, I need to praise the Lord for bestowing so many blessing upon me. Thank Him from the bottom of my heart. I do not deserve the wonderful life that I have had thus far but must fall before the King of Kings praising Him for his sovereignty in my life. For his overwhelming love being shown to me each and every day. Thank you, Lord for being so magnificent!

Kayla! Beautiful woman of the Lord. God is doing some great things in this girls life and I am so excited to see where He takes her! I have loved getting to know my fellow-Virginian friend!

Abby, my discipler at Boston Common (is that what you are supposed to call this park?) romping through the green grass! We treasure lush grass when we've been walking in sand for 2 weeks.

COLLENA! My roommate and great friend. LOVE her and her heart for the Lord. He love for God is amazing. Awesome woman of God, for sure.