To start I just wanted you to get a taste of some of the things happening so far:
7 chapters of John read. Verses memorized. Workouts initiated. Meetings attended. Music played. Talks had. Jobs applied for.
As you can tell it has been a busy week, but one that has been worthwhile. It has been incredible seeing how God is already present here and has been expecting us here in Whitewater, Wisconsin.
For those of you who do not know, the city of Whitewater is a heavily college-populated town. If you drive down "Main Street" you will see the university campus on one side and university housing on the other, not to mention you have to be careful not to run over any college kids! The interesting thing to note about this, is that we are here to find high school kids, so at first glance we had to take a step back and wonder where the high school kids were. Thankfully they are in fact here! Several fairly large-sized high schools are in the area. Connecting with those schools is one of our next steps. A way to describe the city of Whitewater? Diverse. There are different ages, stages of life, and many interests. These are a few things that are quite apparent when you start to investigate the area.
So far the Young Daniel program has been an adventure! After the 40 days I was able to spend some time at home reconnecting with family and friends. What a blessing it is to have the community of Young Daniels as we move into a new area and start to build new connections and relationships.
Team Whitewater consists of four people: Owen Cooper, Aaron Andrews, Abbey Meyer, and myself. I would like to share a quick update on each of us.
Owen never did miss a beat when he came back from Minnesota. The day after he got back he was already back at his church, Living Word. Over the past few weeks Owen has spoken at several Christian churches and organizations in the area in addition to meeting with the Young Daniels about a game plan for the next few weeks.
Aaron, who is originally from Sauk Prairie, Wisconsin, moved into his new place with two other roommates. Amidst job hunting, starting a new workout regimen, reconnecting with his girlfriend Jenny, and cracking funny jokes, Aaron has been using his new skills from the 40 day training on a daily basis. Aaron has an infectious personality and is one of the best conversation makers, and he has already been using those God-given talents to reach out and meet new people.
Abbey has been quickly adjusting to life away from home. Since she graduated high school in June a lot has been going on. She is living with a family who has opened up one of their rooms in their house for her to stay for some time. Abbey is also on the hunt for a job and has been applying at several different places. Not only that, but she has been connecting with several different campus organizations and meeting an incredible amount of amazing new people.
I had the opportunity to move into the area two weeks ago. There is a lot to learn when you move to a new place so most of my time has been spent trying to find my way around and explaining that, "No, I do not go to school here, but I am living in the area." (Which is something some people have a hard time grasping). I am staying with a man named Tyler Salisbury who owns The Black Sheep restaurant in Whitewater. He is an incredible guy, and if you are ever in the area I would encourage you to stop by the restaurant. Also, I am attempting to make connections with people in the area in search of willing high school students for the Change! program.
Over the next few weeks we will be focusing on finding nominators and participants for the upcoming Change! program which is projected to start in early January 2015. Also, we will be locking down the job opportunities that we have been seeking out. In the upcoming weeks we would really appreciate if you all would continue to pray that God would guide our steps and help us to step out in boldness.
Until next time,
Charlie and The Whitewater Team
