Before I comment on our arrival, I have to share a story from our trip down. I was driving Bryan's pickup truck from Indiana to South Carolina, and our convoy had stopped in Florence, South Carolina to regroup. Leah, who was my copilot in the truck, was nice enough to retrieve a juice for me and open it. She dropped the bottle cap onto the floor of the truck, but was not concerned with it at this time.
Unfortunately, she spilled juice on her hand, and in order to clean off her hand, she opened her door to shake it off. The cap fell in silence to the road, and two other unfortunate circumstances converged on our particular location. The first was a zero tolerance littering law in Marion County, through which we were driving. The other was an undercover police car, which observed her unintentional misdemeanor activity.
As we pulled away from the gas station, I observed an unmarked white Crown Victoria Police Interceptor come up on my tail, and turn on it's blue and white hidden strobes. I knew that I had not violated any traffic laws within the recent past, and was confounded as to why we were being pulled over. As the officer approached Leah's door, he explained his traffic stop and the litter laws (which carry a fine of $300).
Due possibly to a combination of our unintentional perpetration of the crime, genuine expression of remorse, and perhaps out-of-state nativity, the officer decided to be merciful, and let us off with a warning without even running my license (although he did verify that I had one). We were very grateful for his decision, as a $300 fine for accidental littering tends to ruin anybody's day.
It is also worth noting that another member of our convoy had an encounter with law enforcement, although he did not receive such mercy. Andrew received a ticket from the Indiana State Patrol for driving 77 MPH in a 65 MPH zone. The most ironic part of this is that, of the 17 members of the convoy, the only two to be pulled over happened to be the only two who were pursuing careers in law enforcement themselves!
We were able to avoid further law enforcement entanglements, and after a grueling 31 hour car trip, our five vehicle convoy arrived at the North Myrtle Beach project houses just before 6 p.m., Eastern time.
Within 20 minutes, I was in my swimming suit and diving into waves. I only had a few minutes, as we were to meet at 7 for our first group activity- a group game that was modeled after the Amazing Race TV series. Our team received clues that led us to certain areas of town (we were given an 8 block radius), where Campus Crusade staff members were prepared to give us our next clue upon receipt of the previous clue's codeword. Some clues required completion of a challenge- I was required to boogeyboard in the ocean on command, much to the delight of my dry teammates. I had no complaints about entering the ocean, however, as the game required quite a bit of running, and the hot climate contributed to considerable fatigue.
After our game (and a 4.5 minute shower), we reassembled for some time of worship and prayer. It is critical to establish and maintain from beginning to end our primary reason for being here in South Carolina- not to get suntans, or to play in the ocean, or even to engage in community service- we are here to share the gospel of Jesus and His redeeming love with all who will listen.
God has already broken down considerable barriers to my coming on project, and I have faith that my ministry will prosper here.
On a less spiritual note, our place is incredible! We are less than a minute's walk from the beach, and our beach houses are seemingly designed with our summer project in mind. I have three roommates, and we share a bedroom and a living room/kitchen area. We live one block away from main street, and have been blessed with a beautiful platform for our ministry.
