JAM Christmas

My roommates and I celebrated Christmas together tonight. We're about to head our separate ways to celebrate with our families, so we decided last week to set aside a night to fix dinner and eat together before exchanging gifts. We made chicken parmesan with of course, sweet tea to drink. After we ate, we tackled the mound of dishes in our kitchen together and had fun with that as well. Then came the fun part, exchanging gifts. Marissa went first and got a journal and Twilight poster of Jacob from me and a Vanilla Bean Noel set (lotion, spray, and body wash) from Jenn. Jenn went next and got a set of flavored hot chocolate mixes from me and Warm Candy Apple lotion and peppermints from Marissa. I went next and got a Vanilla Bean Noel set from Jenn and Twilight Woods lotion from Marissa (we shop at Bath and Body Works a lot; can you tell? :)). We had a bunch of fun unwrapping and taking pics, as well as an accidental video with a few inside jokes:




Marissa was looking through the pictures I took of her and Jenn and thought she switched it back to the picture mode, but put it on video mode instead. It starts out with me laughing because Marissa used a plastic bag in place of tissue paper since she ran out. Jenn was joking about it and at the beginning of the video, I'm telling Marissa I had some I would've let her borrow. You can hear/guess the rest from there.

After all that fun, we decided it was about time to hang the letters we painted months ago. For the girls' birthdays, I bought them the letters of their first initials (and one for myself). We each painted and decorated our letters in our favorite colors and wrote things on there that identified us (i.e. fav Bible verses, meaningful pics, etc.). The letters have been sitting in our living room for a while and every time we see them, we comment to one another that we need to put them up on the blank wall in our living room. Tonight, we finally did. The particular ones, Jenn and Marissa, broke out the tape measure, measured to the middle of the wall, and hung my letter. Then measured half the distance for each of their letters. Above my letter, we hung our Christmas picture we took last week. The idea is for us to hang family pictures below our letters and roommate pictures above and in between. It's kinda like a family wall for us and a great way to decorate a large, blank wall.

Here are some more pics from our Christmas celebration:

Wow, what a semester!!

I can't believe the first semester of this year is already done!! It seems like just yesterday Chi Alpha was sitting outside of the bookstore with an info table and giving out water bottles the next week. This semester has flown by and it has been such a blessing for me to have been a part of it. We celebrated the ending of the semester on the 6th with a Christmas party. A good number of students attended and everyone had a blast. We enjoyed yummy food such as the traditional fondue, meatballs, veggies, red velvet cupcakes w/ a cream cheese filling, and cookie decorating. We also had a time of worship and Gil read the Christmas story from Luke.



Now that the students are home for Christmas, I've been working on getting my application for the Campus Missionary In Training program that I will be completing next year and working on my on-line classes. I (finally) finished my (rather large, 18 page) application today and sent it off in the mail. Hopefully I'll know more about the status of that around late January. I've almost finished the two on-line classes I've been taking this semester, Synoptic Gospels and Introduction to Pentecostal Theology. I have another class, Acts: Works of the Holy Spirit, that I will be working on for the rest of Christmas break. Also while the students are on break, staff is working on planning the sermon series for next semester as well as events and working on our mission trip. When the students return in January, we will hit the ground running with the mission trip. They have a deposit due the day after they return as well as a meeting that night. The following weeks, the missions team will meet once a week to eat, pray, research, and discuss our upcoming trip. Please say a prayer for this team of students as they are working to raise their funds over Christmas break.

Suubi (Hope)

This week, LUXA came back from break running. Several weeks ago, staff and student leaders decided to order a necklace kit from Light Brings Heat. These necklaces are composed of hand-made paper beads strung together. Women from the African country of Uganda make these necklaces and the company, Light Brings Heat (LBH) buys these necklaces at a fair price to sell in other countries. The women that make these necklaces receive the proceeds as a way to support their families. Each necklace comes in a box with a card. On the front of the card is a picture of the woman who made the necklace and the back gives her name, the Ugandan tribe she is a part of, and the number of children she is supporting, as well as a brief sketch of her life. Many of these women are caring not only for their own children, but also for nieces, nephews, grandchildren, and orphans. Some care for as many as 14 children. The stories that are included on the back are amazing stories of how LBH has brought hope to these families. The mothers can buy food for their families, send the children to school, and one is helping support her husband as he attends college.

We started out the week with 28 necklaces. As of lunch Tuesday, we sold roughly 16 (I don't have the numbers in front of me, so these are rough guesses). 100% of the profit we make from selling these necklaces goes straight back to the women who made them; Chi Alpha is not keeping any of the money. This is a great way for us to give back to someone else this holiday season and to teach the students at Longwood about Uganda and giving to someone else.

We began selling these necklaces on Monday during lunch (from 11-1) and dinner (from 4:30-6:30). We figured it would take us two weeks to sell all of the necklaces, but by the lunch shift on Friday, all 28 had been sold. We raised over $500 to send back to Uganda for these women to provide for their families. Way to go Chi Alpha!!

(If you would like to learn more about Suubi Africa or order any of their products, please visit http://www.suubiafrica.org/)

Ladies Day Away 2009

Yesterday began LUXA's Ladies Day Away. This is the second time that I have been (once as a student last year and this year as staff) and I loved it both times. We took over Camp WEAG in Amelia County for about 18 hours and did what girls do best. We made chicken and tuna salad wraps for supper, along with sliced cucumbers, chips and apples, cleaned up, then went to the living room for door prizes (candy), games, and a time of teaching. We talked about the book of Psalms, the different types of psalms, the writers and the fact that scholars aren't sure if David was the one to write them all, and what different psalms expressed. After discussing this for about 20 minutes, Lindsay handed out bright pink paper and gave us the task of writing our own psalm. I think for most of us, it turned in to several small psalms, whatever was on our mind at the time. It was a great exercise and made us think. We came back together and Lindsay challenged us to take one line and either elaborate on it more or turn it into a question and share. We then went into the kitchen and made a chocolate molten cake with Lindsay's magic microwave dish. It was very yummy with a glass of milk and was quickly consumed. I took two movies along with me and we went back into the living room to watch Daddy Daycare (a pretty funny movie) before deciding to head upstairs for bed. Jennifer and I discovered why we wouldn't make good roommates if we had to share the same room...neither one of us would get any sleep because we would keep one another awake talking all night. This morning we ate bagels and pumpkin break for breakfast and drank coffee with carmel machtio creamer (after Lindsay found the coffee pot some of the girls hid). Then it was time for a brief quiet time. Lindsay gave us paper with a sentence starter on it and challenged us to finish the rest of the sentence with whatever came to mind. This also was very helpful and I found that the topics I focused on were the same ones I focused on when I wrote my psalm the night before. After that, it was craft time. Lindsay and I came up with a pretty awesome craft, decorating picture frames. The girls really enjoyed this craft and we had a great time fellowshiping while creating them. After we cleaned up from our craft (a somewhat difficult task because of the craft feathers), we packed up our stuff, ate lunch, swept the floors, took the trash out, and left to come back to Farmville.

This trip was definitely worth the trip to WalMart crowed with people, not being able to find enough frames for the number of students we thought were coming, finding out we had too much in the way of supplies because we didn't have as many students come, and some of the food being left at my house. At the end of the day, when all is said and done, I can definitely say this trip more than well worth the work to get there. We had an amazing time.

Hayride/Hoedown at the Hertzlers

Saturday, November 7th was a very busy day for LUXA. We had our annual hayride/hoedown at the Hertzler farm that afternoon. I was in charge of buying the food items and other supplies that would be needed to feed around 40 people. I took one of my roommates to Wal-Mart with me (I don't really care to go by myself...) and gathered all the necessary items like hotdogs (48 total I think), buns, 3 boxes of graham crackers, 3 bags of marshmallows, 4 packages of Hershey's Chocolate bars (6 bars in each package), 3 cans of hotdog chili, relish, ketchup, mustard, apples, two 10lb bags of ice, and door prizes (3 giant Hershey bars [dark, milk, & almond] and two boxes of Easy Mac. Jenn and I took all this by the Banton's house to realize I forgot to get soap...a necessity for our hayride. So it was back to Wal-Mart again to get 2 packs of 12 bars of Ivory soap. Oh, and I had several boxes of hot chocolate in the trunk of my car that we were going to use.

2:40 rolled around and Jenn, Marissa and myself all left the house in separate vehicles to drive students to the Hertzler's. We met everyone on campus and divided up the students into the cars. We had around 35 people with 15 of them being International students. We loaded up the cars, waited on a student that was running late, and took off for Appomattox. I was asked to bring my iPod with all the bluegrass music I owned on it, so my car got in the spirit of a hoedown and listened to it on the way there.

After arriving, Gil and I hooked my iPod up to the speaker and played a little bluegrass while we were waiting for the hayride to begin. I took a few pictures for Lindsay, then took Adison over to see the cows...she was pretty fascinated with them. The wagon was ready with all the hay/straw, Gil had a quick refresher in driving a tractor, and we all hopped on the wagon. Mr. Hertzler was driving a 4-wheeler with a wagon as well and we followed him down to the field. He stopped and came back to our wagon to tell us there had been a bald eagle in the trees earlier in the day...the eagle was still there! We rode closer and stopped for everyone to look at him. Then he flew off, a very majestic sight. We rode around the rest of the farm, stopping for Mr. Hertzler to let the cows out of the barn for the night. We were going down near the river, but heard gun shots (some of the Hertzler siblings were deer hunting) and we didn't want to scare the deer off, so we went back for a bonfire, roasted hotdogs, s'mores, and contests.

Dinner was yummy and we ran out of food (note for next year, buy more hotdogs). We showed the International students how to roast hotdogs and make s'mores. We also had a dance contest to bluegrass music and a soap carving contest (the reason I had to go back to Wal-Mart earlier). After all that, we sat around and tried to tell a group story...it didn't go so well (something about a river steamboat, raising money for our mission trip, a student getting thrown off the boat, the boat getting taken over by pirates, the females having a better idea...it was all in good fun, silly, and is still joked about). After that idea didn't go so well, we sat around the fire and had smaller conversations until we decided to pack up and come home. There were two international students in my car on the way back and when I asked if they had a good time, they both responded yes. The Longwood student in my car also said he had a good time and the other students that I've talked with since then have said the same thing...this is definitely a favorite event for LUXA.

Here are two pictures I've managed to get from that day (I took my camera, but left it in the car because there were a few already out. I haven't seen the pictures from them yet):

One wagon of students

My roommates and I. Jennifer, Marissa, & myself (also known as JAM).

And the Mission Trip Location Is....

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, we have our Spring Break Mission Trip destination confirmed. Over the last four weeks, we have been building up to the reveal night (tonight). The reason for doing this is because we want students to feel called to go on the trip, not because of the country we are visiting, but because they realized that God has called all of us to go (found in the Great Commission, Matthew 28:18-20). I spoke briefly last week, sharing my experience from my trip to Honduras nearly two years ago (wow! that long ago?!) and how God showed me that money, or a lack of, is not an excuse for not going on a mission trip. I also touched on how everyone has a story about something that God has done in their lives that can benefit another person.

So, tonight (after a somewhat embarrassing video of the 2008 Honduras Mission Team), we revealed our destination. This March, Longwood Chi Alpha will be traveling to Northern Ireland! We (the LUXA staff) are very excited about this trip (to say the least) and are praying for a great team that will travel with us. We had a brief meeting after TNW tonight to speak with students who are even remotely interested in going and had about 15 students in that group. God is doing some amazing stuff on this campus and I can't wait to see what He has in store for this mission trip.

On a different note, I also had the opportunity to set up a two-on-one discipleship meeting tonight. Two freshmen girls and I will be meeting every Friday for about an hour to talk. We will probably read through a book together (I haven't decided which one yet) and discuss it. This is probably one of my favorite parts of my job...meeting with these students and teaching them to teach others. I remember my sophomore year, a Chi Alpha student leader began doing the same thing with me and the cool thing is,she's the sister-in-law of one of the girls I will start meeting with tomorrow. So amazing to see how God works things out. :)

Also, Saturday is our annual Hayride/Hoedown at the Hertzler Farm. This family has opened their farm one Saturday (usually in the fall) for LUXA for at least the last five years and invites us out for a hayride, bonfire, hot dogs, s'mores and a lot more. We always have a blast on this trip and it is one of our most successful events. One of the reasons this event is so successful is because we are in a very relaxed environment. There is no pressure for anyone who may not know Christ to accept Him right away. This is a time for students who may not be familiar with or involved in Chi Alpha to become more familiar with who we are, what we do, and why we do what we do. It's also a great time for us to just love on people and hang out with one another.

Well, this is a pretty full blog and it's getting late. Please be in prayer for our upcoming mission trip and for the team that God is going to bring together. I know this is going to be something great and I can't wait to see what's going to happen not only in the lives of the people in Northern Ireland, but in the lives of our students as they prepare and experience this trip.

Costume Party

LUXA had their annual Costume Party last Saturday night. We had a great time hanging out, dancing/listening to music, bobbing for apples, and eating (candy, mummy fingers (kinda like pigs in a blanket), and monster fingers (green cookies with red almond fingernails; they looked eerily like real fingers)).

Here are some pictures from our party

The costumes in the picture above were the best of the night. These two girls planned for months to dress as our campus pastor and his wife. We all got a good laugh out of it and I think Gil and Lindsay enjoyed their costumes too.

Tinkerbell, a Puppy, New T-shirts, and a Mission Trip!

It's only Tuesday, but Longwood Chi Alpha has been busy so far this week! I met with the student I'm co-leading a Bible study with this morning, then spent the afternoon working with Gil and Lindsay on office work and staff meeting. Gil and I went to pick up LUXA's new sweatshirts and t-shirts after staff meeting. We actually got them earlier than we thought we would; it usually takes the shirt place 2 weeks to have them ready. We took them back to the Banton's house and pulled them out to look at...they're awesome!! I'll put some pics of them up later if I can (the pictures have been giving me trouble lately). Lindsay designed flyer invitations for our costume party and I cutthem to hand out to students. Lindsay and I dressed the girls, Emma and Adison, up as Tinkerbell and a Dalmatian puppy and took them to the dinning hall to hand out the flyers. The girls had a great time dressing up and the students thought they were so cutest adorable! Adison has shoes that have squeekers in them (think rubber ducks) and the female students thought they were so adorable...I overheard one student say "Aww, she's barking!" We handed out all of the flyers we printed and didn't cover a fourth of the dinning hall. We have some students who have agreed to dress up and do the same thing throughout the week.

Our costume party plans are coming along pretty well. We kinda had a difficult start planning. I tried to reserve a room on campus, but was told the room we wanted was not appropriate for "glittery costumes and loud music." The glittery costumes I guess I can understand (this room is in a section of a building that was recently renovated and I can understand concerns that glitter may scratch the floor or get stuck in the carpet), but I don't understand the problem with the loud music. Really, how many college students do you know of that go to bed prior to 11pm on a weekend?? I sure don't know very many. Anyways, we were able to reserve the clubhouse at one of the Longwood-managed apartment complexes. I took our freshmen/transfer student decorating committee to the clubhouse Saturday so they could look at the available space and then to the Dollar Store and WalMart to buy decorating necessities. I'll post an update and let everyone know how our Costume Party goes.

And, to end on a very exciting note, we have our Spring Break Mission Trip destination confirmed!!!!!!!!!!! I can't say yet where we're going because we're not revealing our destination country to the students until next week. Once we tell them, I'll post it on here.

Overdue Update

So it's been a while since I've updated my blog...it's been a busy, busy, busy three weeks. Two weeks ago, LUXA went on our fall retreat to Camp WEAG. It was needed by all the students that went and myself. We had a great time and a great speaker. Our speaker, Rev. Mark Briley, was the Chi Alpha campus pastor when our current campus pastors were students, so it was special for them to have him come speak. God really used Mark to reach out to a lot of students. During the Saturday night portion, Mark talked about letting go of our Amalekites (see 1 Samuel 15) and I started praying about my future, whether it be in Chi Alpha or teaching. As I was praying, I looked around and watched the students worshiping, while comforting a student that was struggling with homesickness. As I prayed "Lord, is this where you want me?" I felt a peace that I can't even begin to explain fill me. Every time since, whenever I've prayed about it, I've felt the same peace begin to fill me. Right now, I'm looking into Chi Alpha Campus Minister in Training (CMIT) programs at different colleges to attend next year. I'll keep everyone up-to-date with this process as it goes. I'll also include some pictures from the retreat at the end of this blog (if I remember! haha).

This past weekend was very busy. It was Oktoberfest weekend at Longwood, so LUXA met for dinner at the dining hall picnic (it was pretty good for once). We had a nice sized group and everyone had fun. The girl that served as our missionary associate last year (the same position that I'm doing) came also; her husband's band was playing in Battle of the Bands. It was good to see her and catch up on life. Saturday, I helped with Farmville First, the outreach that the church I attend here, was doing. Chi Alpha students helped to feed parking meters and talk with people, inviting them to the other events going on at the Daily Grind coffee shop and one of the local car dealerships. I then went to lunch with one of my roommates and some friends for her birthday. We went to Charlie's Waterfront Cafe. It wasn't as expensive as I thought (well, as long as you don't get the file mignon or other huge entrees) and we had a good time. Then I drove home for a fundraiser that my wonderful home church was doing for me. They sold spaghetti dinners, had a cake raffle and a chance drawing. It was a great experience and, although a lot of work, it was enjoyed by all. God has blessed me so much with such a supportive family and church family. Sunday, I drove back to Farmville and helped my Gil and Lindsay prepare a dinner for some of the international students here at Longwood. It was a lot of fun and I got to know some of them a little better.

Well, I'm going to wrap this up. Please say a prayer for the Farmville community. I'm sure everyone has heard about the recent tragedy that happened on First Avenue and even more recently, the fire at one of the apartment complexes near town.

Ok, so no pictures from the retreat tonight...the internet won't let me upload them for some reason. I'll try to remember to upload some later in the week!

Flyin' With the Birds

Longwood University Chi Alpha (LUXA) went zip lining last Saturday. For those of you who may not know what zip lining is, basically you put a harness around your legs and waist, clip part of it to a strong cable, clip the other part to a trolley, and, as our instructor said, run/walk until your feet leave the ground. It's putting a lot of trust in the cable and clips, that they're going to hold you up. It was a lot of fun, although some of it was challenging. There is what's called a back-up line in case for whatever the reason, your trolley fails. The back-up line keeps you attached to the cable. My back-up line kept sliding forward on one of the lines, causing me to twist. I tried to do what the instructors told me to (slide it back without removing your hand from the wire), but it's a whole lot harder than it sounds, especially when your about 30 feet above the ground and starting to get twisted in your lines. But overall, it was a great bonding experience for our group. The students that went had a good time, although a little bruised and sore. It's defiantly an activity I would recommend to youth groups. We even got to see a bird land on the cable as we were zipping (pictured above) Here are some more pictures:

Week in Review...

This week has been a little crazy, having to go home Mon-Wed for a doctor's appointment. I had planned to come back late morning/early afternoon on Wed, but as I was driving home Monday, the check engin light came on in my car. I called the mechanic and made an appointment to have him look at it Tuesday while I was at the doctor. After my appointment, Mom and I went to Panara for lunch (and it was yummy!!). We also went to AC Moore to look at some craft stuff for an idea my roommates and I have for a blank wall (first initial letters, painted/decorated, and hung with family pictures underneath). Unfortunally, the letters I liked didn't include an A (can't have JAM w/out the A...) and the AC Moore lady said they don't keep stock in the back (what??? why not???). We also went to the Verizon store to have my phone fixed, then got Pappa John's pizza to take home for supper.

After I got back to Farmville Wednesday, the Chi Alpha worship team had practice in our living room. It was nice and relaxing to listen to them play songs that I've become familiar with. While they were practicing, I worked on updating our contact file and sending out an e-mail reminding students of our Thursday Night Worship (TNW). I also typed the lyrics for the songs that were being sung at TNW.

Thursday, I tabled in the dinning hall during the lunch hour. The purpose of this was to keep our name and faces out and to talk with and answer any questions the students had. I was able to talk with one student, who sounded interested. After that, I came back to the house, ate lunch, checked important websited, and got stuff together for our leadership meeting. That meeting went very well and I am still so grateful that God put together such a wonderful group of student leaders. These students go above and beyond and are always ready and willing to help. After the meeting was over and we had set up most of the sound stuff, we went to the dinnig hall together and ate dinner before returning to finish setting up. Around 7:40, students started coming into the rooms for TNW. We greeted and talked with them before the meeting started and there was some friendly rivalry among our small group Bible study leaders, encouraging other students to sign up for their group. We also discussed random things such as nose piercing (not mine!) and hair cuts. When the announcements began, I stood towards the back of the room, amazed. As everyone was coming in, we decided to pull out more chairs. As far as I know, three or four stacks of chairs were brought out. I counted the number of students during the annoucements. We had 54 students attending! As the meeting went on, I glanced around from my seat to see some students I didn't see come in. After the meeting was over and we were unloading the sound equipment, we talked about the attendance...we had close to 60 students!! We also had a good number sign up for small group Bible studies that will begin next week.

Today, I had the chance to meet one-on-one with a student I began discipling last year. She spent last spring in Argentina, studying abroad. I'm really excited that I have the opportunity to continue to meeti with her and watch as the Lord works in her life. We had a great time discussing 2 Timothy 1- 2:14, talking about the book we're going to be reading (Crazy Love), sharing prayer requests, and praying for one another.

This is going to be a good year...God is good.

Longwood's Longest Slip-n-Slide!

We had our first weekend event for the semester today: Longwood's Longest Slip-n-Slide! I was kinda suprised we were able to do it, but all the right people said yes, so... We bought 3 tarps and Lindsay duct taped them together. She also got some stakes, but they were too big, so we improvised with small bungy cords (worked pretty well though; it gave the tarp a little give). We found a hill in front of one of the dorms and secured a water hose, nozzle, and water keys from Longwood's maintenance department and off we went! Here are some pictures from our event:

Wow...

So it's pretty late, but I really wanted to share this with those of you that are keeping up with me through my blog. We had our first Thursday Night Worship (TNW) tonight at 8pm. After talking with many students over the week, we had nearly 40 students (not counting 4 staff members) at TNW tonight. We had a great time of worship and our campus pastor shared with us, beginning a theme for this semester, "Love God, Love People". He shared from Mark 2:1-12 and talked about the three types of people he saw in the story. At the end, Gil shared his testimony and how he came to know and accept Christ as his Savior during his freshman year at Longwood. He also prayed and with everyone's heads bowed and eyes closed, he asked if there was anyone in the room that wanted to accept Christ. We had one student raise her hand and accept Christ. I knew by listening to Gil's reaction there was a student there who raised his/her hand and later, as some of the students were helping us unload the equipment, Gil told me who the student was. I believe she's a freshman and this was her first night at Chi Alpha's TNW. I find this so amazing: that God is definatly working on this campus and through our students and staff.

Thank you guys so much for your support and prayers. Please continue to pray for our campus and students as we continue to reach out to them this year.

Busy Week!!

Since my last update, freshmen and upperclassmen have moved in and started classes. Last Thursday, the freshmen descended upon Longwood's campus to begin their four year college journey. Chi Alpha set up a table in front of the bookstore with information for students who were interested in joining a Christian group on campus. We talked to several people that day, all girls. We also set the table up for a few hours Friday and Saturday. In those three days, we talked to about 15 people. Saturday afternoon, campus pastor, Gil, and I left with our student leaders for an overnight retreat at a camp in Amelia. The purpose of this retreat was to help our student leadership reunite with one another after the summer, catch up, and spend some time planning events and praying for the campus, students, and professors. It was an amazing retreat and we are very blessed with an awesome student leadership group. We returned to campus Sunday morning, dropped the students off, then I came back to my house long enough to unpack my car, check on my cat, check the important websites (email, Facebook, news), and eat lunch before returning to campus for the community involvement fair. This was a requirement for the freshmen and transfer students to attend as part of their New Lancer Days orientation. We set up a table with our Wii, fliers, and contact cards. We got the Wii up and running and Gil and I began playing to draw students over. During the hours we were there, we talked with a lot of students and got contact information from about 50 of them. We took that stuff down, returned to our houses for a few hours, then Gil, his wife, Lindsay, and two girls, and myself went to represent Chi Alpha at a pool party for international students. Gil and Lindsay's girls, Emma (3) and Adison (1), were pretty popular and a lot of the international girls wanted to take pictures with them.

Beginning Monday, we set up a table on campus with free, bright orange water bottles for the students. We filled them with either water or lemonade. We did this to bless our campus and the students as the last few days have been rather hot. We also wanted a chance to talk with the students, answer any questions they may have about Chi Alpha, and become known as a group that gives away something without wanting anything (you would be surprised at the number of people that will turn down a free water bottle). Over the last three days, we gave away 400 water bottles and went through more gallons of water and lemonade than I care to count. We also were able to get contact information from several of them as well. By doing this, we are able to send them e-mails about our meeting, events, and Bible studies that are starting soon.

Tomorrow night is our first main weekly meeting. When I was a student, it was called Journey, although few students referred to it as such. Most of us (myself included) referred to it as Chi Alpha, but as it was pointed out to me recently, the meeting isn't what Chi Alpha is...Chi Alpha is made up of the students and staff serving the campus and showing Christ through our actions. We decided to re-name our weekly meeting Thursday Night Worship (TNW- see photo). I am really excited to see what God is going to do through Chi Alpha and Thursday Night Worship this year. I am also really excited to see how many people come to TNW and see what Chi Alpha is all about (and then continue to come).

In addition to the outreaches on campus, we also had a Welcome Back party at my house (also known as JAM, the initials for us who live here). We didn't have very many returning students come, but those that came had a great time. Tuesday was full with the outreach on campus, a stiff meeting (a very giggly staff meeting with a very tired staff...but we got stuff done), and meetings with students. I am meeting one-on-one with a student that I began meeting with last fall. Both of us enjoyed meeting each week and discussing the book, Hope Lives. This student spent last semester studying in Argentina, so we were not able to meet. I am very excited that I am able to continue to meet with her and watch as God is working in her life. She has a heart for missions and a love for the Hispanic culture (her major is Spanish). It was nice to talk with her and hear a little about her experiences in Argentina. I also met with the student that I will be co-leading a Small Group Bible Study with every week. I am excited to work with this student, teaching her how to plan and carry out a Bible study. She is nervous, but I know she will do a great job.

Well, this blog is longer than I planned, interrupted a few times by chasing my roomates cat, Tiberius, aka Demon, away from my cat's bag of food and all around the living room, as well as the internet going out and having to retype some of this. Please pray for our student leadership, our students, and our staff. This has been a very busy week, but I know that God is going to use the seeds that have been planted this week for His glory.

INTERNET!!

Finally! We have internet connection! I felt so cut off from the outside world (aka Facebook) without it and after spending 30 minutes on the phone and being transferred 4 times, it's now up and running.

Quick update: Support raising has gone extremely well. God really blessed me with a wonderful church family that allowed me to share with them last month about how I became involved in Chi Alpha (XA) and why I decided to give a year to campus missions. I don't have my full budget raised yet, but I'm confident that God will continue to provide. Came down last Thursday and moved a bunch of stuff into the house I'm renting w/ two other girls (friends I met through Chi Alpha). Mostly stuff like sheets, other bedding, clothes, and kitchen stuff...whatever I could fit in my car. Helped campus pastors get ready for golf tournament the next day folding some pretty cool golf towels...a lot of them. Went to golf tournament Friday and helped greet and register people. Had 17 teams and made some pretty good money for XA to use throughout the semester. Also got to ride on the back of a golf cart, in the bag area...fun, but hard to hold on. Found out it's better to stand and hold on than sit. Parents brought furniture Saturday morning. I was soooooo glad to see my bed!!! Sleeping on a hardwood floor for 2 nights isn't all that fun... Got everything in and unpacked throughout this past week.

I'll be starting XA stuff seriously next week. This week has been getting settled into my house and meeting with my campus pastors to go over my duties and the schedule for the next few weeks. Beginning Thursday with freshman moving in, it's going to be BUSY, but I'm sooo excited! We have some pretty cool events planned for the students including a retreat for the student leaders, a cookout for the returning XA students, a possible water war (I'm really hoping we can pull this one off...it would be so much fun!), and Zip lining in September.

Well, I guess I better close for now...I'll defiantly try to update this more often and let you know what is going on here with XA. Please say a prayer for our students, returning and freshmen, and professors...pray that God will raise up strong student leaders so that we may reach out to all of this campus.

And here we go...

So it's definatly been a long time since the last time I posted and a lot has happened. Graduated college...check, 5/9/09...hot, sweaty, and, well, rather miserable for me (try sitting in direct sunlight with a black cap and gown...). Moved back home and returned to work at the daycare. Attended Reach the University Institute, a conference to prepare future Chi Alpha interns and missionary associates. I had a lot of fun there, being surrounded by other people mostly my age and having the same goal: to reach university students for Christ. We were given a lot of great resources and ideas to take back to the college campuses with us...ideas I can't wait to try. We also learned about confusing things like ministerial taxes and support raising. After returning home from RUI, I met with my campus pastors and discusses support raising (I missed that part of RUI because I didn't realize it was seperate from the new missionary track). Last week, I sent out two types of letters, pre-call letters to people I will be calling and asking for an appointment and ask letters, people that, unfortunally, live too far away for me to visit and talk to face to face.

This week, on vacation with my family. It's been a good one...stayed in a cabin on the Shenandoah River and did a lot of canoing and fishing. Went shopping in Harrisonburg today and heading home tomorrow.

Next week will be calling those I sent pre-call letters to and asking to meet with them face-to-face to explain to them what I'll be doing with Chi Alpha next year and asking them to partner with me, both in prayer and financially. It seems pretty daunting at times, asking people for financial support and hoping they will be willing to help, not only me, but help college students learn the love of Christ. In a country-style store today, I found a decorative board that says "God does not give us what we can handle. He helps us handle what we are given." I bought it and plan to hang it in my room to remind me that God will always help me (thank you, Jesus).

Aside from all that, I'm really, really, really excited about going back to my alma matter and sharing with the students the love of Christ. I'll also be able to work with students who were there when I was (not that I've been gone or anything :)).

Well, guess I better wrap this post up. Updates on how the support raising is going coming soon (I hope).

Simple Thoughts??

I was going to write about this yesterday, but my orginial blog ended up being longer than I intended, so I decided to wait until later. Why name my blog Simple Thoughts?

Well, I was trying to decide what to call my blog and a verse of scripture kept running through my head. Isaiah 55:8 says "My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts," says the Lord. "And my ways are far beyond anthying you could imagine"(New Living Translation; emphasis mine). So the reason for me keeping this blog is to write about what God is teaching and my thoughts over the next year (or possibly more). And my thoughts, when compared with God's thoughts, are quite simple and finite. I'm so glad I serve a God whose thoughts are nothing like mine and who's ways are far beyond anything my finite human mind can imagnie (and I tend to have a rather active imagniation at times). And His thoughts and ways are always far better than mine could ever be, no matter what my finite mind may think at the time.

Thank you, Jesus

Why?

Why set up a blog?

Well, I'm getting ready to graduate from Longwood University and although I will be returning to Farmville, a lot of my friends who are graduating will not. Also, because I will still be in Farmville, this will be an easy way for people at home to keep up with what I'll be doing next year. Also, because I will be in a non-traditional job, I want to keep this blog more for myself than anyone else. This non-traditional job will be a great learning experience for me and I want to remember the things God is going to teach me though it.

Said non-traditional job is titled "Campus Missionary Associate." I will be serving alongside my campus pastors for Chi Alpha Campus Missions to reach out to the students of Longwood University, to show them the love of Christ and to help them develop a deeper relationship with Him. This organization helped me so much during my 4 years at Longwood and this is the best opportunity for me to give a year back to them.

God has been teaching me a lot over the last year. I remember last summer, while I was working at a daycare, wanting to work there so bad after I graduated, but there were no benefits (insurance, etc.) available. I remember laying in bed one night just praying that God would show me what He wanted me to do. I also remember getting this response from Him "I have you right where I want you." Thinking about it then, I took it to mean that I was supposed to work at that daycare after I graduated. But now, looking back, I realize that God meant I was right where He needed me to be to grow me and mold me for His wonderful purposes.

Over the next few months, I began to realize that maybe I wasn't supposed to teach immediately after graduation. I talked with a very trusted and wise friend and she encouraged me to pray about it and instead of asking God "What should I do?", ask "What do you want me to do?" I prayed this many, many times, sometimes wondering if I was ever going to get a response from Him. Then one night, after falling asleep in prayer, I awoke to a voice saying "Missions." I knew this was an answer from God about my future, but this still required a lot of prayer. Where do You want me to go? Who do You want me to serve with? While I was still praying about this, an opportunity was mentioned to me: Staying at Longwood for an extra year and helping my campus pastors with Chi Alpha. Since Chi Alpha has been such a huge part of my life since coming to Longwood, I eagerly began to pray about and research this opportunity. After much prayer and talking with my parents, I felt this is what I was supposed to do for the next year of my life. Of course, I had (and at times still have) some reservations and concerns for this job. There are times (and I'm sure will be times over the next year) that I wonder "What have I gotten myself into?" and "How am I going to get all this stuff done?" But I also know that God is awesome and He will supply all the needs I have. He won't leave me wanting for any needs and He has taken care of me thus far.

So, since this is a bit longer than I originally planned, I'm going to leave it at that. To all of those that have helped me in anyway over the last 4 years, thank you so much. I couldn't have made it through college without ya'll.