XA Ladies Camping Trip

I just returned from an amazing camping trip with a group of ladies from Chi Alpha. We left yesterday afternoon and drove just over 2 hours to St. Andrews Recreational Park. After arriving, we set up 7 tents before it got too dark and started chili for dinner. The students began arriving shortly after and we split the group up into 7 teams by colors. I was in the yellow tent with two students. We ate chili in Frito bags and salad for dinner around the campfire. After dinner, the teams participated in different activities, such as coming up with a team name, making a flag, making up a song, and doing a scavenger hunt with candy. We also had worship, lead by one of our students, and a devotional time with Robin; she encouraged us to invest in one another as women of God and the importance of having Godly women around us. We hung around the fire, talking and making s'mores, before going to bed.

Saturday morning, I woke up to the tent cover sliding off about 7am (central time). It made the tent a slightly cooler and a little brighter, but I dozed off for a few more minutes (til the dumpster people came to empty the dumpster close to our camp sight). My tent was in charge of preparing breakfast. We heated pre-cooked bacon over the fire, cooked eggs on a griddle, and tried heating biscuits over the fire before deciding to use the griddle. We also had quite a bit of s'more ingredients left over, so we decided to eat those for breakfast as well. We played a few more tent games before packing all of our stuff up and heading to the beach. We were able to explore the beach for a while, including the rocks that had been brought in and made into a levy. We also had a devotion with Carmen, who encouraged us to fight like a girl (using some ideas from a book with the same name and Isaiah 58:9-12). We went back to the cars for lunch and had an interesting time trying to keep the birds away as well as the bees coming after cups of soda. There were some group bonding games planned, but some students needed to leave early to get back for work/homework and a lot of them were tired. We decided to leave early and head back to Tallahassee. My car had a lot of fun driving down and back, playing games like "Would you rather," singing to one another, and laughing. I put some pictures up on my Facebook page

I am so grateful that God has blessed me with this opportunity to intern here at FSU and be able to go on trips like this. I also am grateful that He has blessed me with so many wise and wonderful women to learn so much from.

FSU Chi Alpha: September in Review

I just realized it's been quite a while since I last updated my blog. I've typed a few, but haven't had a chance to finish and publish them. Since it's been so long, I thought I would go through what happened during the month of September:

• Tues/Thurs Morning Prayer: We began meeting each Tues and Thurs mornings at 8am for prayer on campus. Since our intern class is so large (10 of us), we were divided into two groups. One goes Tues, one Thurs. We have a great time with the students, praying for one another, the campus, etc.

• International Coffee Hour: Every Friday, Florida State hosts a coffee hour for the international students. Again, since there are so many interns, and we don't want to overwhelm the students, two of us go each Friday. I was kinda nervous and unsure the first time I went, but I had a great time talking with two students from South Korea. I had an opportunity to learn more about their culture, country, and themselves.

• Book reports: Every three weeks, we have a book report due. During the month of September, we read the books Under Cover by John Bevere and Why You Act the Way You Do. The first book was about being under the cover of spiritual authority and the second was about the four personality types. Both were interesting books and gave me a lot of knowledge to apply now and in the future. After reading each book, we write a page (or more) book report with a summary of the book and our reaction to what we've read.

• Football game: Florida State's football team got off to a great start, winning against Samford. A few weeks later, I had the chance to attend the game against BYU. Although it was pretty hot that day, it was fun having the opportunity to watch a college football game in person (especially since I went to a college that didn't have a football team). We also watched the FSU v. Oklahoma game (FSU's only loss) on the big projection screen at the Chi Alpha building.
  

We have had a lot of other things happening, such as Small Group Bible studies beginning, Intramural volleyball and flag football games, and improvements on the parsonage. The offices for Chi Alpha/Mosaic Church staff and interns were moved from the main building to the parsonage. The interns and staff worked on painting the walls in August and in September, new carpet was put down in the offices and living room and laminate in the kitchen. We have since moved most of the office stuff up to the parsonage and are now working up there. We also have students who will stop by and hang out at the parsonage with us during the week. It's nice to have a place for them to come and to see them outside of Chi Alpha meetings.

I have a few albums up on Facebook of my time here and will be updating them often. The first album is specifically for Chi Alpha events, the second is mostly personal pictures. Check the links often for new pictures!

Florida State Chi Alpha
Florida 2010-11

St. George Island Leadership Retreat

Last Friday through Saturday, we went on a retreat with our student leaders. After the excitement of Thursday night, Mario gave us Friday morning off to get some rest and pack. We reported to the Chi Alpha building at 12:30 to go over some last minute details and make sure we packed everything we needed for the retreat. Staff left around 2pm to head out to St. George Island; the students met and followed at 3:30.

I drove and two interns rode with me. The drive there was beautiful; most of the way, the road followed the shoreline of the St. George Bay, a bay of the Gulf of Mexico. We arrived at the Christian center, unloaded the food, and set up the dinning area. After Rhia arrived, she set up room assignments and we unloaded all of our stuff. A few of us went to the bay, took pictures, and waded in. The water was calm and warm, unlike the last time I was at the beach. We met in the dinning room to plan out the schedule for the rest of the weekend and the students began arriving. The group was broken up into different shifts to help prepare or clean up the meals and the dinner crew got started making spaghetti.

After dinner, we went to the building on the "point" for a time of worship and prayer. It was an awesome time that bonded us all together. After the prayer, we hung out, ate nachos, and played games before heading to bed.

Saturday morning, we got up and ate pancakes for breakfast. The students were given time to spend with God. Another intern and I set up the laptop and projector for the next session. After some technical difficulties, we got everything up and running. The students came in and we talked about leadership and training others. We looked at how Moses trained Joshua, but Joshua didn't train anyone to take his place and the result. We also talked about why it's important to train someone to take your place as a small group leader. We also talked about some students that are involved, but not connected with XA and ways that they can become better connected. We took a break for lunch and ate sandwiches and leftover spaghetti. I was on the clean-up crew and helped wash dishes and pack the food for the trip home. We were given a few hours off; I went to the bay for a little while and waded and looked for shells. After a little while, some of us went to the beach across the road and waded in the Gulf of Mexico. It was overcast and windy and the waves seemed a little rough, but the rain held off. We went back and had a final meeting about small groups. We broke up into our small groups and talked about what we were going to study over the course of the semester and shared any hesitations the students had about leading. The interns prayed over the group we are working with and commissioned them. We went back to our rooms to pack, make sure they were clean, and pack up the vehicles. We also walked back down to the bay and took a group picture with all the student leaders (minus Pastor Mario) and a picture with just the interns (again, minus Mario).

After we left the Christian center, most of us decided to drive down to Apalachicola, about 15 minutes away. A group of about 7 of us decided to go to the local seafood restaurant. We were able to get a table on the porch, right by the water. I got lemon-pepper grilled shrimp with corn fritters and curly fries...it was all very good. After we ate, we decided to walk along one of the main streets and look in the shops. We found only one that was open, but we had a lot of fun with the different things we found there, such as the blow fish, shark jaws, and the "oyster hunter" hats. Since it was getting late and there weren't many places open, we decided to head back to Tallahassee. We got back to the church, unloaded the food and put it away, before going to the Castrova's house for ice cream before going home.

I had a great time on the retreat getting to spend time with the student leaders and getting to know them better. I also took some pictures while we were there and put them in an album on Facebook. This is an album where I will be adding Chi Alpha pictures throughout the year. The link for the album is: Florida State Chi Alpha 2010-11.

Week Two in FL in Review

I may not be able to update every week next week when the students return, but I thought since we don't have anything going on tonight, I'd give an update on week two.

Monday, we began our regular hours at the XA building, 9am-4:30pm. We received a text from Mario Sunday night telling us to wear clothes appropriate for painting. We spent most of the day painting the living room in the parsonage. If the offices are moved to the parsonage, the living room is where the interns will probably sit and work. It was a good experience for all of us to work together to get the whole room painted properly and knowing we were improving a space we may be spending a lot of time in. Mario bought lunch for us as a way of thanking us and we sat in the living room and ate together. We did a little more cleaning, switching things from one refrigerator to another, washing dishes, cleaning light covers, and whatever else we saw needed to be done. Mario went to the hardware store to pick up new switch/outlet covers and sandpaper and sent us a text telling us to go home early. Mercy and I came back to the apartment and hung around for the remainder of the evening. I began reading a book for a book report that I received in the mail before going to bed.



Wednesday, we went over jobs that need to be done to plan the Welcome Back events. We have events going on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday that need to be planned by staff. Rhia made a list and went over it with us, asking us to volunteer for different jobs. We spent the remainder of the afternoon either working on our jobs or reading for our Berean classes or book report. We decided for everyone to meet at our house at 5:30 for dinner. Mercy and I got home and rested for a little while before we started cooking dinner. All the interns were able to come as well as one intern's wife and 3 kids. Everyone had a great time eating, talking, and laughing together.

Thursday, we met at the XA building at 8:45 and started on some cleaning and yard work. We also celebrated the addition of a 10th intern with doughnuts. The guys went outside to mow the grass and a few other jobs while the girls knocked the inside cleaning out. Since there are so many of us, we got the inside cleaning done fairly quickly. Erin C helped me update and format the website with the events we'll have next week. After the guys finished, we left for Wakulla Springs, a natural spring-fed lake-type state park. The water there is about 67 degrees and feels freezing cold. Right after we go there, it started pouring down rain, so we found a picnic shelter and ate our lunches. By the time we were done eating, it had stopped raining, so we headed to the swimming area. Some brave souls went to the jumping platform and jumped into the cold water. While we were swimming, it started to pour rain again. I went up to put my bag under the "sun-brella" so it wouldn't get soaked and my clothes and camera would stay dry. Since it wasn't a true umbrella, some of the raindrops did mist through, but it wasn't too bad. After the rain stopped, I went back out to the water for a little while. We met as a group in the lodge and Mario bought ice cream for all of us and we sat around and enjoyed our ice cream while talking and laughing with one another. As we were leaving the Wakulla Springs area, it started pouring rain again, but stopped before we got back to Tallahassee. Mercy and I came back to the apartment, where I took a short nap on the couch before the next storm hit. I heard the thunder rumbling hard enough to rattle the windows. I got a few things done around the house before heading to bed.

Friday, we met at a restaurant named Jim & Milts BBQ for breakfast. They have a breakfast special: grits, eggs, toast, and coffee for about $2.50. Nearly every Friday, the staff meets there for breakfast before going to the XA building. We went back to the XA building for a little while, then met at the parsonage for a time of prayer for next week, the events we'll be doing, and for our students. It was amazing to sit in the presence of God and feel the Holy Spirit moving among us as we prayed and worshiped. We went back down to the main building and spent the remainder of our time working on different jobs or getting reading done. We were told we could leave at 2, so Mercy and I went to two Goodwill stores in search of a bed frame. One of the other interns is getting a new mattress and asked me if I wanted to use her other one. I was able to find a headboard and side rails at the second Goodwill we stopped at. The employees there helped me load them in the Escape and we came back to the apartment. After we got back, I deflated the air mattress and swept and mopped my floor. I texted Paige to let her know I was ready to carry the mattress over whenever she was (she and another intern live across the street from Mercy and I). We got both the box springs and mattress over to my room. After I ate dinner, I called Dad and asked about how to attach the headboard to the side rails and took a trip to find a hardware store. I found an Ace Hardware and the guys that assisted me there were very nice and helpful; one of them gave me a tape measure out of his truck...he said he had too many. I got back to the apartment and cleaned the headboard and side rails so they can be put together tomorrow.

As of right now, I'm planning to spend most of Saturday around the house. I still have 3+ boxes that I need to finish going through. I brought a lot of kitchen stuff with me that I ended up not needing, so I need to find somewhere to store it until I go home again. I also want to spend some time reading and try to get ahead a little. Students move in next Wednesday, so beginning Monday, we're going to be very busy getting ready for their return. I'm getting excited and can't wait to jump right in!

Week One in Review

Well, I've been in Tallahassee for almost a week. I've stayed pretty busy, along with the 8 other interns meeting, getting to know one another and the staff, and doing some cleaning around the Mosaic building (Mosaic is the name of the building FSU XA owns and the church that is also there; there's a partnership between the two I'll explain later).

Monday and Tuesday's happenings were covered in my last blog entry, so I'll start with Wed. We met at Mosaic at 10 and went over some ideas with Mario for a field day type event. We discussed possibilities, cost, location, etc of each idea and whether or not it would draw students. After we were done, some of us went out for lunch to a sandwich shop. It was nice to hang out for a little while and talk. My housemate, Mercy, and I came back to our apartment and worked on unpacking. We met two other interns, Paige and Suzi, at their apartment (across the street from ours) and went to Mario and Robin's house for dinner. Robin made some amazing chicken, rice, cheesy potatoes, and blueberry cheesecake and candy pizza (brownie with peanut butter spread on top with M&Ms, Recces, and Snickers crumbled on top). We ate and talked, then took a personality test as a group. The results were interesting and surprising for some of us. We talked about the characteristics of each personality group briefly. Mario told us what he wanted us to work Thursday and we headed back to our apartments.

Thursday, we met at Mosaic at 9:30am. Rhia went around and tried to guess each of our personalities (she was successful guessing most of them) and we laughed and joked at some of them. Rhia then told us about the cleaning schedule and process the building needs each week. She had to leave for a meeting on campus and asked if I would watch her 2 yr old son. I helped clean until he got tired of playing the drums in the sanctuary, then took him in the nursery to play with the cars. After he went down for his nap, I went back and helped clean. Because there are 9 of us, the cleaning goes so much quicker, so we went outside and started cleaning some of the brush and plants that had started growing out of control. We also got a lot of brush and leaves cleaned out of the pavilion and walkway. We met again in the sanctuary and Mario asked us to spend the last 15 minutes before we left praying. We prayed individually for a while, then came together as a group and prayed.

Friday, we met at 10am for some yard work and cleaning at the parsonage. A group of guys went outside and trimmed the shrubbery and cut the grass while another group went to the parsonage and loaded a trailer with garbage. A third group went to the sanctuary with Kyle to see how it needed to be set up for Sunday service and worked on putting it together. After we finished in the sanctuary, we went outside to help clean up the shrubbery trimmings. Mario then asked a group of us to go up to the parsonage and work on cleaning the doors, windows, clean out the fridge, and whatever else we saw needed to be done. I tackled the doors with cleaning spray to try to get the dirt and scuff marks off. After I finished that, I cleaned the bathroom and washed the fridge drawers. Pastor Mario bought lunch for us and the boys went and picked up pizzas. We met in the sancutary and ate and talked together. We cleaned and straightened up a little more before we headed out. We also made plans to meet for a movie later. Mercy and I went to a fellow interns' apartment to pick up a dresser he offered to her. She doesn't have any closets in her room and both of the portable closets she put up have fallen, so she was asking where a good place to get one would be. Tim said he had one he didn't know what to do with and she was welcome to it. It was just the right size to fit in my Escape and we brought it back to the apartment. She dusted it and rearranged her room and I helped her tape one of her portable closets so it will hopefully stay up.

Next week, we start regular hours at the office, either 8:30 or 9 til 4. I ordered a bunch of books yesterday that were assigned as book reports. We have one due every 3 weeks and one of the interns, Suzi, recommended a good website, Better World Books (www.betterworldbooks.com) to buy them from. I checked out the website and was very impressed. They sell used books at discounted prices and use the money to fund literacy programs in other countries. I ordered 5 books for about $30...not too bad considering if I bought them new, my total would have been probably twice that. I'm looking forward to reading and learning through the classes and discussions we'll be having as a group. :)

Hello from Tallahassee!!

Hello from Tallahassee! :) I arrived Sunday evening around 6:30 and met Kyle, the manager of the Ivy Lane apartment I'm living in. He let me in and showed me the house and all the improvements that were made since I visited in May. Kyle also helped me unload my vehicle and introduced me to one of my roommates, Mercy. We spent most of the evening cleaning some of the house and getting our rooms arranged enough for the night.

Monday afternoon, all of the interns met at the Chi Alpha building to meet one another and talk with Pastor Mario and Rhia. Kyle made all of us welcome packets, a bag filled with water bottles, granola bars, tea, salt (an inside joke :)), and a folder with a map of the bus route and our internship syllabus. I came back to the apartment and made a list of thing I needed from WalMart and Mercy and I went on an adventure to find a WalMart. We were successful in finding the WalMart, but not as successful with our lists. (Our house is older and only has the two-prong outlets and most of the things we need to plug in are three-pronged. I wanted to find some adapters, but the WalMart didn't have any. I think I'm going to check Lowe's tomorrow and see if they have any.) After we got back, we got busy unpacking and organizing most of our stuff. Mercy decided to clean out the bathroom closet, medicine cabinet, and drawers. A lot of the previous tenants left stuff like cleaning supplies (which it looks like we'll never have to buy! :)), toiletries, and other stuff. Mercy saved the cleaning supplies and some other things we thought we might be able to use and still managed to throw away two trash bags full of stuff. We carried those out to the garbage and came back in to fix dinner. After we ate, we sat around and talked about different things. It was nice to be able to get to know one another better and talk about different subjects.

Today, we met at the church/office at 10am and went over some other things before Pastor Mario gave us an assignment. "Zero Week" or when the students come back is just a week and a half away, so he asked us to come up with some ideas for a field day type events. He and Rhia left and we discussed several ideas. I'll blog later about the events we do and how they went...don't want to give anything away :) After we left the church/office, Mercy and I went back to the Goodwill auto/electronic/book store to return a laptop charger and see if they had a new one. Thankfully they did so she could charge her laptop and use it. We also took some cleaning supplies and went by fellow interns, Andrew and Rachel's apartment. They got here late last night and they needed help with some cleaning. We cleaned and hung out with them for a while before heading back to the apartment for dinner. I made some chicken and Mercy made rice and green beans. We got internet connected tonight, so I've been catching up on what's going on in the world around me (including Facebook :)) and getting more stuff unpacked. I got my wire cubby shelves put together and put all my books put away on that and got a few other boxes unpacked. I think this may be the fastest I've ever unpacked all of my stuff...usually I still have boxes sitting around several weeks after I moved in.

Well, it's getting late and I need to head to bed. I'll post another update later on in the week!

Campus Ministers Conference (CMC)

Last week, I traveled to Phoenix, AZ for Chi Alpha's Campus Ministers Conference. Staff and those affiliated with Chi Alpha from all over the US converged on the Arizona Grand Resort for a week of worship, fellowship, and learning.

Gil, Lindsay, and I flew out of Richmond's airport Monday morning. We were supposed to leave at 7am, but were delayed until about 7:20-7:30. We flew to Dallas-Fort Worth, TX for connecting flights to Phoenix. We began the process for landing when the pilot got word that the airport didn't want us to land yet, so we circled the city for a while waiting to get the ok to land. Because of our late departure from Richmond and our delay in landing, I had to hustle to make my connecting flight to Phoenix. Thankfully, I made it just in time and flew on to Phoenix. Gil and Lindsay were on the flight behind me, so I got some Starbucks coffee and ate a peanut butter sandwich for lunch while waiting for them. A shuttle picked us up from the airport and took us to the resort. We checked in with Chi Alpha and the resort, got our room assignments, and the bellhops took us to our rooms. I met up with my roommate for the week and gave her a copy of the key. Our area director invited everyone from the Northeast area to her suite for snacks and to catch up with others we hadn't seen in a while. The Banton's, myself, and a few others went to the Mexican restaurant, Aunt Chilida's, for dinner; the food was pretty good and pretty spicy. Then CMC officially kicked off with a worship and prayer session.

Tuesday morning began with an outdoor group breakfast. The staff set up tables and chairs and served us a plate of bacon, eggs, potatoes, and jelly. After breakfast, we had our first of four sessions with Dr. Rick Richardson. For dinner, I went back to Aunt Chilida's with those in the Southeast area. I also went to a get-together of former and current interns at Florida State University. It was nice to hang out with those who interned at FSU in the past and hear about their experiences.

Wednesday, we heard from a missionary to Muslim's and from two former Muslims. Both shared their testimonies of how they came to Christ; both testimonies were awesome examples of how God is moving. We took a break for lunch; each area had lunch together and discussed different area events that will be happening within the next year. Since I will be in the Southeast area when I go to FSU, I ate lunch with them. I got to listen in as those affiliated with Chi Alpha in the Southeast discussed and planned the SALT conference that will take place over New Years. After the sessions were done for the day, my roommate and I decided to go hang out at the water park for a while. We met up with some other Chi Alpha people and hung out with them. The International Student Friendship Ministry (ISFM) also had a pool party that night and gave away a lot of prizes, including a Wii system.

Thursday, I ate breakfast with the director of the FSU internship, Mario, as well as Rhia and Anthony, who are on staff, and a fellow intern, Paige. Mario explained the internship to Paige and me, as well as some of the expectations staff has of us as interns. We also had the opportunity to ask questions about the internship. After breakfast, we had a session on diversity within Chi Alpha and a panel with different campus pastors. Lunch was a question and answer session with the AG superintendent, George Wood. Those with questions were allowed to ask about different events going on within the Assemblies of God. We had a quick break, then a session on homosexuality on the college campuses. After that session, there was another session on the recent court decision affecting Christian groups on college campuses, but I decided to skip it. I was interested in what the lawyers had to say, but was also tired of sitting in sessions. A friend and I made plans to meet at the pool and hung out for a while. Our last event of CMC was a banquet. After eating, we reviewed Chi Alpha's goals from the last 5 years and the goals for the next 5 years. Also, two women who have served in Chi Alpha for over 30 years were honored, Sally Herman and Joy Schroder.

Friday morning, I met Gil and Lindsay in the lobby to catch the shuttle to the airport. Our flight was delayed because the flight that landed at the gate before ours was also delayed. When we landed in Dallas-Ft Worth, we had to run to catch our flight to Richmond. Luckily, our plane landed only 3 gates away and we made it in enough time. There were a few others on the plane from Phoenix that were also on our plane to Richmond. After we landed in Richmond, the Bantons' friend picked us up at the airport and we made a quick stop at their house before driving back to Farmville. We made it back around 1:30am, which was 10:30pm West Coast time.

I'm really glad I was able to attend CMC. I met a lot of new people and saw friends I hadn't seen since RUI (Reach the University Institute- a Chi Alpha training conference) last summer. I also learned a lot that I'm anxious to use in the years to come.

Summer!

Summer's here! I've been asked, "What do you guys (Chi Alpha missionaries) do during the summer when the students are gone?" Well, for me, it's been a pretty busy summer so far.

I attended the Potomac District Council in early May in Woodbridge, VA. District Council is a time for ministers and missionaries affiliated with the Potomac District Assemblies of God to come together for business meetings, fellowship, and times of prayer and teaching. For many of the ministers, this is a time when they see friends they haven't seen since the year before. At the council, Chi Alpha sets up a coffee shop and serves coffee, bagels, fruit, etc. to the attendees. I also had the chance to spend an afternoon in DC with Erin. We went to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum and few other places.

I also took a road trip with my friend Erin to Tallahassee. We meet some of the people I'll be working with next year and visited Florida State's campus. I was able to walk around FSU's campus and drive around Tallahassee. Erin and I made a stop at World Market, an awesome store with food from around the world, as well as furniture and decorations. On the way back to VA, we stopped at my aunt and uncle's house in South Carolina. It was nice to visit wit them. I'm so glad they live about halfway to FL and have said that i can stay with them on my trips back and forth from VA to FL.

In July, I'll go on vacation with my family. We found a cabin on the Shenandoah River last year and had a great time canoeing, fishing and reading. We decided to go back this year and do the same thing. I really like canoeing on the Shenandoah...it's fairly calm, not many rapids.

The week after vacation with my family, I'll be traveling to Phoenix, AZ for Chi Alpha's Campus Ministers Conference. Most of the campus ministers and those affiliated with XA are going to descend upon the Arizona Grand Resort for a week. We'll have a guest speaker as well as time to spend at the water park on the grounds of the resort. I'm looking forward to seeing some friends I met at RUI last summer. Also, to me, this will be my "official" transition from Longwood Chi Alpha to FSU Chi Alpha.

This summer's going to be busy, but I'm looking forward to it :)

End of the Year

Friday, April 23rd, LUXA celebrated the end of the school year with a semi-formal dance. The local coffee shop, Daily Grind, allowed us to have our dance there and catered the refreshments for us. This event was completely planned out by our student leaders, with little help and guidance from staff. They did an amazing job. We asked a LUXA alum and our missionary associate last year, Sarah, and her husband, Jon, to DJ the event for us; they also did a great job with the music selection.

LUXA recognized our graduates, Jennifer Harris and Jessica Prewitt. Jenn (who is also one of my roommates) graduated in December with her bachelors and is now a grad student, getting a masters in Special Education. Jessica will graduate next Saturday. Both of them received Longwood Alum car decals.

The student leaders also recognized staff members. Erin was given a bucket of gluten-free goodies; Freeman and Gil were given gift cards to Barnes and Noble; Lindsay was given a gift card to the Daily Grind and baby-sitting certificates. For me, the students are writing letters of encouragement for me to read while I'm interning next year. I'm a little nervous to read these letters because I know they'll be so sweet I'll cry...hopefully there will be some funny ones too. :)

Here's a link to pictures from the semi-formal, as well as other events from Longwood Chi Alpha 2009-10. There may be some pictures that don't come up; I've had trouble with some of them showing up. Longwood Chi Alpha 2009-10 Album

Janitors for Jesus (J4J)

I meant to post this blog earlier, but it got lost in my list of blogs I've began, but haven't published yet...

The student leaders planned two Janitors for Jesus (J4J) events during the spring semester. During J4J, the students take cleaning supplies around a dorm, knock on the dorm doors, explain who they are with, and ask the residents if they can clean their bathrooms. This earns a lot of strange looks and questions. There are times when students turn us down, but most students will open the door and let the J4J'ers into their bathroom. The goal is to clean the bathroom and engage the students in conversation about what they think about God. Some students are willing to talk and some would rather not, which is ok. The first J4J we did, we cleaned from 8-9:30pm. We were in Curry, one of the 10-story dorms. We had two teams and began on the 10th floor. One team went to the left and one to the right and we met back in the middle of the hallway at the elevators. We decided to clean one more bathroom each on the 9th floor before calling it a night. After that, we went to the cafe for a snack and to talk about how we felt the night went. A few weeks later, we had our second J4J, this time in North Cunninghams dorm. Gil decided to turn the students loose in one team of 4, no staff members. He and I walked around the building praying for a while, then went to the cafe to pray some more and wait for the students. Another staff member, Erin, joined us after a while. The students decided before to clean from 8-10pm, but didn't finish until around 10:15pm. They decided to clean one more bathroom before meeting us and ended up having a good conversation with some students.

Our reason for doing this is from the example Jesus gave by washing his disciples' feet (John 13:1-17). In Biblical days, people wore sandals and walked on dirt roads. At the end of the day, their feet were nasty dirty and tired. Usually, the servants were responsible for the customary washing of the feet of their masters and guests, but on this occasion, Jesus washed the feet of his disciples as an example of serving others.

Today, we have better shoes and roads, and foot-washing isn't a part of our culture. Our thought is what's one of the dirtiest places on a college campus? The answer Chi Alpha came up with is a dorm bathroom. We clean these bathrooms as a practical way to show the love of Christ to these students without making them feel pressured or anything. For us, it's another great way to show Christ's love and to love on our campus in a practical way.

Northern Ireland Pics!

I've been saying that I was going to get my pictures from Northern Ireland up, but I hadn't found a picture site I liked. I've had pictures on Facebook for a while, but wasn't sure if I could link the albums through here. I don't think you have to be a member of Facebook to see them

Album One

Album Two

Also, here's a video I took at Giant's Causeway. You can hear how much the wind was blowing as well as the waves crashing on the rocks. Pretty amazing!

Georgia on My Mind

The last weekend in March, I went to Georgia for a training conference on how to raise my support budget. A student from UVA rode down to the conference center in Toccoa, GA with me; we spend most of the car ride talking about the ministries we are working with or will work with. She'll graduate in May and is hoping to give a year to Students for Christ (SfC), Europe's version of Chi Alpha.

At the conference, we learned how to present our vision and love for our mission field (for most of us, it was Chi Alpha) to our potential supporter team. We also learned how to connect with people in order to share our vision for the campus where we'll be. We stayed at a wonderful conference center that reminded me somewhat of a modern-day Camp Fincastle. We had a few hours Saturday afternoon to ourselves as a break and a few of us took books and went by the lake to soak up the sun and enjoy the quiet. It was nice to slow down for a few hours. The other hours we were there were filled with a LOT useful information, sleeping, and enjoying meals with the team. I did notice that the conference center where we stayed had a curfew of 11pm and a "lights-out" rule at 12am...these people definitely aren't used to working with collegiate ministries where late nights and early mornings are the norm. I don't think we were even close to following that rule over the weekend. :)

For me, it was great to be around people who are close to my age and who have the same passion and love for campus ministry as I do. There are so many amazing stories just from the 8-10 campuses that were represented there. God is really moving on the college campuses in America and around the world.

Northern Ireland Spring Break Mission Trip

As I've blogged before, Longwood Chi Alpha took a spring break mission trip to Northern Ireland March 6-13. It was an amazing trip that pushed us all, students and staff alike, out of our comfort zones and helped us grow in our walk with God. We had some difficulties throughout the planning process and even after we left, but God brought us through and showed us what He is doing in the country of Northern Ireland and in Carrickfergus, where we worked during the week.

We left Farmville at 11:30 Saturday morning to drive to Regan Airport in DC. We got there at 2 for our 5:00 flight, but the Continental rep bumped us up to a flight that was leaving at 2:45 because the 5:00 flight was usually delayed. We had to literally run to security and to our gate...we got there as they were boarding the flight. We flew to Newark, NJ and had a long layover. We boarded our flight to Belfast around 9:30pm and flew all night. We arrived at the Belfast Airport at 8:30am their time and were picked up by our OneHope missionary, Mindy, and the local pastor, Pastor Jonny. We then proceeded on to church at a satellite building for Sunday service. The people there were very welcoming and happy to see us. After church, we grabbed lunch at Springsteins Cafe and walked on the road along Belfast Lough. We passed Carrickfergus Castle, but decided to visit it later in the week. We also visited a local ice cream shop and got Pooh Bear ice cream (vanilla ice cream with honey, crisp "combs", and chocolate wafers). Apparently it's a specialty of this shop and it was delicious! Gil, Freeman, and Will went back to the satellite church for their evening service while the rest of the team stayed at the main church for evening service. After the service was over, we were dropped off at our host homes for the night. Our host house had 4 girls from Longwood, plus Mindy, so it was a full house!

Since it was so late when we got in and all of us were so tired, Pastor Jonny said he would pick us up later Monday morning, so instead of beginning at 8am, we began at 9am. We visited one primary school from 11am-2:30pm. We weren't able to take pictures in the school because of security. We also went to the Monday Night Connect youth groups at the church we were working with (Carrickfergus Elim Pentecostal) and did a few sketches for them and hung out with them. Gil, Will, and Mallory went to a local radio station to be interviewed about what we were doing there. After they got back, we all enjoyed some fish and chips (fries). I don't usually like fish, but this was pretty good. We then went back to our host homes for the night.

Tuesday, we left our host homes around 8:30 and went to two high schools. Half of our team went to the girls' school and the other half went to the boys' school. I was with the group at the boys' school. We performed the sketch, Two Masters, for each class and talked to them about choices and consequences. Freeman shared a personal story about how a choice someone else made affected him and his family. Two of our students left halfway through the day to visit a primary school with Pastor Jonny for a few hours. When the groups at the high schools were done, we drove into Belfast City to do some shopping. We went to a restaurant in the mall for dinner then to the church for the Boy's Brigade. BB is a group of 4 yr old boys, similar to Royal Rangers in the states. Mindy taught us a song on the bus to sing with them and she told the story of Jesus calming the sea. Two of our students made a boat, Freeman was Jesus, and we used 3 of the boys to be the disciples. I took a video of it and the boys were so cute. After that, we went back to our host homes for the night.

Wednesday, we left our houses around 8. On our way to the schools, we designated parts for the sketches. When we arrived at the school, we were taken to the assembly hall and the kids came in after us. We performed the sketches Walk of Life, No Touch Ninjas, Gum & Money, and "Wrap an American" with the bullying lesson and discussion questions. We were allowed to take pictures at this school. After we finished, we went to our second school of the day and performed the same sketches. We were not allowed to take pictures at this school. We were supposed to eat lunch at the school, but they forgot to fix us plates, so we got on the bus and drove to a local supermarket deli and got sandwiches, drinks, chips and KitKats (regular and orange-flavored). After we ate, we went back to the school to do the last lesson. We then went to Carrickfergus Castle to tour and take pictures. Being that close to the water, it was pretty windy. The castle is one of the oldest around and the only one in Northern Ireland that has never been breached. They have different rooms set up like they were when it was being used with plaques telling what the rooms were used for or who the people were. The castle closed around 4, so we walked to a local coffee shop to wait for Pastor Jonny to pick us up. We ordered coffee/hot chocolate and had a team meeting (or at least attempted to have one...there was a very distracting cartoon on the TV near our table). After Pastor Jonny got there, we went to the local museum. We were able to see posters from The Troubles with descriptions about what they meant and what was happening at that time. We then went back to our host homes to have dinner with them. Our host family, Darren and Suzanne, fixed spaghetti, salad and bread for us. It was really nice to sit down with them and talk. We didn't see them much because of our schedules (leaving around 8am and not getting back til around 11pm). The church we worked with had a prayer service at 7pm. It was an awesome time of worship and prayer for one another. The pastor asked our team to come up front (along with a team their church is sending to Uganda in a few months) and asked other people there to come pray for both teams and the work we would be doing.

Thursday, after we loaded up and left our host homes, we discussed the plan for the day. Five of our team members (Gil, Freeman, Kelsey, Laura, and Mallory) decided to go to a school for special needs children while the rest of us went to the primary school. We did an assembly and two lessons. The rest of our group met us and we got lunch at Subway and ate on the bus. We went to our second primary school of the day and did two lessons with them. After we finished there, we went to Giant's Causeway (http://www.northantrim.com/giantscauseway.htm). We first visited the gift shops before they closed (got a pair of earrings for Marissa and Jenn), then began the walk down to the Causeway. It's a beautiful natural wonder on the Atlantic Ocean. Neither pictures or words can begin to do it justice. We also visited Dunluce Castle on our way out. We were not able to go in because it was closed, but some were able to get good pictures (my camera battery was dying, so I didn't get very many). We went to a restaurant for dinner; I ordered the peppered chicken (chicken breast, pepper sauce, onions under and onion straws on top) and new potatoes. The chicken was so good, I didn't eat the potatoes. I sat at a table with Pastor Jonny, Gil, Mindy, Will and Mallory and we enjoyed listening to Pastor Jonny talk about his experiences he's had in ministry. We left to head back to Carrickfergus and got back fairly late.

Friday was our last day in the schools. We left our host homes around 8:40ish and went to our first school. We did an assembly and two lessons with them. We were able to go outside during recess and play basketball or jump rope with some of the students. We ate lunch at a local restaurant and went back to the school for one last assembly. We went back into Belfast City since most of us still had money to spend. I bought a cross for myself, a sun catcher for Mom, a chocolate leprechaun for my little brother and a caramel Dairy Milk bar for Dad. We decided to go to the Starbucks and hang out for a while before going to supper. We ate supper at a bistro in Carrickfergus. Most of the meals our team ordered came with either an appetizer or desert and most of us ordered the Pooh Bear ice cream. The bistro took a while to get our food to us, so we had to get our ice cream to-go. They put it in a plastic container and gave us spoons. We stood out on the sidewalk waiting for Pastor Jonny with about 5 of us crowded around this tub of ice cream eating. We went to the young adult service at Elim. We did 2 Masters and I talked to the young adults about having to decide between following the plans I had for my life after college or following the ones God had for me. Freeman talked to them about clogged pipes and had a time of prayer for individuals and the group. Later, we went to the back room of the church and talked about the week, what we learned and what God taught us during the trip. Mindy also had words of encouragement for everyone that she shared. We left the church and went to Tesco's and spent the remaining money most of us had. We then went back to our host homes for the night to pack our stuff and get ready to leave. On the way back, we gave Mindy a jar of pickles (her fav food) and a Thank You card from all of us.

Saturday, we got up early and finished packing our belongings. We said goodbye to Mindy and Suzanne and were picked up at 7:20am and went to pick up the rest of the group. On the way to the airport, we signed a Thank You card for Pastor Jonny. We got to the Belfast Airport, got checked in and said goodbye to Pastor Jonny. We went through security (one of our students and I got randomly searched) and settled in at the food court. Most of us got coffee and fruit while we waited. We headed to our gate and boarded our plane back to the US. I sat in a row with Lane and Freeman. I watched the movies "Everything's Fine" and "Old Dogs", listened to my music, took a nap, ate lunch and a snack, and had a good conversation with Lane and Freeman during the 8 hours it took to get back. We landed in Newark, NJ around 1pm East Coast time. We had to go through immigration, claim our luggage, go through customs, and recheck our luggage. We tried to find our gate only to discover our tickets were printed with the wrong gate number. We got that straight and went through security again. We must've been in the original terminal of Newark's airport...it was a circular room with a ton of people. The weather was rainy and several flights were delayed, including ours. We were supposed to leave at 5, but didn't board the plane til 8pm and didn't take off for DC til 8:30 for several reasons. After we landed in DC, we called Mark, got our luggage, and met Mark with the bus. We loaded up all of our luggage and got on the bus for the ride back to Farmville. Most of our team slept the whole way from DC to Farmville. We got back to Farmville around 1:30am and unloaded the bus. The students who lived on campus walked back from the Banton's house and Freeman gave me a ride back to my house on his way home. I put all my stuff in the corner of my room, put my pajamas on, brushed my teeth and crawled in bed. Getting in that late was a blessing because it helped all of us to adjust back to East Coast time easier (along with the time change, which made it a 4 hour difference instead of 5). I slept til around 10:30am Sunday, then spent the day unpacking, doing laundry, transferring pics to my computer, and hanging out with Marissa.

Hot Chocolate

For the past few weeks, LUXA has been handing out hot chocolate to students on their way to class. It seems like a simple gesture, but for some students, it changes how their day is going. I've lost count of the number of students that have told us "This really makes my day. Thank you so much for doing this." During class change, a line of students can usually be found waiting at our table for a cup of hot chocolate (or tea) and brief conversation. An amazing story has come from this table: Gil and I were manning the table one morning and a student stopped to ask us for directions. We asked her if she would like a cup of hot chocolate or tea and began to talk with her. We found out she was a transfer and this was her first day on Longwood's campus. We invited her to Thursday Night Worship. For the next few days, we saw her walking across campus and she would stop for hot chocolate or tea and talk with us. Thursday night rolled around and we saw this student there. That night after Gil's message, he gave an opportunity for anyone who wanted to to accept Christ. This transfer student we talked to all week accepted Christ that night. To me, it's stories like this, reaching students for Christ, that make all of this worth it. :)

A Day in the Life of a LUXA Missionary: Thursday- TNW and Twilight

Well, I just got back to my house a few minutes ago. I had the opportunity to speak at Thursday Night Worship for the first time tonight. More on that in a little while.

Continuing with my series, A Day in the Life..., today is Thursday, probably the busiest day of the week for me. Got up at 7 this morning to get ready and meet Gil for Chi Alpha's hot chocolate outreach. I plan to write a blog on this soon, explaining what we do and why. Helped prep water and load car, then drove to campus. Unloaded supplies, set up, and parked car. We stayed on campus until about noon, handing out several cups of hot chocolate to students, faculty and staff at Longwood. We also heard some awesome words from two female students. They were making their hot chocolate and they began thanking us for being out there. They said that us giving them hot chocolate really made their day and they got so excited when they saw us out there. Praise God. After we finished with the hot chocolate outreach, I came back to the house to eat lunch and get ready for Thursday Night Worship. Since I was speaking, I still had some loose ends to tie up and an outline to write before going to help load the equipment. Was late getting there (I did text Gil and let him know I would be late), so I wasn't able to type the song lyrics. Gil and I loaded his van up with all the sound equipment and other supplies we would need, then left for leadership meeting. We met with our student leaders to discuss plans they are making for a Valentines Day campus outreach, plans for the retreat next weekend, as well as other activities they are planning. The student leaders helped us unload the van and set up the sound equipment. Then we went to eat dinner together in the dinning hall (wasn't very impressive, but we did have several good conversations). After dinner, we went back to our room in the Student Union. I showed one of our student leaders how to type the song lyrics into the program we use. She typed those for us while I worked on finishing the slides for my message. Then we began setting up the tables for worship centers and getting the rest of the room ready. I went to make copies of the songs for the worship team and announcement sheets for the students. I came back to the Student Union and the worship team, student leaders, and staff prayed together before beginning. I decided that while worship team was practicing I would go look over my notes and re-read the scriptures. Around 7:45, students started arriving and the room was filled with everyone greeting one another. At 8pm, we began with one of our students announcing the upcoming events we have. Gil welcomed everyone, said a prayer, and the worship team began playing. We had an awesome time of worship, including a long prayer time. It was amazing to hear the students in the room praising God and crying out to God. Then it was my turn. I had to rearrange my message a little because there was a part I wanted a specific student to hear, but she had to leave early. I talked about the difference between flattery and affirmation. I connected it to Twilight because the main character, Bella, affirms another character, Edward (the vampire). I talked about ways to affirm one another and why we should be affirming one another as the body of Christ. I also shared a few times when someone has affirmed me and it meant a lot to me and a time when I felt I needed to be affirmed and didn't receive it. The message went well, although it was fairly short. I finished and turned it back over to Gil, who make a few additional remarks, then closed us in prayer. We packed all of the sound equipment and supplies up and loaded them in the van. I met Gil and Freeman (another LUXA staff member) at Gil's house to help unload and put the sound equipment and supplies away. We finished fairly quickly, then went to the kitchen for some chicken wings Freeman got from the abby he's working on. We discussed a little how my message went; Gil told me I need to watch my "um"s. I noticed I was saying it a lot and I've been told before that's something I need to work on when speaking to a group. I was glad I made the outline, although I would have an idea to add, then see something that would distract me and the thought would fly away. I have to say, I have a new respect for people who prepare and deliver messages/sermons every week! :)

A Day in the Life of a LUXA Missionary: Mon., Jan. 25

Mondays are usually my day off. Each missionary gets one day a week off to spend with family or in my case, work on things around the house that got neglected during the rest of the week. This particular Monday, I went to prayer meeting with some students at 7am, then came back to the house to eat breakfast and get ready for the day. I also got chili started in the crock-pot for dinner. We had worship practice that night and the members of the worship team usually eat with us. One of my roommates, Jenn, didn't have any classes and wanted to go look at dresses to wear to a friend's wedding. We left the house around 10am and dropped my car off at the mechanics to get the oil changed. We went to one of the dress shops in town and Jenn tried a few dresses out. She found some she liked, but decided to look at a few other stores before buying one. We tried Belk and she found a dress she liked, but it needed a little work to it. The dress had several strands of fake pearls attached to the neckline, as well as two strands of metal chains...they seriously needed to be removed and after she did, the dress looked so much better. One of our roommates from last year came to town to visit for a while so we met her at the Daily Grind for lunch. She's interested in moving to Farmville soon, so we went with her to look at apartments. She was worried that she wouldn't be able to find any in the middle of the semester, but luckily the lady that owns several rentals in town had 3 available to choose from. The rest of my afternoon was spent here at the house, hanging out with Jenn, sampling my (yummy) chili, and making some phone calls. One of our XA students called me and asked if I would take him to get his car from the mechanics...that was an interesting trip. Neither of us had been there before, so he called for directions. Apperantly, the lady he talked to thought we were coming from 460 and gave us directions that way. We ended up not being able to find the place and having to call again. I got home from that adventure and began getting stuff ready for dinner. Freeman and Will got to the house around 5:45 and we all sat down for dinner. Our friend that was visiting joined us with another friend, so we had a full table and plenty to eat (I love my crock-pot by the way...it makes dinner soooo much easier!!!). The worship team went to practice and I worked on my on-line classes (I usually sing w/ them, but I'm getting over a cold and I'm speaking Thurs night, so I opted not to sing this week). The night ended with a few rerun episodes of Criminal Minds and conversations with friends.

A Day in the Life of a LUXA Missionary: Tues., Jan. 12, 2010: The Students Return

I had an idea for my blog recently. I'm going to choose a random day of the week and blog about that day, what I did, students I talked to, things like that. I'm hoping these blogs will give my readers a better feel for what I'm doing in my daily life, instead of looking just at the large events LUXA is doing. So, here goes the first installment! Enjoy!!

Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2010: The Students Return

Today was the first day of classes for a new semester. I can't believe it's 2010 already!! Seems like just yesterday everyone was worrying about the world ending in 2000 (oh, wait, that worry has now been pushed back to 2012). Anyway, since classes resumed in full swing today, LUXA decided to set up our hot chocolate table and bless students. We had a few difficulties getting to campus (like the water containers, full of hot water, turning over in the back seat of my car at two different turns. Luckily I have leather seats and a towel in my car, so it was very easy to clean up) and forgetting the table. But after we got set up, we had quite a few good conversations with students. We also had an awesome conversation with the Longwood police department chief. Yeah, turns out he's also a pastor in Buckingham County and was very supportive of our ministry. Awesome!!! We decided to break down the table at 12:15ish because we ran out of cups and we were fairly cold. I dropped Gil off at his house and unloaded the water containers, then ran back over to my house for lunch and a shower.

By 1:30 I was back over at the Banton's for staff meeting. We discussed the Tuesday night mission trip meeting, leadership meeting, and Thursday Night Worship. We also put strings on the guitar I borrowed from Dad. Hopefully I'll be able to begin learning to play soon. Today was learning how to string and tune. Then it was on to WalMart to pick up ingredients for Cesar salad, to be served with the pizza at the mission meeting.

At 5:45, I began putting said salad together and the students began arriving, as well as Gil with the pizza. Most of the mission team was able to attend, except for those students that had class during that time. We chowed down on the pizza and salad and began talking about our trip. We shared the things we were excited about and the things that we are concerned about. We also spent some time in prayer, not only for our team, but for those who are financially helping us to go and the country we will be visiting and the people that we will be working with and ministering to. At the end, we took care of the financial part and talked/hung out for a while. I drove a few of the students back to their dorms/appartments, then came back home.