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.