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!