Glam and Dine

Our group of ladies, all dressed up!

Last Friday, Oct. 21, we has our second women's ministry event of the year, Glam and Dine. The idea was that us ladies would dress up, eat dinner together, and have girl talk. Our menu for the night was salad, homemade lasagna, garlic bread, and chocolate cake. Two of our students, Anna and Jenny, did most of the work decorating and cooking; Suzi and I were there to help in whatever ways needed.

The girls began arriving at 6pm and we sat down to eat at 6:45pm. I had the opportunity to sit with some girls who are new to Chi Alpha this year and get to know them better. As the night went on, we answered "get to know you" questions and talked about how the semester was going. We also chose a piece of scrapbook paper, put our name at the top, and passed it around the table. Each of the other girls wrote an anonymous encouraging note to that person. We ended the night by taking plenty of pictures.

I had a great time spending the evening with these ladies. It was fun to get all dressed up (*gasp* yes, I did just admit that :)), wear something out of my usual jeans and t-shirt, and straighten my hair. I was also very blessed and encouraged to spend time with these ladies who are on fire for God and who are so loving. God has certainly blessed our Chi Alpha group with amazing, Godly women.

Daytona Beach Retreat 2011

Sunrise at Daytona Beach, FL

Last weekend, Sept 30-Oct 2, I went with two students, Jenny and Nick, from FSU Chi Alpha to the Penn. FL Fall Retreat. While FSU XA is in the West FL district, we were invited to join Chi Alpha groups from Univ. of Florida, Florida Gulf Coast Univ., Univ. of Central Florida, Univ. of Miami, and Univ. of South Florida. It was an amazing experience to see so many college students from different campuses coming together to worship God and learn more about Him.

We arrived Friday afternoon after about 4 hours on the road. We checked in and headed out to find some dinner. We found a pizza place across the street from our hotel, grabbed a pepperoni pizza, and ate together as a team. We also walked down the beach for a little while before returning to our rooms to get ready for the first session. We began the session with worship and continued with a teaching from our guest speaker, Chris Owen, from Southeastern University (an Assemblies of God college in Florida). Chris spoke on 2 Timothy 1, focusing on verse 7. When he was done teaching, he encouraged students to spend time in prayer releasing their fears to God and I had the opportunity to pray with both students from FSU. We ended with a prayer and headed to the pool for chili and fellowship. Jenny and I found some lounge chairs near the beach and talked for a while before joining a group on the beach for an impromptu worship session. Near midnight, we headed up to our room and turned in for the night.

Saturday, Jenny and I got up and headed out to the beach at 6:45am to watch the sunrise over the beach. We grabbed a blanket from my car and sat for a little while waiting for the sun. When it began to rise, we walked closer to the water, took pictures, and watched the sun as it seemed to appear from no where. We ran to the lobby, grabbed breakfast (and coffee of course) and took it to our room. After getting ready, we headed to the conference room, met Nick, and began the session with worship. Chris spoke again, this time on the different ways Jesus prayed and modeled prayer for us: for others, with others, alone, and in nature. We broke up for a small group exercise where we read the Lord's prayer, prayed, and talked about what stood out to us. We ate lunch, took group pictures, and watched as a group of students were baptized in the ocean. We had the rest of the afternoon free, so I returned to my room and decided to take a nap (that lasted about 2 1/2 hours) and caught up on what was going on in the world (aka Facebook). We met as a group and went to dinner at Cracker Barrel; I asked Nick and Jenny what they thought about the retreat so far and shared some experiences that I have had going to retreats during my time in Chi Alpha. We made it back to the hotel just in time to catch the beginning of the evening service with Chris Owen. After Chris was done speaking, we had a time of prayer and seeking after God. It was amazing for me to see this group of university students seek after God during this time. Afterwards, the Univ. Florida vs. Alabama football game was shown. Jenny and I watched part of it, went outside for a little while, and came back in for the talent show. Most of the universities had groups go up and present a talent. It was a great way to end the night.

Sunday morning, we met at my car and loaded our stuff before going in the conference room for our last session. Chris gave us four points from the weekend he wanted us to remember. He then had each university to stand up and we prayed for them and their campus. We closed out in prayer, checked out of our room, jumped in the car, stopped briefly at Starbucks for caffeine, and hit the road. We stopped at Sonny's for lunch and had more good discussion about topics from the retreat. We returned to Tallahassee around 4pm Sunday afternoon. I dropped Nick and Jenny off at the church and headed to my house. After unpacking and putting everything away, I crashed on the couch for the remainder of the night.

Although I was tired when I got home, I was glad I had the opportunity to go on this retreat with these students. I had a great time getting to know them better and pour in to and encourage them on a spiritual level.

Small Group Begins!

Small Group girls at Grassroots Coffeehouse in Thomasville, GA

Our small group Bible studies started three weeks ago. I was asked to lead a women's small group this year, so about a week before we kicked off, I began thinking of different topics I could address. Different ideas came and went, but the one that stayed was the reliability of God's character. Studying this topic is not something I have been challenged to do before, so I knew I would be learning right along with the girls I would be leading.

The first night, we ate cookies and ice cream and got to know one another through ice breaker games. The second night, we discussed what it means to be reliable, why it's important for us as Christians to be reliable, why it's important for us to know that God's character is reliable, etc. We had good group discussion, shared prayer requests, enjoyed warm, gooey, brownies and spent some time just hanging out.

Tonight, we're taking a little trip to get out of Tallahassee for a few hours. We're driving up to Thomasville, GA to a little coffee shop called Grassroots. Thomasville has become a favorite place of mine because the little town reminds me so much of Farmville (where I went to college) and Grassroots has the best coffee there. We'll also begin our first lesson, looking at the story of Noah and the flood and how God proved his reliability throughout the story. While I was planning, reading, and researching for this lesson, I realized there is so much more to the account of Noah than the simpler version I learned as a child. God's reliability shines throughout this story and I'm excited to share this lesson with my small group tonight. I'm also excited to hear their reactions and feedback.

Some of these girls were in my small group last year and some of them are new to Chi Alpha this year. For me, it's great to see them bonding together to form one cohesive group who care about one another on a level deeper than the surface. My
prayer for this group is, not only will they learn and grow in their walk with Christ, but that they also will form a tight-knit community and friendships that will last well beyond their college years.

First Chi Alpha Live of the Fall 2011 Semester!

Last night was our first Chi Alpha Live gathering of the semester! We spent a lot of time praying and preparing for this meeting since we typically have a good number of new students attending.

We also launched our small group Bible studies; we have groups available for both guys and girls on Monday and Tuesday nights. I was asked to plan how to present the groups during our first meeting. I wanted to find a different way to introduce our group leaders; the only way I saw as a student and on staff was to invite all of the leaders to the front and each group introduces themselves and tells a little about their group. I wanted something different, something new and that would allow our students to have a conversation with the leaders. I saw another campus pastor at UNC Chapel Hill advertise a "small group fair" for her Chi Alpha on Facebook. The wheels started turning in my mind and I talked with the other staff members. We decided we would try the fair approach and see how it worked.

Thursday, we set up the chairs in the sanctuary and left the back half open. We put out small tables, one for each small group with Monday groups on one side and Tuesday groups on the other. We encouraged our leaders to stand beside or in front of their table and talk with students, to tell them what their group was going to be studying, when they would be meeting and where. As students began to arrive, we explained what the tables were for and encouraged them to visit the groups and talk with the leaders. I was very pleased with our students, how they stepped out and began conversations with new and returning students and talking with them. I also was pleased with the results of the fair; we had several students sign up for each group, with the plan to continue the fair approach for the next few weeks.

Since one of our core values in Chi Alpha is discipleship, we believe it is very important for our students to get plugged in to a small group. These groups allow the students to interact in a more personal level than our large group meeting (Chi Alpha Live) allows. I have heard many testimonies and know from my own experiences that small groups are where the closest friendships are formed in college, friendships that will last for many years beyond graduation. I am very excited to see how God is going to use our small groups this year and what He is going to do through them.

Back in Tallahassee!

I arrived back in Tallahassee at the end of July after about 12 1/2 hours on the road. The drive wasn't bad and traffic moved pretty smoothly (nothing like coming back after Christmas last year and traffic was at a stand-still on I-26, resulting in a 15 hour trip). I spent two weeks getting unpacked, situated, cleaning, etc. I wanted to make sure I had enough time to settle in before beginning work. On August 8, all of us on staff with Chi Alpha met at the office to begin our first official day of the fall semester. We had spent the summer working to connect and share Chi Alpha with people over the summer, but we were finally back in town and ready to get to work. Since then, we have been busy planning events for when the international students arrive, the freshmen move in and have orientation, and when the continuing students return to Tallahassee. We have a lot of events lined up and are in the process of tweaking and fine-tuning them.

I'm excited for the students to return and for the fall semester to begin. Please be in prayer for us, that we may reach the students at FSU, FAMU, and TCC for Christ.

Managua, Nicaragua- May 2011

Last month (May 2011), I was able to travel to Managua, Nicaragua with a team from Florida State Chi Alpha. Saturday, May 7, we drove to Orlando (about 4 hours from Tallahassee) and flew from there to Miami, had a brief layover, and continued to Nicaragua. We landed in the capital, Managua, around 7pm (2 hours behind EST). After going through immigration and customs, we met Nadia, the Chi Alpha Nicaragua missionary and one of her students. They led us to the bus and we began our drive through the city. After months of anticipating and preparing for this trip, it was almost surreal to finally be there and riding through the city. We arrived at Nadia's sister, Carla's house, where we were staying for the week. The house was beautiful and dinner was waiting on the table for us. After traveling all day, we were hungry and tired, so we ate dinner, got set up in our rooms, and fell asleep to the sound of fans.

Sunday morning, we woke up and started to get ready for church. Unfortunately, there wasn't any running water, so we packed our things and went to the Chi Alpha house. We went to the International Church, a church of English-speaking people (mostly from America, Europe, and Australia) who are serving in Nicaragua, through missions or business. The families that attend the church have embraced the Nicaraguan culture and many families have adopted Nicaraguan children. It was a great experience to worship with them. After the service was over, we drove back to the Chi Alpha house and met some of the students. We loaded up bags of juice, cookies, puppets, etc. and drove to a village church about 30 minutes outside of Managua. The pastor asked our team leader, Andrew, to share. He shared the story of Jesus and the children (Matthew 19, Luke 18) and asked if there were any members who would like to accept Christ as their Savior. Three young boys raised their hands and went up front with Andrew. He and Nadia prayed with them to receive Christ. It was a tear-jerker moment for our team, watching these three young boys (7, 8, and 9, years old) become followers of Christ at a young age. The XA Nicaragua students performed a puppet show for the children and gave out the juice, cookies, and candy. We boarded the bus and headed back to Managua. After dropping the XA Nicaragua students off, our team went back to the house for to eat lunch and rest for a little while. We headed to an evening service at a local Assembly of God church. This service was the largest of the ones we attended. During the service, the church welcomed about 30 newly baptized members and the pastor explained to us they were now having 4 Sunday services because their church was growing so rapidly and one service would not be able to accommodate everyone. We also celebrated communion with them. It was so amazing to see how God is moving through this church and how diligent its members are to reach out to the community around them. After the service, we drove out to the airport to meet our campus pastor, Mario's flight. We loaded his luggage on the bus and went back to the house for dinner, talked for a little while, and went to bed to prepare for another busy day.

Monday, we enjoyed a team devotion; Nadia shared with our team from Isaiah 43:18 about not relying on the past. We ate a breakfast of eggs, pancakes, bacon, and fresh pineapple outside before beginning our busy day. We arrived at the Chi Alpha house, filled our water bottles, and met the students. We split our team into groups of two and paired off with a Chi Alpha Nicaragua student. The student I was paired with, Eliseo, took Rachel C. and I on a tour of his university, showing us where he goes to class. He then took us on the public bus to his best friend's house. We visited with them before getting on another bus to Eliseo's house. We met his grandmother and she served us fresh mango (which was very yummy!). We left Eliseo's house, caught a taxi and left to meet the rest of the team. Our team had the opportunity to go to one of the university campuses and talk with students about Christ. After splitting our team into groups, with one XA Nicaragua student in each group, we walked around the campus talking with and praying for students. After leaving that campus, we traveled to another university campus, one where Nadia is hoping to start an XA group soon. We again split into groups and walked around the campus praying for God's presence to fill the campus and for a boldness for the students who have a relationship with God to share their faith with their peers. We left the campus, dropped the XA Nicaragua students off, and headed back to the house for a yummy dinner of steak with onions and peppers, rice, and plantains. We relaxed on the back patio and had some interesting conversations before heading to bed.

Tuesday morning, we met again for team devotions and breakfast. Since our bus was running a little late, Nadia took us on a walk around the neighborhood. The view from the end of the street was beautiful; we could see the volcanoes in the distance. We drove to the agricultural university and were able to visit with the Dean of Students. She shared with us about the students and took us on a tour of the campus. We got on the bus and drove to the veterinary campus of the agricultural university; we walked around looking at the classrooms and talking with students. The team went back to the house for lunch and to rest before visiting two campuses to evangelize and pray for the campus and students. We went back to the house a little early and ate dinner and hung out before going to bed.

Wednesday, we spent the day cleaning and painting the Chi Alpha Nicaragua house. We started by raking the front and back yards and prepping the house for paint. There were mango trees in the backyard and since the season was on its way out, the mangoes were nice and overripe. After we finished outside, we began cleaning paint spots off the floor of the front room. We got well-acquainted with the turpentine and rags as we cleaned and scraped the paint off the floor. We took a break for lunch and had pizza from one of the best places in Managua. After lunch, we began the painting job, painting the front and side of the house. The colors Nadia chose were a dark purple and a lime green for the trim; they looked great together and were very eye-catching. Andrew divided our team and got us started painting. We got the front done and half the side before stopping to get ready for an evening church service. We attended the church where Nadia's father pastors and Mario had the opportunity to preach. As with all of the churches we visited, the congregation was very welcoming of our team. After the service, we went back to the house, ate dinner, and went to bed.

Thursday, we visited Lake Managua. Since Mario was leaving the next day to fly back to Orlando, we took our team fun day earlier so that he could go with us. After eating breakfast, we got on the bus, picked up some of the XA Nicaragua students and headed out for the lake. We stopped on the way there to take pictures of a lagoon that was formed by a volcano. There are a lot of volcanoes in Nicaragua and many of the lakes and lagoons there were formed by the volcanoes. We had a beautiful view of the lagoon and surrounding area. We left and continued our trip to the lake, enjoying the scenery. When we arrived at the lake, we got on a boat and went on a 2 and 1/2 hour tour of the lake. Because of the volcano, there are many islands that were formed by explosions. The islands varied in size and many of them had houses built on them. There was an island with monkeys and our boat stopped to watch them. Two other boats came up and they were feeding the monkeys, so we were able to watch them try to get the food without getting wet (I didn't know monkeys don't like to get wet). We came to the conclusion the monkeys had to have been placed on the island intentionally. Our tour guide/boat driver plugged his iPod into speakers on the boat and turned on some dance music for us to enjoy as we rode around the lake. On our way back, we stopped at a restaurant and Mario bought us Cokes to drink. There was a platform you could jump off of and swim in the lake, so after working up enough courage, I jumped in the lake and swam a bit. We got back on the boat and went back to where we got on. On our way back to Managua, we stopped in the city of Granada, one of the oldest Spanish settlements in the Western Hemisphere. We stopped the bus in a few different areas for picture opportunities. The buildings in the city reflect the old Spanish style and are very beautiful. We were able to go in a few churches and take pictures. We stopped for a team lunch and ate grilled chicken or steak and tried some local appetizer dishes. The food was delicious and it was nice to relax as a team. We went back to the XA house and got ready for the Chi Alpha meeting that night with about 20 students. I had the opportunity to teach on time management (thanks to Erin W. for her notes :)) and Andrew and Mario both shared briefly with the students. After the meeting was over, we went back to the house and ate dinner before hanging out and going to bed.

Friday, we finished painting and trimming as much of the XA house as we could before running out of paint. We got cleaned up and divided the team into two groups to visit the local orphanages. The orphanage my group visited had children ranging in age from about 10 months to 6 years. We brought toys, bubbles, and chalk with us, so we opened the bubbles and chalk and began playing with the kids. The employees there were setting up for a birthday party for two of the children and we watched as the kids tried to open a Barney pinata. The employees had two cakes with candles and we sang happy birthday to the children. They cut the cake and gave each child a piece. After the children were finished with the cake, we gave out the toys and coloring books we brought with us and spent some more time playing with them. While we were there, it began raining, so when it was time to leave, we had to make a dash through the rain to the truck. We went back to the house and ate dinner before deciding to go to the mall and eat ice cream with Paul, a friend of Nadia's we met on Sunday. He wanted to spend some time with our team before we left Nicaragua. After we left the mall, Nadia took us on a tour of the city and to Lake Managua before we returned to the house for the night.

Saturday, we went to the market in the morning. We split up into groups of three, with one Nicaragua student in each group. They were a huge help, helping us find what we wanted to purchase and negotiating with the vendors on the price. I purchased a cross, Nicaraguan flag, and some paintings. We returned to the house for lunch and to begin packing, before going to the agricultural university. We met their XA guys and talked with them for a little while, sharing testimonies with them and praying for their families and campus. The bus picked us up and the guys from the agricultural university rode back to the XA house with us for a movie night. We watched the movie, Tron, in Spanish with English subtitles. After the movie, Nadia and the students thanked us for coming and prayed for our team. We took the guys back to the agricultural university and went back to the house. We ate dinner and talked with Nadia; she thanked us for coming and our team encouraged and prayed for her and Chi Alpha Nicaragua, and the city of Managua.

Sunday, we woke up at 4:30am to a thunderstorm; we got up and finished our packing. We found out that our flight out of Managua was delayed because of the storm, but decided to go ahead to the airport and check in. We loaded all of our luggage on the bus and began our ride to the airport. We made it about 10 minutes away from the house when the driver realized the bus had a flat tire. He called his boss and asked for another bus. We waited for about 10 minutes before the second bus came, switched our luggage, and got on the bus to continue our trip to the airport. We made it to the airport in plenty of time, got checked in, went through security, found our gate, and got some breakfast. Our flight to Miami boarded and we got settled in. Because of the delay in Managua, we weren't sure if we would make it through immigration and customs before our flight to Orland departed, so when we landed in Miami, we rushed through the airport. We were blessed to find short lines at immigration and were able to make it to our gate in plenty of time. We grabbed some food and waited for our flight to board. The flight to Orlando was short and we met up with Mario in the airport. We rented the van, loaded our stuff, and began the trip back to Tallahassee. We arrived around 10pm and began dropping people off at their houses.

It was such a blessing to be able to travel with this team to Managua, Nicaragua and see what God is doing there. He is at work in the city and through the college students. I was blessed and encouraged to see the passion they have for God and for reaching out and sharing Him with others around them.

If you would like to see pictures and a video from my trip, here are the links:

• Album One
• Album Two
• Album Three
• Video from Lake Nicaragua
  

What's Up Next?

Since December, I have been asked the question "What are you going to do after the end of the internship?" This is a question that I have actually been asking myself for a while now, since before the internship actually began. Before I moved to Tallahassee, I was offered two different options after the internship to pray over. My campus pastors at Longwood knew that God was calling them to re-locate and begin a new Chi Alpha on the campus of the University of Connecticut. They suggested two options for me to pray over: I could either take over as the campus director for XA at Longwood or I could go with them to Connecticut and help them pioneer.

I decided prior to moving to Tallahassee that I was going to focus only on the internship for the first few months and not worry about what to do after. It was a difficult decision because I wanted to know what the next step was going to be. At first, I thought going back to Longwood was the direction I was supposed to work towards. I began talking with my internship director and staff, asking for their advice and prayers, but the more I prayed and talked with them about going back to Longwood, I felt that, for many different reasons, it wasn't the direction I was supposed to move in. I felt that I wasn't prepared to take over and be the director of Longwood XA right out of my internship by myself.

I talked with Gil, Lindsay, Mario, and Rhia a lot during the weeks when I was unsure of what to do next. All of them were very supportive of whatever I decided, prayed with me, and left the decision up to me. I knew that God had given me two different options, neither of which were harmful to me, but one would be more beneficial than the other. After a lot of prayer, I decided to go with Gil and Lindsay to UConn. I called Gil to talk with him about my decision. He told me they were happy to have me on board, but wouldn't be ready for me in August. There wouldn't be enough work for me to do because they would be raising support, getting their family established, and getting connected with people on UConn's campus. I talked with Mario next and asked if it was possible for me to stay at FSU for another year. He said yes, they would be happy to have me here for another year.

So, to answer the question, I will be here at Florida State University for another year! I'm very happy and excited for the opportunity to learn more from the staff here and to continue working with the students here. As of right now, the plan is to move to Connecticut next fall (2012) and work with Gil and Lindsay to pioneer and build a Chi Alpha there. As always, I'm leaving the door open for God to change my plans :)