Week 2

It has been a long time since I posted. Sorry! Life is different when you have a full time job- it's kinda busy. I am getting used to it though so yay for that.

This last weekend was our student leaders retreat. That was a really good and challenging time for me. Most of the curriculum was centered on the Great Commission and laying your life down for non-believers to know Jesus. It really got to my heart and made me want to go back to the dorms and love students and push past my own fears. The retreat itself was also fun. On Friday night, they always do something crazy. Last year, some students went fountain jumping but this year it was raining and lightning. So, Jen Johnson in all her wisdom suggested that they shouldn't go play in the water during a thunderstorm. The students of course saw this as a challenge to come up with something else crazy to do. They decided to go mud sliding. They found a little hill that they could play King of the Hill on in the mud. Then they were going to go to the fountain and clean off. They almost talked me into going. Can you believe that? I didn't because of the storm.

Other than that, I met some neat women and had some fun conversations with some men in the ministry too. It was really refreshing.

Last week, I had to wrestle with a lot of homesickness and bad attitude. I had a really rough day on Wednesday but after I decided that God is sovereign, loves me and intends good for me I accepted that I am here in Manhattan purposefully and can trust God in that. It also helped me to wrestle with the idea that he works all trials in life so that I bring him glory and honor.

I also want to update you all on the girl we shared the Bridge with. It was really neat. She is open to the gospel and not churched at all. You can pray for Sarah. She would have such a neat untainted veiw of Christianity if she came to know Jesus.

That is all I have for now.

lessons

Well, this week has been one of many lessons. As though this is news to anyone, full time ministry is HARD work. There is a lot of spiritual battle going on as well as it is just exhausting. All of my job is to initiate with people. So, on Monday and Tuesday we helped students move in in the afternoon and then Tuesday night we had a party. On Wednesday we set up a survey booth from 8 a.m.- 2p.m. Now imagine with me for a second... spending six hours in the sun stopping students on their way to class and repeating "Would you like to fill out a survey for a chance to win a free bike?" It was tiring but so worth it. Here we don't have a Big Red Welcome so that is partially how we make contacts for the school year. Then Wednesday night we went in pairs to the dorms and visited to people who marked a box saying that they would be interested in discussing the topics on the survey with someone. I went with Allie Sqyres and boy is she cool. The whole goal of this outing was to share the gospel. We got to spend about an hour with two girls and I got to share my testimony. It was exciting. They didn't exactly respond in repentance but I think I may have some new friends!:)

The following night was Nav night and about 400 students came. This night was the best of them all for me. I really connected with God during the actually Nav night and was really able to just plead at God's feet for him to glorify himself. It was really neat what happenned that night. That night the third person I talked to after navs was a freshman who was having some doubts in her walk with God. She cried with me, I got to pray with her and take her to scripture. It was an amazing time of living by the spirit for me because I was SO tired that only one verse came to mind. It was Psalm 73. When we got done reading it, she said that it was exactly what she was feeling. Anyway, very cool. And in the mean time a student leader asked me if I could teach them how to share the bridge. Well, if you know me, you know I LOVE the bridge. So, I am going to go with her sometime this week and share the Bridge with a girl on her floor (who by "Coincidence" I connected with at a party earlier in the week).

This week is going to be a lot more free in my scheduling. Joel and Jen have really given us permission to start to form our own schedules. So I am taking this afternoon off and spending the evenings in the dorms. Good times.

For all you Lincolnites- I miss Lincoln and you all and I hope that you enjoyed your first day of school!

1st and 2nd Days on Campus

Yesterday (Monday) was my first day on campus. And it was HARD. I have never done ministry where I have not lived or inherently belonged. I spent the morning at Ford hall walking up to people and asking if I could help them move in. That was pretty enjoyable but in the morning there were a lot of farmhouse guys out front helping the girls move in. You see, Ford is an all girls dorm (mostly sorority girls) and when I would ask if I could help them and then a big fraternity boy would ask if I could help them: I didn't get to help girls. Thus, I didn't get to meet nearly as many people as I wanted to. Then, I had to deal with all my feelings of inadequacy about living in a strange town, being on staff and not knowing how to meet people. The dorms I am in are suite style and after the altracation in the morning I did meet a lot of people. I am really excited to develop those relationships. I met both believers and non-believers (assumably from what they told me). Tonight we have a party at the Rec center where we will play volleyball and have snacks. There will be no formal gospel sharing or anything so it is going to be a good time to form relationships. I am pretty excited. On that note, I need to go get ready for the day!

Manhattan

Hey friends,

I wanted to write and let you know that Manhattan is awesome! I love my host family. I love me house. I love my staff. I am even warming up to the small town. The only sad thing is that the reality that I live here is sitting in. And that means that I don't live in Omaha or Lincoln. That I am not around my friends and family. I am honestly getting a little lonely for a familiar face. I have plenty of friendly ones though.

I have seen my brother, Lara Pickel and my team. It has been a blast. We are dreaming about how God would use us on campus this year. I will be going after Ford hall (more than likely) and possibly Kappa Delta. I am so excited. Well, I have staff at 12 so I must be off! I will write more later.:)

Oh, I got a new cell phone number. If you want it give my old one a call. The message has it on it.

leaving in a Grand Am

Hey. I just wanted to write and let you all know that I am leaving in t minus 5 minutes for Manhattan. I will write more when I have a chance. In you want to call, it would be very encouraging to hear from you and my cell number will be good through the weekend!

2 very cool things happened today!

Like I just said, two very cool things happened today.

1) I hit 90% and got the go-ahead to go to campus on time. I will be moving to Kansas tommorrow (umm well today). Praise God with me that He has provided and more than that He is the provider.

2) I got a lot of space added to my hotmail inbox. That very much excited me. Woo hoo! Yay for hotmail.

Just so you know, my cell phone will be out of my hands as of tommorrow (well maybe this weekend if I can talk my parents into it). I will get a new address and cell phone. If you want them shoot me an email.:)

thoughts on blogging and stuff

I have been thinking about the way that people plan their blogging. People plan to take a break from posting. And often these people don't plan anything else. I wonder if it because we feel a responsibility to our digital audience. I think that is true in my life. Ponder it.:)

Ammendment: I talked to my host family today too. It was really fun. They sound cool. At first we wil have a FULL house. There will be three children other than me in the house (one is 21, the other 18 and the last 14). The 18 year old will be leaving for college the weekend after I get there and I am taking his room. They are the Watt family. They said that the one thing you probably dont get around their house is quiet that there are people in and out constantly. I like that idea to an extent. It will be nice to have people around but who knows what I will think after doing ministry for a while.

On another note, I am getting really excited. I think that I will go to campus on time. I still need to get it cleared with my funding coach but I am a little nervous. Because even if he clears it, people have to follow-through on their commitments and another 10% has to come in. So much trusting. The next thing to be praying for is trusting God to use me to impact eternity at K-State!