What Are We Learning?

Campus Ministry Days
The focus of these first few days was to reflect on who we are in Christ and remember that we are God's masterpiece. ("For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.- Eph 2:10")

Many of our staff came here drained physically, emotionally, and spiritually and it was refreshing to be reminded that God is still with us. That in our brokenness, the Holy Spirit will comfort and empower us to accomplish the purposes the Lord has called us to. And that He still relishes in us regardless of our struggles.

The Condition of Our Hearts Coming Here
So where were we mentally coming into this conference? Hope and I are so grateful for men and women like you that are partnering with us in the gospel to fulfill God's purposes. We have been praising God that our monthly support has reached the point where we can be working with students on campus full time. We rejoice in how faithful He has been to us even in our unfaithfulness. But I have to tell you, these last 18 months of our lives have brought us many times to our knees. Often we found ourselves asking God, when will You meet our financial need. It was a struggle to continue to find joy in Him considering our circumstances. And you know, we learned that it is not our business to know His timing as much as it was simply trusting in Him and not in ourselves. Too often our prayers reflect an outcry for a blessing rather than the Blesser. And the time we have had out here has helped us draw near to Him.

U.S. Staff Conference
The theme of this event was focused on how we can equip people to truly be life-long laborers for Christ. It was based off of our goal as an organization: To build spiritual movements everywhere so that everyone will know someone who truly follows Jesus. Often in Cru we talk about this strategy: Win folks to the Lord, Build them up in their faith, and Send them out equipped for God's purposes for their lives. Unfortunately, many of our students graduate and get consumed with the American Dream and ultimately end up serving a god of position and power. The answer? To "send" 100% of our students into their vocations equipped means we have to "build" into them 100%. This is the challenge before us as we hit campus in a few weeks and we are eager for the Lord to use us to touch the lives of these students.

Life on the Road:

As many of you may know we are out in Fort Collins, Colorado at Colorado State University (CSU). We are out here with Campus Crusade for Ministry Days and Staff Conference. The journey out here was fun and a bit crazy at times. Here are some of the fun things we did on our way to Colorado.

We took our time driving out and enjoyed the scenery, states, and each other. The first day we drove through Illinois and Iowa and into Nebraska. We made a number of stops along the way. Our first stop was just inside Iowa at a restaurant called "The Shed" We were hoping to get some cinnamon rolls but they were out by the time we rolled in :). So we ordered a club sandwich to go, used the bathroom and bought some Dang Root beer and Butterscotch Root beer. The sandwich was well nothing to write home about but the Dang was amazing! We continued on our way after that and made a few small stops before dinner in Des Moines. We ate at an Italian restaurant called "Tumea and Sons" We ordered pesto ravioli and chicken fettuccine alfredo and shared both. We could see the courthouse from where we ate dinner and it looked so beautiful that we took a short jaunt by it to admire. (We have pictures up of all these sites and events- so check em out). After dinner we drove on toward Nebraska in hopes of staying there for the night. God painted a beautiful sunset for us to enjoy and it wasnt long before it got dark. As we approached Nebraska we decided to see a movie and then find a place to sleep for the night, which ended up being in the back of our Aztek at a rest stop- it was fun!







On day two of our travel to Colorado we awoke early and headed toward Lincoln, NE for breakfast at a diner- it was just ok. And continued the seemingly endless drive across the state. We decided that the speedlimit in Nebraska is so high because no one wants to stay very long- they want to get through it as fast as possible! Our next stop was for lunch at a little gem we came across called "Come and Get It BBQ" It was fabulous! We werent far from Wyoming at this point and so we drove on until it was dinner time and we stopped at a ChopHouse and then continued our drive now into Colorado to see our friend Johanna. Johanna is a wrangler in Clark, CO at a ranch called Vista Verde. We had a great time visiting her and enjoying the awesome scenery. It is one of the top places to stay. We camped out in our car again this night but we actually did stay at a camp site.




Day three started out with saying goodbyes to Jo and heading down Hwy 14 through the mountains and into Fort Collins. The drive was absolutely amazing!! This road follows the Poudre River through the mountains and out into the foothills. We soaked up every second of it. When we finally arrived in Fort Collins, we checked into our dorm room and then went to spend the evening with Michaels Aunt Jan, Uncle Ken, and cousin Sara. They live in Loveland, CO (ten minutes from where we are staying). We spent the day with them enjoying their boat on the lake behind their house, going to a festival in Loveland for dinner, walking through the brass sculpture park, and finishing the evening with doing some serious porch sitting and talking.


We were finally here and the following day we would begin the Ministry Days conference.