Farewell to Summertime

First, a few highlights from this summer:


A week at Panama City Beach for RUF's Summer Conference with some sweet students; we had lots of good teaching, worship together, and relationship building. I'm excited to see where some of these relationships go this Fall!

A lovely trip to St. Louis with some of my favorite people to watch a beautiful friend become a beaming Mrs. H... Tears were supressed so I could play viola, but it was one of the most beautiful weddings I've been to with both the bride and the groom glowing. Everything about it just felt right.

Then, I spent a week chaperoning a youth trip to Camp Ridge Haven with my church's youth group. I had time to get to know 4 sweet girls, and also see sister #5 who was working there all summer and having a blast! This is me with our youngest girl - quite a cutie!


The end of July was busy, including fundrasing trips to Athens, GA and Birmingham, AL, with RUF training in Atlanta squeezed in the middle. Lots of neat lessons & encouragement I could mention. No pictures.


But Birmingham also meant a wedding shower for another dear friend with more favorite people. (okay, maybe another more conventional term would be best friends!) :-)





And last, but not least, a lovely week of vacationing in Canada with family. Canoeing, reading, giggling, resting... good descriptors for an awesome trip!


And now, this weekend, in fact, the craziness of the Fall semester at Davidson starts back up. After a relaxing summer, I must admit I'm slightly anxious about how it will look. But then, I've gotten to hang out with a few students already this week as they start to trickle back in for pre-school activities, and suddenly I'm reminded why I'm here and why I'm so excited for the crazyness of the fall. I love these students, and I'm excited to see where a new semester takes us!

Please pray for us as we kick off Large Group and Bible Studies this semester, and as we seek to serve these students and reach out to the new freshmen!!

Until next time!!

Thoughts...

It has been entirely too long. I know that. You know that. I apologise. At some point we can talk about what went on during the past seven months, but for now, let's move on :-)

From time to time this summer, I've headed over to the Davidson Student Union, which, during the school year, is where I spend most of my time - meeting with students, hanging out, reading, making myself available... The Student Union is a buzz of activity, the place where students come through between classes to grab a bite to eat, or where they come to pretend to study, in the hopes of meeting up with friends and having the excuse to procrastinate, or where they sit for a few minutes to watch the most current sporting events, or where they anxiously hover around the mailboxes, looking for the next good package from home. Since Davidson doesn't offer summer classes though, it's a totally different place in the summer, devoid of almost all life, except for a small lunch crowd of student researchers.

That's why the excited buzz in the Union this morning struck me as odd. Students. Young students. Clustered together. Talking excitedly. Sleeping bags and over-stuffed back-packs in hand. Learning names. Looking nervous. Catching glances of their excited but perhaps over-protective parents hovering in the background. It's time for Odyssey, a week of extreme backpacking and/or service adventures for the incoming freshmen - an opportunity to make friends and get excited about the four years of Davidson experience coming up, before the work sets in.

Who are these people? What has made them decide that Davidson College is the place where they want to spend their next four years? What are they feeling right now? What are they afraid of? What are they looking forward to? What are they wanting to learn and accomplish in college? These are the questions racing through my mind as I watch them.

These are the people I get to meet this fall! These are the students whose lives I might get to learn about, and with whom I will be able to build relationships. I'm excited. So many opportunities. So many different stories. It's such a privilege to be able to get to know them, even as I've gotten to know so many students this past year, to have the chance to see where God is at work in their lives, and to be able to listen to them, and to be able to share the beautiful Gospel message with them. Like them, I'm excited. I'm scared. And I think this is where I'm supposed to be.

Please continue praying for me this summer as I'm prepping for this fall - planning Bible studies, brainstorming about different outreach opportunities, thinking through and praying for relationships that I've already built this year.

And please continue to pray for my finances. God is gracious in providing for me here, but over this summer, I'm still trying to raise about $10,000. I'd love to meet with you, talk with you in person, and share more about this ministry with you. And please pray about continuing your support, or supporting me for the first time! At the risk of being a broken record, I'm constantly reminded that I'm not alone here - that I can't be here without your prayers and support!

Sincerely,

Anna

"to taste our sadness"

Today is Christmas Eve Eve, better known in our house as Christmas Adam. Over the past few days, ALL of us girls (plus some brother-in-laws) who no longer live at home have gradually trickled in for Christmas. It's nice having everyone home, and it's nice being away for a while and having the chance to chill. Don't get me wrong - I've had plenty to do. I'm working on Bible Study planning for next semester, and trying to discipline myself to get some of my reading for December finished, instead of only hanging out around the house. I complain, but I really do enjoy it. Really.

And in the midst of my Christmas excitement, I'm hearing from some of my students who are really struggling to be at home for the holidays. The email I just read in response to my "how's it going/merry christmas" message nearly broke my heart. And there are others, too. So many girls from disfunctional and broken families, where Christmas, more than anything, is painful. Some girls have asked for my advice on how to handle their situations. It's weird, sitting here in Starbucks, trying to lesson plan, and feeling so helpless, and like I'm going to burst into tears any second. Really. I know. So I'm asking you to take an extra moment out of your holidays and join me in prayer for these sweet students.

Probably my favorite hymn ever is "Come, thou long expected Jesus", and I'm really sad that people hardly ever sing the middle two verses. Here is the third:

Come to earth to taste our sadness,
He whose glories knew no end.
By His life He brings us gladness,
Our Redeemer, Shepherd, Friend.
Leaving riches without number,
Born within a cattle stall,
This the everlasting wonder,
Christ was born the Lord of all.

Of course, that's the Christmas story. That Christ entered our broken and sad world to experience our pain and sadness, and to suffer for us. But that's not the end of the story either. He's coming back to finish the work of redemption, to finish making everything right and wipe away every tear.

Ministry....defined?

So it's probably time for a new post. Just maybe. :-)

What does ministry look like at Davidson? What really is my job? Yes, I'm here to carry out RUF's goals "To reach students for Christ" and "to equip them to serve." Okay, okay, you've probably heard me say that before. What does that really look like? Here are some glimpses of where my job has taken me thus far. Somehow, I'm beginning to see that they really are all part of that nebulous term, "ministry."

Thinking about Christ's work here on earth, especially during this season of Advent, we remember that Christ incarnated himself: that is, he became one of us so that he could eat with us, talk with us, walk with us, ect... so that he could relate with us and bring us salvation.

So with that in mind, just maybe, one part of ministry looks like...:

-getting invited by freshmen girls to see the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, complete in costumes


or maybe

-sitting in the Student Union for hours on end during exams so that students can show up and sit down and take a welcomed study break

-tutoring students in Spanish and German

-spending a night sitting in the ER with a student, talking and hanging out while we waited to figure out what was wrong

-getting together with students to watch Davidson's annual Christmas Parade and shivering through the snow with them:


Maybe "ministry" looks like this, like entering into their world to develope relationships so that they can see that RUF, that us interns, that the Church, ultimately, that Christ, is a safe place where they can come and bring all their burdens and struggles, their questions and doubts, and be encouraged and transformed by Christ.

Yes, God is most certainly at work on this campus. Some of my students are beginning to really open up and ask good questions. Some of them have showed me how seriously they are hurting. Others have been willing to discuss just what keeps them from believing the Gospel, and are looking for answers. Some of them are beginning to invite friends, Christian and non, that I haven't yet had the opportunity to meet, to events, because they know RUF is a safe place. And for some reason, God has me sitting in the midst of all of this, which is an incredible place to be. Please keep praying that He would give me (and all of us working here at Davidson!) the wisdom I need, and the love for the students to be able to love them and point them to Christ.

Gideon - the Mighty Man of Valor!

It has been way too long. I know. I apologize. I'm not a blogger, nor a journaler. In fact, I'm not much of a fan of writing about my life. But that doesn't really excuse me. The fact is, I want to give you the opportunity to keep up with what is going on...So without further ado:

Today is November 12th, which means two weeks from yesterday is Thanskgiving. Really. This also means I've been living in Davidson for almost exactly three months, which is crazy. At what point does life in a new place move from new and exciting to the hum-drum of every day existance? As much as I love Davidson, I must confess that I've hit a slump, and that's a little hard to deal with. I'd rather tell you that things are easy, ministry is great, and life has never been better. But the truth of the matter is, (as many of you, I'm sure, have experienced), leaving college friends and taking up life in a completely new place has it's ups and downs. And the successfulness of ministry is a really difficult thing to measure. You can't just put in time and crank out changed lives. Sadly, (or not so sadly, if you realize we can't be works-based), God doesn't work that way.

So I've found myself feeling a bit like Puddleglum from Narnia these past few weeks. (If you don't know who Puddleglum is, I'd advise you to read The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis - much better than me explaining him to you.) Lonliness is real, and I keep wondering why God wants me here. And I forget to look and see how he is actually working.

Yesterday in freshmen Bible Study, we talked about God using Gideon - not exactly the most heroic or brave of men - to rescue Israel from their seven years of oppression from the Midianites. Okay, and I mean, Gideon really didn't want God to use him. He was comfortable hiding out in a barn, basically, and watching his little supply of food so that his family didn't starve. It wasn't a glorious position, but he'd rather that than have God use him. And when God's angel came, addressing him as a "mighty man of valor" and telling Gideon God's plans to use him to rescue Israel, Gideon resisted and resisted and put up a real fuss. He'd have to leave the comfort of his puny little barn, after all! And he tested God, over...and over...and over again. And yet, God was patient, and still used Gideon. Not that He needed him. But He wanted to use Gideon, and he wanted to teach Gideon.

And I'm reminded how much I'm like Gideon. I'd rather be sitting back in a hovel, away from ministry and with the comforts of a few friends. I don't want to lean into the strength that God has entrusted me with here. And I don't want to look at see how God is working, because then I'll have to believe that God does indeed want to use me, "the weakest among my clan".

So, it's been hard. But friends, when you ask me to stop and look at what God is accomplishing here, I really am amazed. I'd love to tell you about some of this, but I'll have to save that for next time. I need to make a mad dash out of the library to meet one of my incredibly sweet freshmen girls for a lunch date.

Thank God that he is at work here, and pray that he will make me willing to lean into his strength and see that!

Otono/Herbst/Autumn

My favorite season has arrived. Or is arriving, at least.Yesterday I even wanted a light fleece in the morning. It's my no-campus day, and I'm enjoying doing laundry while it drips rain outside, and anticipating a nice cup of tea once I get back to my apartment. And I might light the spicy autumn candle on my kitchen table tonight. If you haven't already figured out that I'm obsessed with Fall (based on my blog background, or just talking with me), consider yourself informed.

This weekend Davidson met up with several other schools from North and South Carolina for an RUF Fall Conference at Camp Greystone, just south of Asheville. I think there were about 30 of us from Davidson who went, and it was awesome just to have that time to hang out with students in a non-school setting. Our speaker for the weekend, Rob Edwards, was incredible as well, not only for the family/Athens connection we share, but in the way he clearly presented Sanctification over the course of four sermons, all from the gospel of Luke. Based on our small group discussions afterwards, I think most of us were encouraged and challenged by his talks.

Saturday afternoon was our bit of free time, so I got to spend this time NOT studying (it's still so strange not being a student anymore). Besides canoing with some girls, I also learned to play a few new games - some of them more successfully than others :-). Bananagrams is quite fun - we played this for a while in the Dining Hall while it rained. And Flickerball...haha. This is actually a Davidson sport, played mainly between the Freshmen halls, and then at random between upperclassmen. It's sort of a cross between touch football and ultimate frisbee, so if you can imagine me attempting that... :-). But it was fun at least running around the field with everyone, and my students were awesome in encouraging me the couple of times I actually caught the ball (even if I wasn't so sure what to do with it then).

Mainly, this weekend was awesome for having the chance to participate in a lot of hopefully relational-building activities, and to have some common ground to relate to some of the newer students on.

On a side note, all of us female interns got to stay in a cabin together, which meant we talked way-late after lights out both nights, and I am now so excited to see all my fellow inters again at training next month!

So, it's cool and rainy for the first time since I've been in Davidson, and I love it. Planning to make some Ginger cookies and play apples-to-apples with students this weekend. Hopefully they'll appreciate my obsession with this season :)

Humility and Rejoicing

So yesterday I did something I've never done before. I gave away my Bible. (okay, one of them. Now I don't feel so bad for having several :-) ). I'm envious of those of you who have had this experience many times before. I felt so inadequate, like handing over my Bible was the only thing I could do.

See, I was meeting with a girl at a coffee shop. It was the first time we'd gotten to hang out one-on-one, and so I just barely knew her, and didn't really know which direction the conversation was going to take. I quickly came to find out that this girl is a brand new Christian, which is so incredibly awesome! However, she knows almost nothing about the Bible. So she and a friend were talking about how they wanted to start reading the Bible to learn more about their new faith, but they're overwhelmed and don't know where to begin. Also, her Bible is a little hard to dive into because, yea, verily, it is an Olde King James version. (Yeah, that's hard for me to read too!) I'm fearful writing this, because I'm scared to let you know how sheltered I have been. At this point in our conversation, I felt so lost. I've had some experience talking about the Gospel with people who are familiar with the Old and New Testaments, whether or not they take them as truth. But I feel convicted that my speech is so in tune to "Christian lingo" that I seriously fail in explaining the Bible to someone who really knows nothing about it. I pulled my ESV out of my bag and opened it to John. People always say that John is a good book to start with, and so I showed her where to find it, but I'm afraid I failed in properly explaining it. I also showed her the Psalms, and started to say they were written mainly by David, and then stopped, because I realized that she had no clue who David was. So I had to blunder through giving a very vague picture of the Psalms without using any pre-supposed Christian terminology.

I walked away from our coffee date amazed at the opportunity of seeing Christ at work in this girl's life, and convicted of my own inadequacy. I realized that I really don't know how to talk about the Bible apart from Christian platitudes.

Please pray for me, that I would begin to learn how to see the Gospel through the eyes of a new believer, and that God would grant me the grace and wisdom to humbly learn.
And please pray and praise God for this girl who angels are rejoicing over! Pray that God's word would be living and active in her life, even as He promises it is. And pray that she would take great joy in the opportunity to learn about the immeasurable riches of her Savior!