an exciting couple weeks

well, we're heading into the 5th week of school! and it's hard for me to believe. the past two weeks have been quite busy and quite exciting...

this past week and this week have been the first round of tests/projects/papers/presentations for students, so we are finding that students are studying a bit longer (which is a good thing!) but normally when this happens, the first thing to go is their church/ministry commitment. i definitely remember the pressure to either study for a test/write a paper or go to ruf or Bible study--for some, it's a no brainer, others struggle with it and then struggle with the guilt of not doing the other. so we try to love them and remind them that their spirituality is based only and completely on the perfect work of Jesus Christ, not on their attendance or performance.

speaking of Bible studies: we have a freshman Bible study which meets on mondays--we're going through Jesus' parables and then having discussion questions--and thankfully the freshmen are talking : )
girls upperclassmen Bible study meets on monday nights at one of the core group girls' apartment. we're studying 1 John and two of the core group girls are leading--which has been an exciting time for me to witness them struggling over the text and really seeking to apply it to their lives. during meeting times, the discussions have come along way from the first--the girls are opening up more about how this truth impacts their lives and how they struggle to believe it.
guys upperclassmen Bible study meets monday nights also at some of the core group guys' house. two of the core group guys are leading this study on Galatians. many guys are meeting together to go through God's Word and i have been encouraged to see their faithfulness to studying it.
finally, we have an upperclassmen co-ed study on tim keller's book the reason for God. last week was our first time to meet (thanks to ike and determining schedule issues) and we had a great showing. we just did an introduction to the book, but it seems that many are excited about it!

over the course of these five weeks the girls are becoming more comfortable with me and i am thankful that we are starting to get below the surface level in our conversations. i'm meeting with girls normally over lunch or coffee--or a sonic drink : )

thank you for praying for us while hurricane ike was an issue--we are grateful that the extent we saw was some wind and rain--we even had electricity the whole time!

during that weekend, some other exciting events occurred--alex proposed and i said yes, so we will be getting married this summer : ) we're both very excited and are looking forward to how God will use us together for His glory and the extension of His kingdom.

prayer requests:
- praise that the Hailey's are fully recovered from their sickness!
- praise for God's faithfulness that His Word is going out and penetrating into the hearts and lives of these students
- please pray that these students will be open to hear the Truth and to wrestle with how God's Truth determines truth, as opposed to their own judgment
- please pray that i will have meaningful conversations with girls in 1-on-1's and that i would seek to and would be faithful in pointing them towards the One, Jesus Christ, who completely fulfills and satisfies more than their needs
- please pray for me as i budget my time in studying God's Word, prayer, meeting with students, doing administrative work, and doing "wedding stuff"
- please pray that i will be reminded of the Gospel each moment of the day and that i will look to my Saviour as i am pointing others to lay all at His feet

thank you for your faithfulness and your support. i pray this finds you all resting in God's grace.