August Recap!

 


Hi everyone!

The month of August FLEW by! It was such an amazing month of ministry, and I'm so excited to share more about it with you! Thank you so much for supporting my ministry, and for making what I do possible! I am so so grateful for each and every one of you!

SICM in Rocksprings, TX!

In my last blog, I got to tell you about SICM, which stands for Student Institute of Campus Ministry, and asked for prayer over our time together. It's a week long conference where potential student leaders are invited to learn more about how to be missionaries on our campus! It was our first time having it locally instead of in Bellingham, Washington, and I'm happy to report that it was still a huge success! For five days, we spent most of the day in sessions, learning more about how to do evangelism, how to lead small groups/1-1 bible studies, and how to have deep, spiritual friendships. It was neat getting to have conversations with students and hear about how God was teaching them so much through the talks we had, and how excited it was making them to get on to campus and invite as many students as they can into community and friendship!




Here's a photo of where we had all our sessions and meals together! It was sweet to look around and see these students who were invited from all our campuses, and know they've given up a week of their summer vacation to come learn about how to be a better disciple.




Here's another photo of the campground we had SICM at! I know Brandon Worsham, our campus director, visited many camps in Texas because he wanted to capture the same effect of being surrounded by God's beautiful creation like we are during typical years. I'd say he did a great job!




Here is one more photo from our time at SICM, where we spent time praying over each of the campuses as well as the students at that campus. It was a really sweet reminder of how we are all co-laboring with God as we're on mission together in bringing His kingdom here on earth. God is so good!



Welcome Week!


Thank you for praying for our welcome week!! Welcome week is the first week of school where we put on/ go to events to meet students and invite them into friendship and community! UTD is special in that we get to have two weeks of welcome week, and are on campus the week before school starts to welcome the freshman who are moving into the dorms on campus! I said this last time, but the first few weeks of school really is so crucial in meeting students, since that's when they're most receptive to friendship! 

There are so many sweet stories from welcome week, but here's one of my favorites that I'll share with you. One of the first students I met at welcome week was shared with us, "I moved in at 10am this morning and have been bored and trying to make friends ever since. I even went around and knocked on people's doors so I could meet them and make friends. This is the first event I've gone to where I feel like people want to be my friend back!". Like, oh! My! Goodness!! My heart!! How sweet, but also sad! So many students are in that same boat-- especially after the year we've had. It makes me think about how organizations and colleges can put on as many events as they'd like, but that doesn't mean students will be met with people who want to love them and be their friend-- aka, it doesn't mean they'll be met by people who are like Jesus! What a sweet gift that Jesus transforms our hearts and minds to look more like Him.


Friday Night Fellowship Kickoff!





Here's a photo from our first Friday Night Fellowship (FNF) of the year! Props to Sean Do, one of our alums and talented photographers, who visited and took some photos to gift us (: We had SO many students show! On a night like this, we're always frantic to make sure people are being met/talked to/connected, because we so desperately want to make sure no one falls through the cracks!





Our first core (small group) of the year!!! There's my co-fa (co-facilitator), Isabelle, whose head looks like it's sticking out of my head! Haha! She was so sweet and baked us cookies, and bought us ice cream to eat with them! 

We had a great discussion on what it means to have friendship to the full, and to choose to love the other person before we even know them. We talked a lot about how Jesus said there's no greater love than for a man to lay down their life for another (John 15:13), and what that can look like in our friendships! 

I remember this past summer thinking and praying about the girls who were going to be in my core this year, and being so overwhelmed with love for them-- and I hadn't even met them yet! As core began and the nerves started to fade away, I was slowly reminded of the promise I've made to love and serve these girls well. I am so excited to be their friend, to get to know them better, and to see what God is doing in their lives and join Him there.

Prayer Requests!


Thank you so much for reading my blog update for this month! God is so good and is in the process of doing big things this year, and I am SO excited to see what that's going to be! 

Please be praying for these students as they encounter Jesus for who He truly is, and wrestle with His invitation to lay down their lives and follow Him, so that they may experience life to the full. We have fall camp in just a couple weeks, so please be praying for people's hearts to be open to going, and for our time together there as we jump start our friendships and learn what God wants to do in our lives!

Love you all so much and hope to hear from you soon!


Love, Michelle!




Comments

Popular Posts