CSU 2011!

CSU 2011, the huge staff conference began this past Tuesday, bringing over 5,000 Cru staff to Ft. Collins. Our class sizes have more than doubled in number of children and I have had a blast this week with the jump from 8 to 19 kids. They are a ton of fun and really impressed me. Kid’s Camp has been raising money this week to buy a piece of land in Burkina Faso, Africa. Eventually a large medical clinic is going to be built on this piece of land to help the many adults and children who have no place to go for medical attention. The kids in my class were very moved by the discussion of Burkina Faso and what we could do for them. They decided to plan a bake sale, which I thought would be very difficult since almost all of their families are staying in hotels, but the parents were able to bring in some store bought goods that sold just as well! The kids ended up raising $80 toward buying the land and they were so excited! All together, Kid’s Camp has raised over $1,000 this week and we sent a few older girls to a conference session to take an offering and we have now raised over $45,000 dollars! The land costs about $52,000 so we have raised a very large portion and are hoping to bring in some more donations this week! It has been so cool to watch God work in the children’s lives and give them such an excitement for reaching other people at such a young age!

As a project, we have been able to participate in some of the evening sessions of the conference. I was able to attend a 10^th Avenue North Concert (one of my favorite bands!) on Wednesday and last night I was able to attend Cru’s 60^th anniversary celebration and listen to Steve Douglas (President of Cru) speak on using the circumstances we have been given to share the love of Christ. During the celebration, the emcee interviewed Vonette Bright, wife of founder Bill Bright and Nancy Moore, the first person to come to Christ through the ministry of Campus Crusade For Christ. It was such an honor to see how God has been moving in the ministry from the very beginning. They also touched on many other highlights of the ministry in the past 60 years. It was amazing to see how the ministry has evolved and how many people have been reached with the Gospel over the years. It has given me a much stronger appreciation for all aspects of Cru’s ministry and how much love all of the staff have for the Gospel. Following all of this, I went to a Tim Hawkins concert and he was hilarious! We have also been here for the big name change! Campus Crusade for Christ will now be known as Cru Global! The sole purpose of the name change is to be more effective in reaching people for Christ. It has been exciting to be around during this big change and has been awesome to see how the change is being handled by all of the Cru staff.

We now have one week left of project. I have experienced so much of God’s love being here amidst all of the Cru staff this past week and I am really looking forward to my last week in Colorado and what God may surprise us with!

Thank you for all of your support, I have been blessed beyond words!

Time is Flying!

I have been meaning to update for a while, but our schedule has gotten more busy as the weeks go by. A lot of things have happened since my last update so I will try to fill you in quickly and effectively.

Our staff left this past weekend and the project is now fully under the leadership of students. Before they left, my current Bible study leader asked if I would take on her position. This consists of leading the weekly Bible study with the five other girls and discipling them each once a week. We have only met once for both so far, but I absolutely loved my time with them. I felt awkward at first, but became comfortable quickly and I am eager to see what God teaches me through leadership. Each of the girls is so eager to learn and excited about growing in their walks with the Lord and speaking with them really challenges and encourages me as well.

I have been learning quite a bit about both God and myself while I’ve been here. We are studying Ephesians in our Bible studies and I have been overwhelmed with the reminder of the riches of God’s grace and all of the blessings we have in Christ. The renewed knowledge of all of this has convicted my heart and challenged me to share these great truths with more people. I don’t want to hoard God’s gifts all for myself! I have been praying for more boldness in relational evangelism. Even at school, this is always a difficult area as I am easily intimidated by bringing up spiritual conversations in classes. I want to become more comfortable and bold to share the gospel and all that God is doing in my life with friends and family back at home. I have learned that I tend to “play it safe” in evangelism and in life and I am learning to put myself in more situations in which I have no choice, but to rely on God. He is big enough to cover my mistakes either way!

During our evangelism time I have had a couple really good conversations. One in particular sticks out in my mind. I with two other students spoke with a girl named Chelsea a couple of weeks ago. We ran into her at the city park as we were challenged to use a new evangelism tool we had been given (Perspective Cards). I honestly do not think I have ever spoken with someone who was at such a vulnerable point in their life and were truly seeking for truth. She has been through many trials and wants to find a way to God, I had the opportunity to share that way through trusting in Jesus and her exact words were “That sounds so beautiful, I have never heard that before.” She asked for prayer and wanted to learn more about our beliefs as she processed what she heard. I was amazed at how God was clearly at work in her life and I am really praying that we have another chance to talk with her and explain more about what God has done for us and the desire he has for us to know him.

I have had SO much fun at Kid’s Camp. My kids are fantastic and I love spending time with them. They have been learning Bible stories and verses, but the most compelling thing I have found in them is their zest for life and their strong faith in Jesus. Jesus asks that we come to him like children (Matthew 18:3-4) and I have learned the value of that request in the past few weeks. They are so trusting, yet so eager to learn more about the word of God. In my time with them, I have also learned a lot about my own strengths and weaknesses in working with children (one of my goals for the summer). I have gained a better understanding of disciplining children, relating to each child personally, seeing the positive attributes in each child, and showing them grace and love. The kids have taught me a whole lot about myself and I can’t wait to see what else I learn through them in the last couple of weeks.

There are two weeks left of project and I can't wait to see all God does in and through me during this time! I will update for the last 2 weeks, I promise!

*Favorite Kiddo Comment*

One of the girls could not do the monkey bars during recess due to the blisters she gained from them the day before and this was her comment to me, "Miss Lainey, I wish I were in Heaven so I could do the monkey bars without getting blisters." Cutest comment ever.