November

Pre-Thanksgiving Turkey

From November 8-12 I traveled to Turkey, where I had a chance to meet with each of the men doing their one-year missions internship (STINT) reaching the college students of Istanbul [team picture at  right]. Two other  staff women from our region also went on the trip to meet with the women STINTers.

It was good to see these men and women functioning well as a team, having adapted well to the culture, enjoying their relationships with each other, and being faithful to do evangelism on many campuses around the city. It was especially helpful to meet with Lucas, one of the team leaders, because I will be talking to him throughout the rest of the year to keep tabs on how the team is doing. It was also great to see Paul, one of the guys that I discipled for many years here at Michigan.

It certainly was a world-wind tour coming right off our Fall Retreat! My body never fully adjusted while I was there and I am still experiencing jet lag, with my body telling me it is past my bedtime at 9pm each night this week.

Fall Retreat

About 300 students came to our annual Fall Retreat at Miracle Camp, just south of Kalamazoo, Michigan. It was a great retreat with great talks from Todd Pastor (a regional director for CCC) on living authentic lives in an inauthentic world [see picture at right]. There was also great worship, times for students to learn from each other, and a lot of great football games on Saturday afternoon (including the second annual women’s touch football game). Our students signed medical waivers this year. Maybe I should have, too, as I got my lip split open during the 5 minutes that I was actually playing football with the guys!

One of the greatest parts of the weekend was seeing the excitement of the students from smaller schools such as Saginaw Valley State University. For these students, seeing that many students worshiping God was a great encouragement for what they would like to see happen on their campuses.

Beat the Bucks Week

You Buckeyes may have suspected this, but Michigan fans really don’t know how to get ready for the big game. While Ohio State students enjoy many Michigan week traditions like the across-the-campus Marching Band pep rally and Mirror Lake swim on Thursday night, Michigan students are left with few significant traditions during this week. Our students wanted to change this by beginning a Beat the Bucks week. They decided that if nobody else would get the student body ready for the big game they would. So they printed hundreds of T-shirts depicting Michigan over Ohio State with “Go Blue” on the back and our evangelistic website www.everywolverine.com. They also have purchased a junker car painted scarlet and grey which will have a sledge hammer taken to it. The highlight of the week will be a special rally on Thursday night in which Jason Avant, Michigan’s number one receiver, will share his story of coming to Christ while here at Michigan.

Through all these events we hope to gain a positive reputation among the students of the University and also to see students visit www.everywolverine.com. It is a site with answers to many of the most critical questions college students are asking as well as a way to submit their own questions that will be answered by our staff.

Pray many students would visit that site and that we would see students come to Christ through this weeks activities. Also, pray that our students won’t be too disappointed when Ohio State beats their team for the fourth time out of Jim Tressel’s five years! (And I hope I don’t have to eat my words!)

Disclaimer: We had nothing to do with the planning of this week! There are 3 Buckeyes on our team this year!

Enjoying a great playground in Bay City, Michigan

Andrew and Lindsey playing tetherball at Fall Retreat while some students play soccer in the background

Kids' Column

Fall retreat was a lot of fun! I got to play with Joey and Justin Nieman at the gym a lot. We played with all kinds of balls. Joey and I threw the football around some, too. This week we are going to the staff conference in Indianapolis. They have a water-park at the hotel, so that should be fun, too.  Mommy is surprised at how quickly I am outgrowing my pants. It seems like they are much shorter than they used to be!

Janie Nieman and I got to play a lot at fall retreat. We had a secret clubhouse. She is my princess friend because we both like princesses. We get to stay in a hotel again for staff conference! Mommy is taking us to a children’s museum Friday while Daddy is in meetings. Then we get to go to childcare and play with some of our new friends.

There were so many new people to meet at the fall retreat! And every one of our babysitters were there, all in the same place! I thought maybe Mommy and Daddy were having a really big date night. I am saying some new things. While Daddy was in Turkey I said, “I want Dada.” There is this great new word that I like to use when someone wants the toy I have, too— “Maaa” (translated, “mine”). Daddy and Mommy aren’t so impressed with that word.

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