Ready for the Ride: August 2010

You know the feeling- after a long wait in line, you’re finally buckled in and strapped down on the rollercoaster. As you wait for the final safety checks, you’re overcome with excited anxiety. You know the next 2 minutes will bring exhilaration, angst, laughter, and fear. As the coaster begins climbing and you hear the click, click, click of the gears beneath you, you begin to wonder what made you decide to get on the ride in the first place. You know what awaits you- a giant drop, twists and turns, ups and downs- and when you reach the end, you shout, “That was awesome! Let’s do it again!”

A rollercoaster ride is a great illustration of my life as a second year intern. After summer project, I enjoyed my time “waiting in line” as I reconnected with supporters and took a much needed breath after a year of campus ministry. Staff retreat allowed our team to “buckle in” and begin preparations for the yearlong ride ahead. The previous week we’ve been executing last minute details and our energy level has increased as we “clicked to the top.” As you read this letter, we are in the midst of the giant drop- volleyball blast, gear up, cup ‘n coke, first CRU, and corn roast. The second time around I’m familiar with the tracks and ready for the ride. Please join me in praying for our students, faculty and staff team as the year begins.

As always, thank you for partnering with me on this ride!

Our 2010-2011 Staff Team

Meet My Girls: Kelly Rettig

Kelly Rettig

My main job at North Myrtle Beach Summer Project is to disciple women in how to share their faith and develop their specific leadership abilities. This is an awesome job when you're working with girls like Kelly!

Kelly just finished her sophomore year at UW-Madison. She is majoring in secondary English Education in hopes to become a high school English teacher. This summer Kelly is excited to share Christ in her work place at Boulineau's IGA grocery store.

About a week ago, Kelly came home from her job and was feeling the stress of being away from home, learning a new job, engaging in a culture very different than the midwest and trying her best to do well. Though the last thing she probably wanted to do was engage people in spiritual conversations on the beach, that is exactly what we did!

It didn't take long to get into a conversation with two gals from northern California. Aly was incredibly interested in how to begin a personal relationship with God. After stepping her through the main points of the Christian faith, she prayed to receive Christ in her life. Aly was incredibly thankful that two girls from Wisconsin would talk to a girl from California on a beach in South Carolina. Only God could have orchestrated that one!

As Kelly and I walked back to project housing, she looked at me and said, "This is the BEST worst day ever! I would endure more bad days like this if I knew they would all end this way!" This is just one example of the many God sightings down here in NMB! Stay tuned for more...

North Myrtle Beach Summer Project: The Beginnings

Greetings from sunny North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina! After a full day of traveling, I arrived safely at the "Lighthouse" on May 18th. This beach house will be home for me and 8 other women for the next month and a half. The first week was a nice balance of staff devotionals, planning, prep and fun! I used this time to adjust from life on campus to working with a new staff team. Let me tell you, these people are great! To make things even better, there are more children on this project than ever before...let's just say I've made a few friends.


Students arrived on May 26th, all 92 of them! Check in day reminded me of my time spent opening a residence hall on campus. We worked long and hard but got all students fed and settled in their apartments. The main reason I'm here this summer is to disciple women. As students checked in, I was able to connect with my girls. Here they are: Kelly, Emily, Jodi, Jen and Lindsey.


As you can see, we've bonded quite quickly!


Thanks for your support on this journey. For more info about summer project, check out http://gosummerproject.com/whatissummerproject/. I'll be blogging at least once a week, so stop on back!

Fighting the Fight

Greetings from warm sunny Florida!

We’ve been keeping busy down here in the Sunshine State over the past few days. Though we’ve only been together for six days, we’ve banded together to form a family that cares deeply for one another.

Tuesday began with our morning meeting, which included worship led by our band, devotions from Jenny Lang, and evangelism training from Ben Rivera. We were pumped up to get out on the beach and share with students, as well as soak up some of the warm sun.

Ted and Darren leading us in worship.

At our evening session, Roger Hershey challenged us to yield our rights. He showed us in the Word how Jesus yielded His rights to comfort, respect, justice, understanding and life. Like Christ, we must yield our rights to good health, financial security, time, privacy, respect, relationships, convenience, and family approval. A hard concept to grasp but a powerful message of Truth. Thanks Hersh!

Roger Hershey is on staff at Penn State with Campus Crusade for Christ.

Tuesday evening was spent in men and women’s time. What a sweet time to connect as brothers and sisters and celebrate how God created each of us!

Wednesday brought a fun change of pace. After our morning session, we came together with other campuses and spring breakers to pack meals in a Haiti Relief effort. For two hours, we formed teams of 15 people per table to scoop, measure and seal bags of dried food to ship to Haiti. Each bag can feed 6 people. The conference goal was to pack 1 million meals over the course of the month. I’m proud to say we've packed 965,000 meals and have one more week to reach our goal! We had a blast showing Christ’s love through our actions and know this food will be a huge blessing to those in need.

Haiti Relief: Packing Meals

Wednesday evening, our men treated the ladies to dinner. After cleaning up, we were picked up from our villas (apartments) and escorted back to the guys place. As we approached, the delicious aroma of shrimp scampi and fettuccini alfredo filled the air. After a delicious dinner, the men led us in an egg hunt outside. Each egg had adjectives to describe Godly women and we each had to find two of them. To end the evening, the men sang a song they wrote to show their appreciation and love for us as sisters in Christ. Well-done men! We felt very loved!

Paul, Jake, and Alex- three men in our movement.

We’ve got one more day out on the beach…more updates to come! For more photos of the entire conference, check out www.flickr.com and type in "Big Break, Week 4" in the search engine.

Engaging in the Battle

Sunrise in Alabama

Greetings from cool breezy Florida! After a quick 22-hour bus ride, we arrived in Panama City Beach, FL around 2pm Saturday afternoon. We grabbed some grub and checked into our villas. We spent the next few hours unpacking, catching up on sleep and fellowshipping with our group of 47 Central Wisconsinites.

Toilet Paper Bus Challenge

Sunday began with worship together packed into a living room in one of the villas. Jason led us in song, Rachel shared a few words of devotion and then we met in our action groups to discuss our testimonies. As we drew our life maps and shared them with each other, we grew closer as a campus and family of believers.

Grocery shopping was next on the agenda. Have you ever shopped with 40 friends before? So fun! The rest of the afternoon was spent exploring the beach, getting to know roommates and playing games.

The Water Action Group meeting.

Our first session of the conference kicked off our evening. The Wisconsin-Stevens Point band rocked the stage in worship. We are so proud of the many hours our students have put into practicing and rehearsing for this conference. Thanks Ted, Greta, Anna-Cheri, Darren, Andy, Matt, Justin and Lee!

Wisconsin-Stevens Point Worship Team

Monday began with some solid Biblical training from Ben Rivera and we were sent out on the beaches to share the Good News. Many incredible stories have come from the first afternoon out on the beach. Tim shared with some of his old drinking buddies from Point about how his life has changed since coming to Christ. These men were excited to hear what Tim had to share and accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior.

Jason and Tim on the beach benefiting from some free energy drinks.

Roger Hershey ended our evening with a talk on our identity in Christ and the imputed righteousness we've received. We’re only one day into the conference and the Lord has lot more in store for us this week…including warmer weather! Stay tuned for more updates...

Springing Ahead: February Update

Greetings Support Team!

I hope you're enjoying the first few glimpses of spring! Thanks for reading my update and supporting me in this ministry!

To start, I’d love to update you on January’s prayer requests. TCX has continued to prove fruitful; a disciple who is studying in Spain this semester has connected with a gal from another campus because they both attended the conference. Lynsey in now discipling Sam half a world away.

Lynsey "Kiddo" Carlson is studying in Valladolid, Spain

The medical mission trip to Condevilla, Peru was successful! We saw over 1,200 patients, continued building relationships and shared Christ’s love with the Peruvians. I used the skills I’ve learned in this internship to share my faith in Spanish by using the EvangeCube- a faith stretching experience!

Eye Exam in Peru

Women’s Month ended with an overnight retreat that 70 women attended! Praise God for the ways He has used this series on Becoming a Distinguished Woman to impact women at UWSP!

Flannel Friday at Women's Retreat

Upcoming Events

As the semester continues on in full swing, I have many events filling my calendar. One exciting opportunity I’ll be providing leadership for is our Big Break conference in Panama City Beach, FL over spring break. I’ll spend the week equipping about 40 Central WI students in how to share their faith and join others from around the nation in sharing the Good News. A second piece of exciting news is that I was placed at North Myrtle Beach, SC as staff for summer project. For more info on summer projects, visit www.gosummerproject.com.

2009-2010 Staff Team

Next Year

Many of you have inquired about my decision for next year and I’m excited to announce I’ll be interning a second year in Central WI. I’m thrilled to continue discipling my girls, sharing Christ and developing myself in the coming year. I have so appreciated your support and prayers in the past 9 months and I pray you would consider staying on my team for another year. I’ll be contacting you this spring with more details but for now, you can celebrate this decision with me!

Doug Galuk, Me, & Terry Schott jumping in the Pacific Ocean outside of Lima, Peru.

TCX 09:Radiate January Update

Greetings Support Team! I pray this blog finds you well and settled after the holiday season. I recently returned from TCX- Twin Cities Xperience, Campus Crusade for Christ’s Christmas conference. For the past five years I have attended this conference as a student and have reflected how some of my most intimate moments with God have happened at TCX. It was there that I jump started my walk with Christ as a freshman, committed a year of my life to full-time ministry and made the decision to intern with Crusade last year while at the conference.

Returning this year as a staff member, I was given the job of Ballroom Camera Operator. It wasn’t my first choice but after an attitude adjustment, I enjoyed videotaping the emcee, speakers and worship band. As a visual learner, it gave me a whole new appreciation for the tech people working behind the scenes. I’m grateful for the experience and I’ll never view TV or video the same!

More students than ever attended this year’s TCX and we can only hope that the life change that happened in my life will be repeated a thousand fold in the lives of students. We couldn’t do it without you- thank you for your support!

Emily

140 Central Wisconsin students at TCX

Michelle, my disciple.

Ballroom Camera Operator- I named my camera The Hulk.