Runners, on your mark...

Well, the IV Internship has now started! I'm really excited to finally be able to work with the UNM Chapter. They're a really great, fun group, and I already feel like I'm part of the family around them. It'll certainly be a great year.

We've had our first event of the semester for UNM this weekend: our pre-fall retreat to let students know what will be going on and to help train them to be ready for the things we'll be doing. The retreat went really well, with about 13 students in attendance for the weekend. We got to play games, let the students know more about our chapter vision for the semester, talk to them about some of the events we plan on doing, and give them training so that they would be ready to help us carry out the vision in the coming weeks. This included learn how to share the Gospel with others through a proxe station (an evangelistic tool used to engage students), lead a GIG (Group Investigating God: small group for non-Christians), and be a welcoming community for new people. I'm excited to see how the students jumped into these things, and it will be especially great to watch them go out on campus equipped to draw in non-believers and introduce them to the joy of the Gospel.

This week we'll be starting our first events at UNM to welcome new students, especially freshmen. This will include having tables set up to get the word out about IV, having games for people to come play like ultimate frisbee, and having a low-key game night to let us have some fun time to just hang out and get to know the new students. Please keep these events in prayer, especially that through them we will be able to make good relationships with those whom God is leading to be a part of our chapter. Also, classes start the following week, and we'll have even more New Student Outreach (NSO) events to introduce ourselves to others, even some evangelistic events to start reaching out to non-Christians from the very beginning of the semester.

In other news, I recently acquired a house to stay in, praise the Lord! It's an amazing deal - really a gift from God. My friend Chris, who used to be my housemate at Tech a couple years ago, was able to find a really great place about 15-20 minutes' walk from campus for an amazing price. The two of us and my friend Heydon, another former Techie now on the UNM IV leadership team, are going to be moving in this week, and I'm "highly enthused" about the whole affair. God provides in big ways!

I hope to let you know more as we actually begin having some of our events this week, so stay tuned to stay up-to-date with all of the latest news from the frontlines.

Oh, and I intend on posting more of the pictures from Kenya this week, depending on when I get some free time. It takes a really long time to get that all together, so it's going to be a slower process than I had originally hoped. Don't forget that I'll be having my open house this Saturday, and please let me know if you plan on coming.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. "
- Hebrews 12:1-3