Just a little further...

So I know that I promised that I would tell you how last week's Kenya-themed night went, and let me say, it was awesome! We had a bunch of people dressed Kenyan-style with either fancy skirts or slacks. We started by giving everyone Kenyan Christian greetings as they entered ("Bwana asifiwe!" usually followed by surprised and awkward looks from the students). Then we moved into some Kenyan worship, involving a mix of English and Swahili songs plus dancing. Heydon, the Large Group coordinator, then called up a couple students for spontaneous messages, which of course they didn't know about beforehand. The two ended up being Jenn our chapter President and Josh, one of the Small Group Coordinators, and they actually did really well! Following the messages, we showed the Kenya GP promo video (which, by the way, you can find here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=As0SEYDJAx4) to let people know a bit about the project, then Hans and I each took a few minutes to talk about our assignments and the project in general plus show off some pictures. We ended with some Q&A time and then, after much hand shaking and more "Bwana asifiwes", treated everyone to some Kenyan chai and biscuits. I had a great time, and I know a lot of other people really enjoyed the night. I don't really know if we've convinced anyone to try out the project for this coming summer, but I'm really hoping that we've at least piqued some interest.

Besides that, most of the stuff going on is starting to wind down. This is the last week of classes at UNM before finals start, and so it's also the last week that IV will pretty much be doing anything. Last small group meetings, last prayer times, final Large Group.... We're doing less planning for our current events and starting to look to the next semester. We have pretty much everything major fleshed out for the first few weeks of next semester, and I'm really pleased with a lot of the stuff we have planned.

The only thing that isn't really set in stone yet for me is my small group. Javier hasn't really been able to put forth the commitment he needs to for co-leading with me, and I'm not really sure that he'll be willing or able to change much for the coming semester. I/we also need to figure out if the group will continue to go through the Truth Project, which everyone seems to be enjoying so far, or if we'll change gears and start going through the book of James to include more Bible study, which the leaders are trying to promote more. Either way, I'm sure it'll all turn out well in the end. Please just be praying for us to make the right choices so that we can be in God's will.

We also have a few end-of-semester events coming up which should be pretty great. This Friday we're going to have our annual Christmas part, complete with potluck and white elephant gift exchange. It'll be a great time for everyone to relax and enjoy some time together before finals and the break. Then for the first two days of finals we're going to be giving away free coffee, hot cocoa, and tea in the morning to students to help make finals a little more bearable. It's not an evangelistic event or anything; it's just a way for us to serve the students and show them a little of God's love.

"There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day."
- Psalms 46:4-5