Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

I have been woefully behind on updating our blog recently. Please forgive me! We've had so much going on with the end of the semester as well as travels for Thanksgiving and Christmas that it just got away from me.

To catch you all up, I'm posting our end of semester slide show! I hope you enjoy the photos of all that we've been up to this semester. None of it would be possible without your prayers and support!

I've also attached our most recent newsletters to share a bit more about the semester as well as what lies ahead for us.

Kristy's December Newsletter

Logan's December Newsletter

I can't believe we are starting our last semester with RUF! Pray for us as we make plans to attend seminary starting this summer and as I look for a new job to start then as well.

Thank you so much for your faithful prayers and support!

Grace & Peace,

In the Words of a Student

I'm so very thankful for this sweet student and her blog. She often mentions RUF in her posts and it always helps to encourage me about our ministry. I've shared one of her posts before last year, and here is another that I just wanted to share:

"Midterms. Stress. Sleep deprivation. Mid-semester apathy. Trips home. Homework. Papers. More Midterms.

For whatever reasons, there were a lot of empty chairs in RUF tonight. It was small. There were a lot of people missing. But there are no words to describe how amazingly blessed I was by our large(ish) group tonight! Because of the small number of people that could come this week, our campus minister decided to have “RUF unplugged.” It was a little more informal than usual, no microphones, no electric guitar or instruments. Instead of having the full worship band complete with bass, amps, and keyboard, we just had an acoustic worship service- two guitars, a drum, and our voices.

Even though there were few of us and things were a little quieter than usual, I could feel energy and joy filling me up as we sang. It was absolutely beautiful! People broke off into parts. As we sang, more and more elaborate harmonies emerged and  filled the room. I looked at the worship team and the two leaders in the front, and affection and appreciation for them welled up inside of me. They’re such amazing friends and mentors, and I am so blessed to have them, and everyone else in RUF, in my life! Realizing how much they mean to me and how great of an impact they’ve had on my life made me stop and think.

I’ve been so concentrated on all the things in my life that are stressful or frustrating, I forgot to be happy to be here and happy to be alive. The reality is, I have so so much to be thankful for! My life is amazing! I have the opportunity to come to a great college, I have awesome friends, a fantastic Christian group, talented professors, and a terrific family! So why do I spend so much time obsessing over the fact I didn’t ace my latest quiz in anatomy class?

When I walked into RUF, I felt burnt out and tired. I honestly did not feel like coming, but I went anyway. When I left, I was energized and revitalized. I had spend a few hours in the company of my wonderful friends learning about God and praising Him. The teaching was amazing, the worship inspiring, and the people are fantastic. I have so very much in my life to be thankful for!

After we finished large group, we stopped to grab some ice cream and just hang out in the food court at stamp. I had almost forgotten how much I love getting to hang out with everyone from RUF! There were people there that I’ve barely gotten to talk to this semester! It was so wonderful just to get to sit and catch up with them.
On the way back to my dorm, two of my awesome friends and I decided that we didn’t feel like studying. We felt like singing. So I ran up to my room, grabbed my guitar, my other friend grabbed her Ukulele and that’s exactly what we did! The three of us sat by the elevators in the dorm lobby and sang and talked for almost two hours! It was great!!! We just sat there and spent some more time praising our Creator.

Tonight, it wasn’t just the guitars at large group getting unplugged. It was me. Unplugged from the stress, the worry, and the constant busyness that have consumed my life these past weeks. And I’m so, so, so thankful that God brought me to UMD and to RUF."
-Kerianna (Sophomore, Hearing & Speaking Major)
 You can read more about her time at UMD on her blog Just A Bit of Faith

A few of our students before Large Group

This is encouraging to me because we continually pray for RUF to be this place of rest & refreshment. My campus minister at Belmont used to speak of worship as re-orienting us back to reality. I'm so thankful that God speedily answered the prayer request I sent out to you all just yesterday. I pray that more of our students will find RUF to be this place of truth, rest, & refreshing.

Thank you for your prayers and Thank you to the God who answers them!

Grace & Peace,

Pumpkin Patch

It finally feels like Fall here in Maryland!

To celebrate this, Logan and I once again took students out to Homestead Farms to pick pumpkins from the pumpkin patch, apples from their orchards, and get some homemade apple butter and apple cider!

It was such a fun time, and we finished out the event with pumpkin carving and the Hitchcock movie, Vertigo, at our Campus Minister's house.

We had about 20 students participate in all, and it was a great time to help some of our newer students get to know the upperclassmen better. This time in the semester is also when getting off campus is good for the soul. Being in the country and sitting on a couch in someone's home can help to refresh weary students after mid-terms. Sometime they just need to be reminded that there is life outside of college!

Here are some of the pumpkins we carved:

Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support of our ministry!

Grace and Peace,

Fall Conference

Thank you all so much for praying for our Fall Conference the other week! I figured it was about time for me to fill you all in on how it went.

Know that prayers were answered in some big ways during this weekend. Not only did the 20ish students we brought really bond with each other, they also grew deeply in their knowledge of Christ. Evidence of that is this post by one of the students who came with us:

Click the picture to enlarge

 And although this was my view for the first portion of the weekend because of a migraine, through your prayers I was able to spend the second half of the trip enjoying the beautiful PA fall weather with students.

Praise God! Maryland RUF joined together with RUF's from Pitt, Penn State, and Millersville, as well as students from Frostburg State University. The weekend consisted of hiking, worship, a dance party, star gazing, a bonfire and more.

While a bit stressful, Logan did a great job leading us in worship through 4 different services. At each of these services we also heard preaching from former RUF campus minister and now church planter, Pete Hatton.

Pete titled his series, Life in the Kingdom of Grace. Which at first seemed interesting to me as we dove into the story of David & Bathsheba. He focused on the aftermath of David's sin, how God did not give up on David but sent Nathan to David to lovingly convict him of his sin. We looked at David's repentance as a response to God's grace and the way that God restored David. Even after these atrocious sins of adultery, murder, and injustice God did not give up on David.


I could write a very lengthy post about his sermons alone since they were SO good. If you are interested in hearing them, you can listen to recordings of all of them here or download them at the bottom of this post.

Instead I will tell you some of the things our students shared on our last day as we sat together to talk.

Over and over again I heard our students share their wonder at a God who could love them so deeply even when He knows the depth of their sin. I heard students share how much more amazing and real Christ's death was to them. Pete encouraged the students that in Christ we are save to own up to our sin fully so that we can then cast it away in order for it not to own us any longer.

Logan shared in his latest news letter about one student in particular who came up to him after Fall Conference with great urgency asking to meet. That week, Logan sat in a crowded foot court as this student poured out his heart, weeping & confessing his sin. He then said to Logan that if it weren't for the love of Christ he didn't know how he could continue.

God was at work at this retreat. God is still at work on our campus. His great love and mercy is sinking into the hearts of our students and I'm so excited to see their lives change!

Keep praying that students would ponder and reflect on this retreat, that the relationships the were formed would continue to grow, and that God's kingdom would expand here at Maryland.

Thank you for being a part of our ministry! We couldn't be here without you. Your support and prayers are changing lives!




Grace & Peace,

Hear the Sermons from Fall Conference:
Our 2013 speaker, Rev. Pete Hatton, currently serves as a church planter in OK. His series on the life of David is titled, Life in the Kingdom of Grace. Each is about 35 minutes long, and worth every second.

Life in the Kingdom of Grace:
Message 1 - Psalm 32
Message 2 - 2 Samuel 11
Message 3 - Psalm 51
Message 4 - 2 Samuel 12:13-25

What Students Have Been Saying

It is always an encouragement to me to see students posting on Facebook about the good times they've had at RUF events, or when they are excited for a coming event.

Here are a few of those posts that have been uplifting me this week:

 

After my first time meeting with her individually

Posted after a Guy's Dinner & Discussion night focusing on common objections to Christianity

Here is picture of the group we had for the DC trip that last one mentioned:

We took a free shuttle from campus to the metro where we helped new students get a Smartrip card and taught them how to right the metro! We had a great time walking around the mall (because someone forgot to check when the Smithsonian closes.....oops) and then ate dinner at Gallery Place! It was such a great way to get to know the new students better and help them get comfortable using the great transportation available to get into DC.

Prayer Requests:
Please be in prayer for these budding relationships & connections. Please pray for the 20 odd students coming with us to Ligonier, PA this weekend for the RUF Mid-Atlantic Fall Conference! Relationships grow so much deeper on retreats such as this, so pray that they would form. Pray also that God would be preparing the hearts of all the students to heart the Gospel. Logan is leading worship so pray also for the band!

Thank you so much for making it possible for Logan and I to be a part of what God is doing here at Maryland!

Grace & Peace,

Welcome Week!

First of all, let me apologize for my long absence in posting. We have been pretty busy these last few weeks welcoming the students back to campus!

Now that school has been in session for a full week, things are starting to set into their normal rhythm for our schedules. That means time to write a blog to tell you about Welcome Week.

Welcome Week is actually longer than a week, but we use it to refer to the time when students start moving in through the end of the week when classes begin. For much of this time, school feels more like camp to the students. Classes haven't started and there are thousands of students roaming around campus exploring what the University has to offer.

It is a vital time for RUF to be out welcoming students to the campus and getting our name out for any students looking for a Christian community or curious about Christianity.

This year we set up tables in high traffic areas of campus to give away Freeze-pops (about 600), RUF stadium cups filled with candy (about 300), & RUF sunglasses (about 100). We also let students know about events such as tailgating for the first game, kickball & watermelon, a s'mores social, welcome BBQ, & a big hike.

The big hike at Billy Goat Trail

All of these programs are intended to bless new students, give a smile and start building relationships to further the Kingdom of God.  We are not just handing out free stuff for fun, but rather to show the grace of God which is free. Some students can't believe that we are giving away things with no strings attached but this is what we do. We hope through these gifts of grace, by your support, that we can begin to break down walls of unbelief and build friendships which will be fruitful in bringing students to Christ.

S'mores & 70+ people at Giant Jenga!

Kickball on the Mall

Our Welcome BBQ

We are off to a good start but now we need your prayers as we attempt to follow up with the many students we contacted and had sign up for more information (approx. 80). Pray for students to be spurred by God's Spirit to connect and come out to our Large Group and small group meetings and that they would be open to one on one's with Logan, Chris and I. We have met many new friends and are excited about these relationships. 

Grace & Peace,

Oh the Places We've Been!

Logan and I have finally made it back to Maryland after 2 months of traveling! We were so thrilled to be able to visit so many of our supporters - our family and friends!

So here is where we've been so far this summer - hold one its a long ride!

Marlette, Michigan

We started our journeys with a trip to Marlette, MI to visit my grandparents. Logan had never met my dad's parents and I was so happy we got to spend time learning from their wisdom, enjoying their company, worshiping together and eating all of my grandma's amazing cooking!

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Chicago, Illinois

We then made our way to Chicago to visit my mom's parents and meet with some of our faithful supporters. I'm so thankful to have two sets of amazing and encouraging grandparents. Logan and I are so thankful the dinner my grandparents hosted for our supporters, and we are so thankful to everyone who came to hear about our semester and cheer us on to another year.

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St. Louis, Missouri

Third on our stop was a trip to St. Louis, MO to visit some of our good friends from college who attend Covenant Theological Seminary. We officially got to meet the newest member of their little family, Oscar! It was a great time of touring the campus and spending time with our dear friends.

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Nashville, Tennessee

From there we headed to Nashville where we got to see many of our college friends as well as dear family supporters. Nashville still feels like home to us, and we are so grateful to Logan's brother for letting us stay with him! We even got to cook a few great meals with him & Anna Claire!

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Columbia, South Carolina

 

 Following Nashville, we made our way down to Columbia, SC to visit one of Logan's best friends from Beijing and his new wife! It was a privilege to be a part of their wedding and we had a great time getting to see them 6 months later. I know Logan especially loved this leg of the trip.

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Orlando, Florida

We then made our way down to Orlando, FL to visit the Orlando campus of Reformed Theological Seminary. Visiting yet another great seminary is going to make our choice difficult! Thank you to the Sparkmans for letting us be a part of your family for a few days!

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Sarasota, Florida

 

From Orlando made our way over to Sarasota, FL to spend time with my parents. These two weeks were both relaxing and busy as the majority of my supporters live in my home town. Logan and I spend time with our family, but also had many meetings with supporters. We spoke at my home church's Women on Mission group as well as at a luncheon to honor our supporters. 

We celebrated Logan's birthday as well as the Fourth of July with the Martins as is tradition. Overall it was a wonderful stay!

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Jacksonville, Florida

Our final stop in Florida was to visit my sister in Jacksonville for the weekend on our way back to Nashville! We had a great time with her and Rob.

 

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Nashville, Tennessee

 

Our second trip up to Tennessee was a much needed break from all our travels. We are so grateful for having Lewis' place to ourselves for the most part, for time to catch up with college friends, to attend Belmont Summer RUF, and visit with our college campus minister, Kevin Twit and his wife, Wendy. 

 

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Chattanooga, Tennessee

After a week or so in Nashville, we made our way down to Chattanooga to visit some of our very best friends, the Rethorns! They let us stay with them for the weekend on our way down to RUF Staff Training and we had a great time! They cooked some amazing meals, we watched the end of the Tour de France, and just caught up on each others lives.

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Atlanta, Georgia

 

The grand finale for our travels was a week in Atlanta, GA for RUF Staff Training. It really was a wonderful way to end our travels full of family, friends, support raising, and seminary planning. While a week of training may sounds incredibly boring, it is a time to visit with good friends who are scattered all over the country serving God's kingdom. And while some seminars are practical tips for ministry, the majority are about remembering the character and love of God and how much we ourselves need the Gospel. We feel so privilege to be a part of an organization that cares for its staff so well and comes together to worship God for his many blessings!  

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College Park, Maryland

Now here we are back in Maryland! We have about one more month until UMD starts school. And we are using this month to settle back into our apartment, rest up from all our travels, finish our last bit of support raising, and prepare for the semester!

So sorry that I haven't faithfully kept up blogging this summer. But if you've made it through this post I think you can see why! Thank so much to each one of you who took the time to meet with us, who lent us a bed, heard our stories, and encouraged us! We could not be doing this second year without you!

Grace & Peace,