Catching Up

This is my attempt to catch up on blogging once again. This time I’m setting a more reasonable goal: a post a week. I hope you enjoy. :)

INSTALMENT UNO: Spring Break.

What a fantastic trip. Going into it, I was nervous that our group, comprised of many new and not very plugged in students, wouldn’t mesh at all. Or worse yet, that they would bug each other to death. You really couldn’t get a more robust mixture of USF students: a silent freshmen, a hyper-enthusiastic sophomore, a non-student bus driver, a brand new transfer student, an affluent junior, and a sassy freshmen, to name a few. Throw in a (sick) 24 year-old intern and you’ve got quite the combination. 

I was also nervous that we wouldn’t be very useful and would spend lots of time wondering what to do next, since we were the first group HOPE South Florida has ever hosted overnight. And admit it: we’ve all been to those service events that are so poorly organized that you feel like you’re just adding to the chaos by being another directionless person in the way.

Lastly, I was nervous that our students wouldn’t actually want to work, and would make us look very un-willing.

“You were a bit too nervous, Katie,” you might be thinking. Yes, yes maybe I was. However, if you were me, you would probably understand the motivation of all of my nerves. So what happened? Everything I was nervous about simply didn’t go wrong. Even better, my expectations were BLOWN OUT OF THE WATER.

Our group, diverse as they were, bonded like none other. They were sending around adorable facebook messages for two weeks afterwards about how they were missing the group and the week of service. Add to this some excellent organization by HOPE South Florida. We worked till we were tired to the bones almost every day. (In a good way.) And as to my last concern, we got several emails from HOPE and various people we helped commending our dedication to our work. WOW. God never ceases to amaze me.

Another wonderfully encouraging element I wasn’t expecting was seeing the students growing right before my eyes during the week. I encouraged the students to spend time in the Bible every day, and to ask me if they had any questions or concerns, and they did. Students that I didn’t even know owned a Bible were reading it during our spare moments. Students were also chewing on the problem of homelessness and how to compassionately help, and many good conversations were had in that area.

It was such a fun, encouraging, blessing of a week. I am so thankful. Without further ado: some pictorial evidence.

Here's our group before our "scrub a daycare/ meal serving facility until 3 a.m." night. P.S. Like the t-shirts? I think they turned out well!

A panorama of work in action, around 1 a.m. 

Painting transitional housing for folks in HOPE's program

Our group is so TOUGH. Notice Gypsy, on the far right, who was literally a snake hunter in the everglades for years before coming to work as a facilities manager for HOPE South Florida. Gypsy has some crazy stories.

Large Group and Other Activities!

Large Group:

We’re still having new students join us almost each week at large group, which is really fantastic. Many of my students are wrestling with understanding how to live for Christ in God’s strength rather than their own. Their view of God as a one-dimensional, demanding, taskmaster is very pervasive. This being said, our large group’s focus on Romans and dealing with sin has been a fantastic conversation starter for many students.

We are in a music leader transition, and we would love prayer for God to raise up confident, willing leaders who are willing to serve their campus by leading worship at large group.

Activities:

We had a bonfire/ barn dance in January, (see pictures below), I got to experience my first “Not a Date” night (designed to help students get to know each other without the pressure of a date!), and we’re headed to Fort Lauderdale for Spring break in less than a week! There are many other events that I would love to tell you more about, but for now, more about this spring break trip!

We’ll be working with HOPE South Florida (http://www.hopesouthflorida.org/ ), where we’ll jump into their work to combat homelessness and poverty in Fort Lauderdale. We’ll be serving meals to the homeless, deep cleaning their childcare facility, painting, and repairing homes. Please pray that God would use us to encourage the staff of HOPE South Florida, and to impact our hearts to love the people we encounter this week and beyond when we return to Tampa!

On a side note, I got to design the t-shirt for the trip, which made me very happy. :) The general idea is below. Stay tuned for pictures of us in the real thing!

We couldn't have asked for a better barn--complete with lights and picnic tables!

Action shots are the best.

The colors and fonts are a little different, but you get the idea. :)

Making Our Ears Attentive

Wow. A blog update is LONG overdue. In the next couple of weeks, I’m going to try to catch up bit by bit, all the while not repeating what’s in my newsletter. You should be receiving my newsletter in the mail in the next few days. Let me know if you’d like to receive one but don’t! (katie.carroll@ruf.org).

Small groups are going wonderfully. It is so rewarding to see students in the bible on a regular basis, and to watch as caring community begins to form for (maybe) the first time! It’s also encouraging students to come to church, as our ministry team talks with our new, weak Christians about what it means to walk with Christ day in and day out. My car this week is full on the way to church—that is a HUGE answer to prayer! We’re reading through proverbs right now. Join me in praying, for myself and for my students, that God would cause them to treasure God’s commandments, to call out for insight, and to seek understanding like sliver. God’s promises are powerful and nothing is impossible for Him!

            My son, if you receive my words

                        and treasure up my commandments with you,

            making your ear attentive to wisdom

                        and inclining your heart to understanding;

            yes, if you call out for insight

                        and raise your voice for understanding,

            if you seek it like silver

                        and search for it as for hidden treasures,

            then you will understand the fear of the LORD

                        and find the knowledge of God.

            For the LORD gives wisdom;

                        from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;

            he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;

                        he is a shield to those who walk in integrity,

            guarding the paths of justice

                        and watching over the way of his saints.

(Proverbs 2:1-8 ESV)

Though I don't actually have a picture of a small group in action, these are some of the girls that I'm spending time with each week!

New Year, New Ideas

I hope you all had wonderful Christmases and New Years! I'm recently back in Tampa, ready to start a new semester of ministry with RUF at USF. As the new semester starts, we're putting several new ideas into play that I'm very excited about. I would love your prayers for their success! What a comfort to know that God must and shall succeed, even if it looks differently than what we expect. So here's what's up.

• New Small group structure. We noticed and kept hearing from students that they're still lonely (at least, the freshmen are), that they never crack open their bibles, and that they don't spend time in prayer. So we are shaking things up and are forming very small groups of about 4 students to meet weekly for about 30 minutes to an hour. They will share (how things are going), read (passages of the bible; we've got a not very demanding reading plan laid out), and pray (with and for each other) during this time. The prayer group I was a part of at Samford was a huge encouragement to me, so I hope the same will be true for these students.
• New daytime outreach bible study. Since USF is largely a commuter school, we decided to try having a larger meeting during the day on campus. We hope to reach many new faces and unbelievers with a lunchtime (food provided!) "Christianity Explored" bible study. I will start wandering around campus recruiting people to participate tomorrow, and the study will begin next Thursday. We want students to be able to come to this non-threatening study (they won't be asked to sing, pray, stand up, come forward...any of that! Just soak in) and see Jesus for who He really is.
• New music team--and I'm singing. As our music leader and our singer both graduated and moved away, we were left high and dry for large group music. Thus the need for me to sing along. ;) I told them not to expect extreme talent. We had our first practice last night, and it was very encouraging. I do love to sing! Thankfully, a past RUF intern now engineer who lives in Tampa volunteered to be the main leader, and we're so thankful for that. It's a large and rather demanding time-commitment for him to make, so we are so thankful for his willingness and leadership.

Our first large group is tomorrow night, and I'll start "postcarding" and going to events to promote RUF to new students tomorrow as well. I'll attempt to keep you updated on how things go! Thank you for your prayers and support!