November and December Happenings!

I am so sorry that I have turned into such a blog-slacker. It's on my to-do list every day, but it's the first thing to get pushed out of the schedule. To update you, though,  I've been able to settle into my new apartment here in Tampa, get to know a few more people at church, and really start to get close to my students. It takes a while to build trust, but I'm having more serious conversations now than I had even imagined back in September. God is at work!

Since my last post, many wonderful things have happened in RUF at USF. Here are a few!

 

We had a retreat at Lake Placid the second weekend of November. Notice that we are all wearing swimsuits and/or shorts. Some students swam! I'm still amazed by this. I suppose I shouldn't be shocked by the pervasive heat with a name like "South Florida," but still!

Lake placid is known for its murals all throughout town, so our weekend was not complete without a photo scavenger hunt.

We all made Tie-dyed shirts during the weekend, then sported them at the next large-group. How festive!

We had a tacky Christmas sweater party, with games, gingerbread house building, gift exchanging, caroling, Christmas story reading and...

the introducing of oranges and old-fashioned peppermint sticks. As you can see, I found at least one fan! Though the critics were many, almost everyone loved this Carroll family Christmas tradition once they tried it. :)

I also held a few focus groups just for girls to talk about relationships, dating, sex, and marriage, as that's what our topic in large group has been for the semester. I don't have any pictures of those. Suffice to say that the students were wonderfully accommodating--they all brought pillows and blankets to stay comfortable on my wood floors; I didn't have any furniture at that point! This event really showed me how much God is constantly at work. Beforehand, I was mixed between thinking no one would actually show up (because no one had completed the RSVP! Life with students!), and being absolutely terrified at the questions students might ask me. Well, show up they did. I was actually intimidated by how many girls were sitting around me waiting to hear me talk when we got started. God really does supply the words, though! We had healthy, edifying discussions each week, despite my lack of wisdom.

Monday, finals begin for the students, so beyond a few meetings with students who aren't too stressed out, I'll be baking delicious things and camping out in a central place in campus. My goal is to get these students to see the sun and take a moment to breathe and laugh in the middle of the stress. I can't believe my first semester as an RUF intern is wrapping up. It has been a joy, and I'm so glad God has placed me here.