SICM and the Start of the Year!

Hello and welcome to my blog again! The year is already getting away from me, I have so much to catch y'all up on!

SICM happened and it went so well! As a reminder, SICM (Student Institute of Campus Ministry) is our (usually) annual trip we invite our student leaders to attend. This is a time for us to train these students in skills like one-on-one discipleship, small group leading, reading Scripture well, cultivating a relationship with Jesus, and more. 

This August we hosted our own SICM in Rocksprings, TX at Camp Eagle. If you've never been, it's beautiful!! There were so many times we were just caught in awe of the creation God surrounded us with.

I had such a sweet time connecting with these girls, many of whom I hadn't been able to see much with the pandemic.

I've already gotten to see some of the fruit of this conference, both in the relationships formed and grown and the wisdom shared. 

SICM was also a great way for us the start the school year! Two days after we got home, we launched into welcome week (yes, I was exhausted), the week before school starts where we spend tons on campus meeting students and inviting them into community. 

We started the week off with a get together for our corefas (small group leaders) where we discussed how to go about reaching out to people on campus and ultimately effectively communicate the Gospel. What a great start to the week! 

We played zombie tag on campus!

And got Boba with new friends!

Frisbee and other outdoor games are a staple.

The giant beachball made a comeback!!

Overall, we had a really successful welcome week! There are a record number of freshmen attending classes this year so we got to meet a lot of people. I had multiple interactions where someone would mention specifically wanting to join a ministry because they were already looking for somewhere to plug in. It felt like one of those moments where we could see the harvest already, God had been moving before us and just blessed us over and over again with those conversations. 

And then we got to start core! Micaela (next to me in the photo below) and I are leading together this year and we've already had a blast! I've gotten to start a Bible study with Katrina (next to Micaela below) and have absolutely loved getting to know her. She's one of the ones who came into college looking for a ministry and she has hopped in with both feet!

We picked back up with TNF and it's been so fun having everyone get together again.

And I've just gotten to spend more time with people building community! We go to the local community market often and have fun getting to be around each other!

It really has been such a good start to the year. God has been so faithful and the fruit of his work is already evident. 

To each of you who follows my blog and offers prayer and support, thank you. I'm excited to include you in what the Lord has in store here!

Ways to Pray

- Please be praying for our corefas. Between most going back to in person classes and trying to meet and befriend so many students, the beginning of the year can feel overwhelming.

- We have our fall camp next weekend! Please pray for this retreat to be refreshing and encouraging for those that go. Pray for our little community to grow closer together and serve each other.

- There's a student in our ministry who has started having health problems. She's been experiencing chest pains and she passes out often. Pray that the doctors can figure out what's going on quickly and that she would experience healing and learn to lean on our community during this time.

Love y'all!

Here's our student testimony for the month!