Christmas with Cru

One of the best things about beginning a new ministry is being able to make new traditions! This year, for Christmas, we held our annual Cru Christmas Service for our last meeting of the semester. Rather than have a speaker and a message, we spend the meeting reading passages from the Bible and singing Christmas & worship hymns together to celebrate the birth of our Savior. This year, Marshall did an awesome job of putting together an all acoustic worship service complete with a banjo! Needless to say, the worship was incredible.



Between the Christmas lights, the worship music, and spending time in God's Word, the service was the perfect last weekly meeting of the semester! It was a great night of coming together to worship God for all He has been doing at Southern Miss as well as celebrating the coming of His Son.

Immediately after our Christmas service, we all headed to the Harwell's house for our annual Elf Christmas party! Dressing in our tackiest Christmas gear, we all gathered together to taste the entries for the dessert contest and watch the highly-popular movie, Elf.

Watching Elf

Packer Santa. 

Our Christmas service and party were a great end to the semester. However, the best end to the semester was welcoming our newest future staff woman and staff wife, Peyton! Andrew proposed to Peyton this past week and they will both remain in Hattiesburg after they are married at the beginning of this summer. We are so excited for their upcoming wedding & marriage and even more excited that they will be staying in Hattiesburg!

All the staff women (and future staff women!!)
From left: Elizabeth, Claire, Amy, Peyton

A time to weep, A time to mourn

I realize that a lot of couples who go through this do not speak of it to other people, and they definitely do not write it on their blogs. However, I daily encourage our students and our friends to be open and vulnerable with the Christian body, and so how can I not be as well? I have written, re-written, and come back to edit this blog entry so many times in the past couple of weeks that I have truly lost count. I cannot honestly say why this has been such a battle to write. Whether its my fear that the moment I write these things out in public that suddenly all of this is real and I cannot go back, or whether its just the fear to be completely vulnerable and acknowledge that we are in a time of suffering. The reality is, whether I have chosen to acknowledge it or not, this is real, and it is painful, and it is, at times, extremely terrifying (as it is most times that God asks you to give something up).

However, before I really go into details of this valley we are currently walking through, I want to make a few points very clear. First, God is ABSOLUTELY good no matter what the circumstances. Although Mitch and I are currently suffering, we do not doubt the Lord's sovereignty or His goodness, nor will we doubt those things if this valley continues for the rest of our lives. We are absolutely positive that all that we are going through both now and in the future is for our good and for the good of the Lord and His glory. Secondly, I am very aware that there are people that have been suffering with this days, months, and years longer than we have and my heart truly aches for those of you who have or are currently going through this. I in no way want to compare our short journey into this with your journey or say that I can sympathize with all of the things you have gone through in this process. With that said, here we go.

With the coming of the new year, Mitch and I will be venturing into our 14 month of trying to expand our family. After seeing a doctor at the beginning of the semester (obviously we work with college students since our calendars are still by semesters), and having some tests/charts done, we were deemed infertile and began fertility treatment. The last two cycles have failed, and we are entering our last month on this specific medication. Although we completely believe that God is able to do all things, we are not overly hopeful that this last cycle will be any more effective than the others.

This is honestly the hardest thing I have ever walked through in my life and definitely one of the longest moments of suffering that I have endured. At the beginning of all of this, I refused to call it suffering. I'm not really sure why, I guess I just believed that there are way worse things that could be happening and therefore it wasn't worthy of being called suffering. However, as someone kindly pointed out to me, the definition of "to suffer" is this: (1.) to submit to or be forced to endure (2.) to feel keenly, to labor under (3) to endure pain. And that is where we are.

I love children. I have desired to have children of my own for as long as I can remember, which is why Mitch and I immediately started trying once we got married. And I think that is one of the main reasons this has been so painful and terrifying for me: acknowledging the fear and possibility that I may never be able to have children. The second reason this has been so painful is acknowledging that the reason we might not have children of our own is because of me. Since all Mitch's tests came back positive, the problem lies with me, and that is absolutely heartbreaking. And oh does the Enemy know that. The feelings of fear, shame, anxiousness, and hopelessness can so easily settle in if we are not careful to turn to the truth of the Gospel and trust in the Lord through this.

Since I do not desire to write a book on this (although it seems like I already have), I want to end on the same note that I began on. I do not know how long this journey will be. We could get pregnant next month, or we could never get pregnant. I simply do not know. But what I do know is this: I completely believe that God is good, that He is on my side, and that no matter what happens through this, His glory will be magnified. He has been so faithful to us in all things, but especially in this time of suffering, and we rejoice because of that. The Lord is with us, and He is faithful, blessed be His name.

Habakkuk 3:17-18

Though the fig tree does not bud
    and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
    and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
    and no cattle in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
    I will be joyful in God my Savior.

"Shattered dreams are never random. They are always a piece in a larger puzzle, a chapter in a larger story.The Holy Spirit uses the pain of shattered dreams to help us discover our desire for God,
to help us begin dreaming the highest dream.They are ordained opportunities for the Spirit to awaken, then to satisfy our highest dream." ~Larry Crabb

"The Big News": Summer Assignment

It is official, Mitch and I will be leading a summer project to East Asia this summer! We are extremely excited (and a bit overwhelmed) and it seems like May cannot come fast enough. For those of you who do not know, CRU sends students on summer projects every summer, all across the world; Miami, Jackson Hole, South Africa, Ethiopia, South Asia, Italy, Spain, and Bosnia, just to name a few. (To see a full list of all the summer projects available and if you would like to read more about the trips, you can go to gosummerproject.com)- Or, if you are a student reading this, COME WITH US!

Anyways, back to East Asia. Due to security measures, we are unable to disclose where exactly we will be stationed this summer other than, well, the East side of Asia. In addition, we are unsure of whether we will be allowed to bring a computer at all so I cannot guarantee that we will be able to do weekly blog updates like we did while we were in South Africa last summer. Enough of the things we cannot do, let me tell you about what we will be doing!

We will be living in East Asia for six weeks, from May 14th to June 28th. During this time, since we will be entering the country as students, we will spend each morning taking a language class at the local university. (On a side note, if you had told me 2 years ago that I would be taking a summer class in East Asia I would have laughed in your face- Funny how God works!) In the afternoons, we will spend time getting to know students, inviting them to spend time with our team, and hopefully getting the opportunity to share the gospel with them. Again, due to security measures, sharing the gospel is not exactly legal so we will be creating trusting friendships first.

Mitch and I will be attending a Summer Project Director's Training and Conference in Denver this January and we will be able to share a lot more information about our trip and specific prayer requests after that week. However, until then, please begin to pray for the Lord to raise up students to come with us on this trip, especially from Southern Miss.

"Harvesting" Memories

I cannot believe that November is over and Christmas is right around the corner! This is always a bittersweet time on campus because we are anxious to spend a little time with our families for the holidays, but it is sad to think that another semester is coming to a close and students are graduating (If I can barely handle our students graduating and leaving, I feel sorry for our future children). But before I get ahead of myself, November has been a great month!

With the close of the election, we gathered together on campus the next morning to pray for newly-elected President Obama. It was such an awesome morning to have students come together and lay aside all political differences & spend time praising God for his sovereignty and praying for protection and wisdom for President Obama. In the heat of an election, it is so easy for Christians to become short-tempered and voice harsh words about others (including the candidates) and to others. It was a joy to begin the next 4 years on a positive and supportive note by honoring our President and praying for him like God desires us to (1 Timothy 2:1-3).

So excited for David Crowder!

The week before Thanksgiving, in leu of having a weekly meeting, we went with a large group of students to the David Crowder concert at Temple Baptist Church. Since we knew that we could not compete with Crowder himself, we had decided early on to cancel our weekly meeting and instead encourage students to come with us to his concert. For those of you who are not familiar with David Crowder, he is a Christian artist who has lead worship at many CRU events and also at the Passion Conference. We had a great time of fellowship with the students, as well as enjoying great music! 

The weekend before Thanksgiving break, our whole staff team travelled to Atlanta for our annual CRU Fall Conference. It was a very full and busy weekend, but it was so great to see our friends (and co-workers) from around the Southeast! After the conference ended, Mitch and I headed to Destin to spend Thanksgiving with my side of the family. I had not seen my family since August and I couldn't believe how much Caleb (our nephew) had grown!! He is by far the cutest little thing in the world but I guess I'm a little biased :) It was such a wonderful and refreshing holiday and I am so thankful that I got to spend it with my family!

Sweet little nephew!

Best Thanksgiving outfit ever. 

With Christmas right around the corner, and our one-year anniversary of being at Southern Miss coming in January, we thought it was about time to send out some prayer cards! I cannot confirm when they will be arriving (as I do not know yet- but they are ordered!), but I can leave you all with a sneak peek of some of the photos we took.

And just to leave you guessing, we have some big news (no we aren't expecting) to share next month of an opportunity we were presented with while at our Fall Conference. Stay tuned... :)

Fall Festivities

Since the ministry has really taken off this semester, we have been able to have several fun events this fall to gather together for fellowship & the occasional s'more. A couple weekends ago, to celebrate Southern Miss' homecoming, CRU hosted our very first tailgate on campus! We spent the day watching football, hanging out with students & friends, checking out the homecoming parade & floats, and munching on tailgate food. It was a great day with beautiful weather and uplifting fellowship.

It was a great day with beautiful weather and uplifting fellowship! If only the football game had turned out as well... Between Auburn's season and Southern Miss' we pretty much avoid all social media & football commentary on Saturdays now. Praise the Lord that we have something greater to live for than football, right?

Claire, me, Kate & Yasmin

In addition to the tailgate, we also hosted a CRU Bonfire on the night October 25th in the middle of Lake Serene! (Literally... the lake was drained) The Hamilton family was so generous to allow all of us to come out to their house and build an extremely large bonfire AND hang around until after midnight. We spent the night hanging out, making s'mores, "cutting" fire wood, & running around the empty lake.

 It was a great night and a lot of people joined us for "s'more" CRU fun (Sorry, I just couldn't resist). Everyone enjoyed the night so much, we are hoping to have one before Christmas break when it is actually cold outside this time!

Our women's event this month was a very festive night of pumpkin painting! Elizabeth hosted the night and made two very delicious chili recipes that added to the fall-like theme. We had a lot of fun painting and spending time together, although painting pumpkins sounds a whole lot easier than it actually was! I will be sticking to plain old orange pumpkins from now on. 

This fall has been so fun and we have been overwhelmed with how much growth we are seeing in the ministry as well as in our relationships with our students (and friends!). Since Christmas is just right around the corner, I know we will be having many more festive nights coming soon to CRU!

CRU Fall Retreat 2012

Now I may be biased since this was my very first CRU fall retreat, but it was AMAZING! Thankfully, Southern Miss' fall break fell right around the time we were planning on having our fall retreat this year so we were able to spend 3 glorious days and 2 nights down in Gulf Shores, Alabama.

Gulf Shores Beach Retreat Center

Since we are studying the Sermon on the Mount this semester in our weekly meeting, we decided to spend the retreat studying and meditating on the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:5-15). We kicked off the extended weekend Wednesday night, October 10th, with a night of studying the attributes of God and praising Him for who He is; focusing on "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name." 

Day two started off bright and early with breakfast cooked by our staff team (mainly the Andrews), followed by our second session where we studied "Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." After Andrew H. talked, we had 4 mini break-out sessions where we shared different ways that students & staff had gone to the world to share the gospel through word & deed. The students got to spend 15 minutes at each of these stations hearing testimonies, seeing pictures, & hearing about opportunities for them to go (or stay) and make a difference. Our 4 stations were East Asia summer project, South Africa summer project, International Justice Mission (IJM), and the USM campus. Each of these places have a need to share the gospel and a desperate need for laborers and it was awesome getting to share those needs with students who are willing and eager to go. 

After a time of devotion & a quick lunch, we spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the beautiful, and overly-warm October weather on the beach. That night, we headed to dinner and then split into guys' and girls' time for our Thursday night session: "Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts, as we have also forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." We spent the night in great discussion, teaching, & encouragement about the specific sins that we each struggle with as men and women. To end the perfect day, we capped out the evening with a bonfire where we roasted marshmallows, ate (one-to-many) smores, and had great fellowship. 

Awesome bonfire photo thanks to Marshall's new phone!

The final morning, we ended with another great breakfast and a whole lot of cleaning up! After we had finally packed up most of our things, Andrew H. closed out the retreat with a great time of reflection over all that we had discussed over the past two days. In addition, he also surprised everyone with our spring break trip location: New York!! Although we do not have too many details yet, we know that we are going to New York City to share the gospel with college students on the many college campuses they have in the city (more details to come!). 

The whole group!

And of course, what's a good fall retreat without a couple of group pictures? In all seriousness, we could not have asked for a better group of students nor better weather for our fall retreat. God has blessed our ministry so much & we are so thankful for the time we got to spend in Gulf Shores studying His word, admiring His creation, and fellowshipping with His church!

Southern Miss CRU Staff Team

Catching up with the Jaegers!

Surprise! Once again I have allowed our crazy fall schedule to get in the way of my blog updates. On the bright side, this will be an interesting & event packed post!

Looking back on our fall semester last year, we are amazed at the things God has done in and through our ministry in just a year! When Mitch and I arrived in January, there were only a few community groups meeting through out the week but our goal as a ministry was to change that. One of our biggest prayer requests last semester was that God would accomplish this goal for us by creating community groups (bible studies) all around the USM campus. And just as He promises, God has been answering this request in bigger ways than we could have hoped! This fall, we have witnessed a HUGE need & desire for community groups in all different places. Several of our male students have begun community groups within their fraternities and have seen a great turn out. In addition, several of our female students have also begun community groups within their sororities and on Tuesday nights there is a catch-all community group for all sororities to come together and study God's Word. Along with these communities, we have a women's group, men's group, apologetics group, freshmen girl's group, freshmen guy's group, & a leadership group. God is doing such amazing things through our students and we cannot do anything but give Him all the glory for answering our prayer requests!

Eating the top of our wedding cake!

On a personal note, Mitch and I celebrated our first anniversary on September 24th. In honor of our anniversary, we spent the weekend in Decatur, Alabama, visiting family, friends, & places that we habited while we dated (including the 5 Guys where we met!). In addition, we decided to act upon a conviction that we had been having for awhile & finally have a believer's baptism. Although we were both baptized as children, Mitch and I both felt that we wanted to publicly share our testimonies with the church and symbolize our commitment to Christ through a water baptism. Although the water itself does not save a person, baptism is a symbol of the change Christ has made in a believer's life- death to our prior lifestyles & selfish beliefs and the beginning of a new life grounded in believing that Christ died for our sins and acting upon that belief. So, a year after we were married, Mitch and I were baptized! It was such an amazing opportunity to share our testimonies with the church & publicly symbolize the wonderful things God has done in our lives since saving us.

In the midst of celebrating our marriage, Mitch and I have also had the honor of celebrating the new marriages and weddings of our friends and family. The past couple of weekends, we were able to witness my (sponsor) brother Emmanuel marry his beautiful bride Lauren as well as my long-time childhood friend Jennifer officially become Mrs. Carver. Both were beautiful weddings and wonderful weekends spent catching up with friends and family!

Last, but certainly not least, we've added a new member to the Jaeger household. Don't get too excited-she's a dog not a baby :) Meet our newest pound rescue Weagle!

Stay tuned for our next update- we just got back from our Cru Fall Retreat and I cannot wait to share it with you!

Kicking Off the Fall Semester!

You will always be able to tell when a new semester has begun here at Southern Miss by my lack of blog updates! It has been a crazy couple of weeks but also an AMAZING couple of weeks. God has shown up even my greatest hopes and expectations for the beginning of our semester and I am so thankful and excited to share it with anyone and everyone who will listen!

Our Cru staff team returned back to Hattiesburg and began our planning on August 15th after spending our summers all over the world, literally. Andrew, Elizabeth & Wilson led a Cru Summer Project to Jackson Hole, Marshall helped lead a group of students in the Miami Summer Project, Claire helped lead students in the Greek Summit Summer Project (Destin, FL), and Mitch and I helped lead students in the Durban, South Africa Summer Project. Although we all had incredible summers serving the Lord through Summer Projects, we were very excited to get back to Southern Miss and begin the fall semester. This semester, we will be studying the Sermon on the Mount in our large weekly group meeting as well as in several of our community groups (small groups) through out the week. We truly desire for God to use us as salt and light on this campus and we hope that the students will join us in our efforts to establish the gospel's presence on Southern Miss' campus.

Two nights before school began, we hosted a Leadership dinner for 20 students who had voiced their desire to be ambassadors for Christ and leaders within Cru. Andrew casted vision for our desire for everyone student on USM's campus to have heard the gospel and for the campus to be known for their passion for God. In addition, Mitch was able to express the importance of establishing gospel communities (small groups) in each of our lives so as to share the gospel with all person's we are in contact with. It was a great and motivating start to our fall semester!

A few days before school began, we were able to host a Cru table during Southern Miss' Welcome Week. We had the opportunity to meet so many freshmen and give them the opportunity to plug immediately in to our ministry. The first day of school was on August 22nd and we kicked-off the semester by hosting our first weekly meeting that night. And here is where God truly blew our expectations out of the water: We had almost 80 students show up to our first meeting! And what is even more incredible is that those 80 students heard the gospel on their first day of school. God is amazing.

And just to further show how much greater God is than our expectations, we had almost 30 freshmen come out to our Cru Freshmen Cook-Out on Thursday night, August 23rd. We had such a great night of fellowship, meeting new students, cooking-out, and sharing even more opportunities to get involved with in Cru.

God has been doing so many amazing works here at Southern Miss since the beginning of the semester and all these amazing things are only from the first week! I cannot wait to share how He will continue to make Himself known here on this campus in the following weeks! Please continue to pray for our movement, our staff and the students involved, that we will continue to hunger for Christ and desire to live a life worthy of the works that we have been called to!

Durban Summer Project Debrief

Well we have been back in the States for 2 days now and we are still catching up on sleep and getting use to being back on Central time! However, adjusting to different times and schedules has not been the most difficult part, but adjusting to now having our team around us at all times. Spending five weeks in a foreign country without your friends, family, or any form of technology means that you cling pretty heavily to the team that you are living with. So you can imagine that not having that close group of people around you anymore requires quite an adjustment! We love being back home with our friends and family but we have been missing our sweet Durban team (and not to mention our sweet Durban friends!) a great deal.

The past five weeks have been an incredible journey for Mitch and I and we are so thankful to our supporters, friends & family for making it possible for us to go to Durban to serve the Lord. Because we had never staffed a summer project before, this trip was quite a learning experience for us. However, we have never felt more prepared or more assured of our calling to minister to college students. God was so gracious to us in allowing us to go on this trip and be able to learn & grow into more effective collegiate ministers. In addition, God truly used our trip to Durban to break both of our hearts for international ministry and different people groups. 

I wish that we could write down every single detail of our entire trip but that would be an overwhelming blog to read! We hope to get the opportunity to see everyone soon and be able to tell of our trip in person, but until then, we want to at least share some of our pictures- Hope you enjoy!

Music: After All (Holy)- David Crowder; Let us Love- NeedtoBreathe; Down at the Cross- St. Andrews Hymns

Durban: Week Five

We are finishing up our last week in Durban and although we do miss our friends and family very much, we are so sad to be leaving! We have spent the past five weeks with a group of 15 amazing students who we have become very close with and saying good-bye to them will not be easy. In addition, we have made such great friends with the UKZN students and interns, as well as Anele. Thankfully, Christians never have to say good-bye forever!

We have spent this week again at the UKZN Westville campus sharing the gospel and disciplining students. This past weekend, we had the privilege of witnessing 4 of our students get baptized in the Indian Ocean: Maddy, Paige, Jacob & Katherine. Although the morning was a little colder than usual, as a team we listened as they shared their testimonies and the things that God has been doing in their hearts while in Durban. It was such a sweet experience to be able to be a part of that special day with them.

This past week, we have spent on campus going out in pairs and sharing the gospel with students who are willing to let us share what we believe. Although we went into the week pretty tired and drained, God has amazed us with the number of students who have been not only receptive to the gospel but who have voiced their true desire to begin a relationship with Christ and walk with Him! It has been an incredible week getting to witness God use us and the students to share the gospel- as well as giving us all the boldness we didn't think we had!

We had our last small group on Tuesday night down at the student's favorite restaurant: Mugg&Bean (yes, its an American restaurant). Wednesday night, we spent the night reflecting on the past 5 weeks and all that God has been doing through us and to us. We also have slowly begun the debriefing process, which is going to be harder for some than others. After being on a 5 week trip overseas, it is often extremely difficult for people, especially students, to go back to their lives without having the support of their mission team around them. Because of this, we have been spending extra time encouraging students on how to make the transition as easy and comforting as possible.

Tomorrow we will attend our last weekly meeting on campus and then we will be heading for a night of bowling with the team to wind down. Saturday will be filled with more debriefing discussion and activities and our last night out to dinner. We will be leaving around 9 a.m. (3a.m. eastern time) Sunday morning for the States and will arrive in Atlanta on Monday around 2 pm Eastern Time. Please pray for our last couple of days here as well as for safe travel and lifted spirits as we leave. We cannot wait to get back and give you more details and stories from our trip and we look forward to seeing all of our friends and families!

Durban: Week Four

We are officially down to only one week left! I cannot believe that our time here is already coming to a close, it seems like we just got here yesterday. Due to fact that I am running extremely low on internet time this morning, this update will be short (until I can buy more internet minutes). However, I will be filling in details that I have missed as soon as we get back in the States!

This past weekend, we ventured to the Valley of 1000 Hills and got to see the traditional Zulu dancers as they preformed a typical marriage dance/ courting dance. The students really loved it and it was a great way to spend our free Saturday. On Sunday, we all were able to attend our first Zulu church service. Although the services are about 3-4 hours long, and all in Zulu, thanks to individual interpreters we really enjoyed the services and getting to meet members of Anele's church!

This whole week we have been on the Westville campus of the Universtity of Kwa-Zulu Natal. We have spent the week doing outreaches everyday by asking a different question to the campus each day: What is sin? What is grace? What is love? In addition to the outreach, we have been going across campus sharing the gospel with students and discipling students we have met. The Lord has been doing amazing work this week and we have seen several people come to Christ because of His work through us! We have had the opportunity to talk with and share the gospel with Shembe followers, Hindus, Muslims, etc. It has been a trying week but an incredible week! God is so good.

Today, we will be attending the weekly Crusade meeting on campus and discussing the topic "What is love?" Paul Meyer, a staff member with us on our trip, will be speaking to the students about God's love and what it means for those who follow Christ. Please continue to pray for the advancement of the gospel on this campus and the growth of the Crusade movement here!

Durban: Week Three

This week has been one of the craziest weeks we have had here so far! Since it was our last week in the communities, our schedule has been very busy but very productive. This past weekend, we ventured to Isinkwe for a all-day safari on Saturday. We spent 12 hours travelling around and viewing God's creation including a cheetah, rhinos, a hippo, lions, elephants, zebras, giraffes, and more! It was an incredible day and we were so thankful that the animals decided to come out.

On Monday, we spent the day working along side a church that works with the Isaiah House (orphanage). The boys spent the day helping construct a new building, while the girls spent the morning prayer-walking around some of the occult meeting sites that were near by (will explain more in coming posts). In the afternoon, most of the team went to the local daycare to spend time with the kids of the community. I had the priveledge of going door-to-door with a couple of students to share the gospel with the community. The people here are so open to the gospel- it is very refreshing!

On Tuesday, we went back to the same place and the boys once again helped with construction. Mitch, myself and a large group went back to the local daycare. The daycare offers to watch preschool aged kids or younger for familys that are single parent homes or home where both parents have died and the older siblings are caring for the house hold. We closed out the day by playing a huge soccer game with some of the local kids (they were a little bit better than us!).

On Wednesday, we spent the day at an AIDS Hospice called Ukhakane (might be spelled wrong- it means light in the darkness). The boys helped build a fence at the entrance of the facility while myself and the girls painted some of the patient's rooms. At the end of the day, we celebrated Nelson Mandela day (July 18th) by going to the World Cup Stadium and watching Manchester United play Ama-Zulu. The game kicked off by the whole stadium singing happy birthday to Nelson Mandela- it was a once in a lifetime experience for sure!

On Thursday, we went back to Ukhakane and continuted to work on our painting projects and the fence. At lunch time, Penny (the woman who began the ministry), took us down the road to a local meat shop. We all picked out meat and they grilled it on a huge braai for us for lunch. It was quite an experience (and a little nervewracking) but the meat was actually very good! It was a great end to our time in the communities.

Today, we are spending the day training the students in evangelism methods. Mitch also will be spending some time teaching them about Islam so that they may be prepared if they meet Muslim students on campus. Tonight, the UKZN interns are joining us at our place and we are having a huge cookout. We have made such sweet friendships here- its going to be so hard to leave!

Please continue to pray for our team. We have a couple who have been sick this week, myself included, and are having a hard time getting better. Also, please pray for us as we begin our time on campus. Pray for open hearts for those we will speak to, as well as for our students to have courage and to be faithful in spreading the gospel. We miss you all and covet your prayers!

Durban: Week Two

We have successfully made it through week two and have had an amazing week! Last Saturday, our group hosted a VBS for local kids from the Kwa-Dabeka township. HIS church, Anele's homechurch, has a ministry called KwaCare which pays for the schooling fees, clothes, and food for a select number of kids that come from families that cannot afford to pay the yearly school fees (roughly 12 US dollars a year). We hosted a VBS for these kids on Saturday and were able to share several Bible stories with them, the Jesus Film for kids, and the gospel in whole.

On Sunday, we visited HIS church alongside of Anele and the UKZN students and interns we have been working with. It was a great opportunity to experience a different church and worship alongside our new South African friends.

On Monday, we ventured out to a community called the "Newlands". Before the Aparteid, the "Newlands" was created to house all of the "colored" people so that they were not living in the white South African neighborhoods. We partnered with a church called Shalom Outreach Fellowhip, which was started and run by ex-gang members and Christian men with amazing testimonies of how God brought them out of the darkness. We spent Monday doing door-to-door evangelism with members of the community and praying for those whom we talked with. We also had an "outdoor service", where some of the leaders of the church and the youth group shared their testimonies and truth from the gospels over a loud speaker.

On Tuesday, we had the opportunity to sit in on the church's Tuesday morning service and introduce ourselves to the community. We also got the opportunity to spend time with the church's youth group, sharing testimonies and getting to know them and their culture.

On Wednesday, We headed to a place called Cato Manor where we hosted another VBS. We spent the morning playing games, singing songs (like the kids all-time favorite "Father Abraham"), and doing crafts. After lunch and another round of games, I (Amy) had the opporutnity to share the gospel alongside one of our students, Kris, with 50 plus kids. At the end, we were able to pray with the students who desired a relationship with Christ and explain to them what a life with the Spirit looks like. It was an incredible experience.

On Thursday, We had another day of VBS with the kids of Cato Manor and we were able to share the Jesus Film with them. Their craft for the day was to make a giant chain out of strips of paper where they wrote down what they were thankful for. Some of their answers broke my heart: "I am thankful that God that my parents are still living", "I thank God I have a mother", "I thank God that I am still living", and "I thank God for keeping me until today". The pain and hardships that these kids are going through at such young ages is devestating- but they are so thankful!! I am learning so much about humility and thankfulness from such young people.

Today (Friday), we are heading out for the weekend to go on a Safari! Each 5-week summer project has a fun activity somewhere in the project to "debrief". We hope this finds everyone back home well and we look forward to sharing with you again next week!

Greetings From Durban!

We have officially made it to South Africa and almost all of the way through our first week! Mitch and I met our entire team at 8:00 a.m. Sunday, July 1st, at the Atlanta airport where we began our journey to Durban. Our flight arrived in Durban at 8:00 p.m. Monday, July 2nd. We had a little mix up with the rental cars, but we finally got it smoothed our and we were on our way to our home for the next 5 weeks!

Tuesday morning, we woke up and headed to our first day in the township of Kwa-Dabeka. We helped do some much needed landscaping (clearing overgrown roads), handing out rice and soup to the orphans and the sick, and getting to know our partners from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. The team leader, Anele, has planned out our entire 3 weeks in the townships and we have loved getting to know him and the other South African students we are working with. We ended Tuesday night in our small groups going through Tim Keller's 2 Timothy study.

Wednesday, we ventured to another part of Kwa-Dabeka and spent the morning picking up trash around the houses/apartments. In the afternoon, we split into groups and began getting ready for our AIDS/HIV training session that we will be hosting on Saturday. The 5 different sessions explain what AIDS/HIV is, how it is contracted, how to protect yourself, how to treat others with AIDS/HIV, and how to make smart choices with God for your life. We will also be putting together a Vacation Bible School for primary age children on Saturday as well. Wednesday ended with a night of reflection to meditate on the things we have seen this week and how God can be using us while we are here.

Yesterday, we spent the morning hosting a thrift store for the community and a soup kitchen. Before soup was given out, the gospel was presented and we had the opportunity to talk to members of the Kwa-Dabeka community and pray for them. In the afternoon, we continued our AIDS/HIV training and some of us girls also got dance lessons from some of the women in the community center. We ended Thursday with men's and women's time, discussing the past week and our spiritual walks.

Today, we had a day off which has been spent on the beach hanging out with our South African partners. The boys have made attempts to play rugby and we ended up running into a World Race Team that is currently in Durban and from the States! It has been a great day of fellowship, relaxation, and spiritual conversations that will end tonight with a group cook-out and a trip to watch the local rugby team play!

We have loved being in Durban and are so excited to see how God is going to use us to serve the people here as well as work in our hearts and the hearts of our students. Please continue to pray for changed lives as well for the safety of us and our students, as we are in some pretty dangerous parts in Durban. We will update again at the end of next week and cannot wait to share some amazing stories!

Preparing for South Africa

Well time has eluded me once again and I now sit here staring (and by staring I mean gawking/hyperventilating) at the 5 days that linger between today and the beginning of our South African adventure. I have yet to do laundry, nor pack, but I do know where my passport is- a small step in the right direction!

Our journey to Durban officially begins at noon on Sunday, when we will fly from Atlanta to Washington D.C. From D.C., we will fly to Dakar, Senegal; from Dakar to Johannesburg, S.A.; and finally from Johannesburg to Durban. We will arrive in Durban Monday afternoon and begin to settle into our new home for the next 5 weeks! (and by settle in I mean crash from our 24 hour travel)

For the first three weeks of our project, our team will be working alongside of South African students from the University of Kwazulu-natal in the townships of Durban. The townships, or "slums", are predominately made up of black South Africans and are home to the lowest socioeconomic  class of Durban. We will be spending most of our time working at the local AIDS Hospice and orphanage, assisting in any way that we can.

Township right outside Durban

The last two weeks we are in Durban will be spent on the campuses of the University of Kwazulu-natal sharing the gospel, meeting with students, and working alongside of the the South African Cru staff there. At nights during the week, we will have small group Bible studies, men's & women's community groups, team dinners, and large group meetings (on different nights of the week).

Because we will not have cell phones, and will only have access to the internet via once-a-week visits to an internet cafe, this blog will be our main source for updates on our trip and experience. We will make a point to update our blog at  least once a week with the highs, lows, praises, and prayer requests of our team. We are extremely excited to embark on this adventure and pray that God's glory will radiate greater than we could have ever hoped or imagined!

Our new house!

We have officially settled into our new house, and I must say... we are loving it! God has been so good to us to allow us to be home owners and we truly are so blessed to have a home of our own here in Hattiesburg! However, it still was not easy to surrender our sweet Georgia tags. But alas, we did finally give in and transfer our car over to a Mississippi registration. 

But enough about the car. After many requests for pictures, Mitch and I have worked diligently to complete painting projects (with help from my family) & other fix-ups around the house so that we could share a little bit of our new place with all of our friends & family!.So with out further ado, here is a preview of our new house!

Front of the house

Master Bedroom

Living Room

Office

Kitchen/ Dining Room

Backyard

Like I said, God has been so good to us! We have already enjoyed the house so much and we cannot wait to host cook outs, bible studies, and hang out nights come fall. We are so grateful for everyone who helped us in this process and made owning a house possible- and enjoyable! :)

Summer Shenanigans

Our summer has officially begun with a huge and exciting bang! Okay, so he is actually isn't huge, 8lbs 1oz to be exact, but we are still pretty excited that we are officially and aunt and uncle! My brother and sister-in-law (Josh and Stephanie) welcomed sweet little Caleb Neel on May 14, 2012 and we couldn't be happier for them (or lets be honest, for us too). There is no greater way to start your summer than to spend a couple of days with your new nephew and family. (We have officially bragged about Caleb on Facebook and Twitter so we figured a blog shout-out was deserved as well).

Proud new parents!

After spending a couple of days in Columbus, Mitch and I drove back to Hattiesburg on Thursday so that we could be up and ready to move into our new house on Friday! Thanks to help from Andrew & Elizabeth (and Wilson, of course), as well as Mitch's cousin Andrew, the move went very smoothly and we are slowly working towards getting our new place put together! 

We are excited to spend the month of June visiting family & friends, working on support, and preparing for our time in South Africa- only 36 more days until we fly out! 

(If you would like to keep up with us through our monthly email newsletter, please email me at amybethschuster@gmail.com so I can add you to our mailing list!)

First Annual Crusade Crawfish Boil

The first year of Southern Miss Crusade has officially come to an end and what's a better way to celebrate than a crawfish boil?? Down here, absolutely nothing!

This past Thursday night, we hosted the First Annual Southern Miss Crusade crawfish boil to celebrate all the incredible things that God has done on our campus this year and all the incredible things He is sending students to do this summer! We have so many students traveling all over the world this summer to serve God through medical missions, camp counseling, campus ministry, orphanage ministry, and more. They will be serving God through these things in places like Jackson Hole, Ethiopia, South Africa, Texas, Mississippi, New Orleans, Miami, Destin, Honduras, and other cities and countries who are in need of disciples. 

At the crawfish boil!
(From left: Bri, me, De-De, and Claire)

During the crawfish boil, we had a time of prayer for those who were being "sent ones" this summer and an opportunity for them to say where they were going and what they would be doing. Although the crawfish and the fellowship were amazing, I must say that this was the highlight of the evening- seeing students chose to use their summer glorifying Christ rather than themselves. Have I mentioned how incredible our students are and how incredible our God is??

We spent the evening hanging out, listening to Sam (a USM student) sing and play guitar (beautifully I might add!), and digging in to some really good and REALLY spicy crawfish! It was the perfect end to an incredible year and it makes us so excited for the fall semester. God has exceeded our expectations greater than we could have ever imagined at Southern Miss and spending an evening glorifying Him was such a sweet ending to the semester.

The crawfish boil came to a close around 9:30, but was the night over? Absolutely not! A large group of us headed over to the theater to see the midnight premiere of the Avengers together. I am proud to say that Crusade took up almost a whole theater (I'm sure those who were not in our group were not as impressed)! Although our early staff meeting was a tad bit rough the next morning, it was a great ending to a great night and a perfect way to kick-off the summer! 

Crusade at the midnight premiere of the Avengers

Southeast Staff Conference & Southern Miss Planning

This past weekend, Mitch, myself & our Southern Miss staff team travelled down to Destin, Florida for our Southeast Staff Retreat. Not only was the weather beautiful, but the teaching was uplifting & the fellowship was revitalizing! Along with the Southern Miss team, we joined campus teams from all over the Southeast for a weekend of relaxation, worship, fellowship, and incredible teaching from Gary Runn (a longtime minister with Campus Crusade). We spent the weekend in the book of Mark studying three types of hearts: the hardened heart, the distant heart, and the humble heart. It is weekends like this past weekend that make Mitch and I so thankful to be able to work with such an amazing group! How many people get to spend their work conferences worshipping with their co-workers and studying the Word of God??

Claire, me, Mitch and Marshall at Baytown

We kicked off the weekend with a night of worship/teaching and a good old fashioned bake-off! Each campus team entered at least two baked goods and the winners were announced the next night. Marshall represented for Southern Miss by winning the men's category with his Chocolate Chip Bacon cookies (yes they are exactly what they sound like). They claim he won only for creativity but I hear that they are actually pretty good!

Mitch and I 

In addition to the morning and evening group meetings, we also got to spend the weekend catching up with Crusade friends from across the Southeast. Mitch and I stayed in a cottage with a sweet couple that I joined staff with this summer & a couple that is on staff at Ole Miss. We also got to spend some time with Chris & Katy Collins who we will be going to South Africa with this summer. It was such a refreshing weekend and a great time catching up with friends!

Southern Miss Staff Team
(Wilson, Andrew, Elizabeth, Mitch, me, Claire, Marshall)

After the conference ended Sunday night, our Southern Miss staff team stayed a couple more days in Destin to start our planning for next semester. My parents, Chris & Betty, graciously allowed us to stay in their condo for a couple days and we are so thankful! We spent the mornings and afternoons planning out the next semesters events and meetings and we couldn't be more excited for what God is going to do at Southern Miss next year! Stay tuned to hear more about the end of the semester here at Southern Miss and what we will be studying in the fall through out the ministry!