Our First Week of Trips

Well, our first week of trips is finished- Thankfully! As in all things in life there was good and bad in each trip, but overall the week, as crazy as it was, went pretty smoothly. So, for all of you that were praying- here's how they went:

Fraternity- Rafting: They had a whole boat of guys flip over at the biggest rapid on the river- that always makes for a fun and exciting trip! The response to the spiritual part of the program was pretty good. In fact, about 3 or 4 guys circled yes on the response card that they would like to get together with someone from Lifelines to talk more about having a relationship with God. In a culture that dislikes committment a good response is "maybe"- so when people circle "yes" that usually means that God is really doing something. To have that many guys from a fraternity circle yes is pretty amazing!

Husson Women's Soccer- Rafting: Logistically this trip wasn't so smooth- I believe that Joe called it a "train wreck." Nothing serious- just all those little things. But, God uses those train wrecks. And apparently He did here because there was a great response to the program. Looks like we got some Husson girls to follow up with!

U-Maine Freshmen Welcome- Of the 6 years I've been at this freshmen organizations fair this one was by far the worse. The freshmen arrived from another meeting really late- and so by the time they got there everyone was starving and thus far more interested in food than student organizations. As a result we had fewer students sign up for trips than usual. But we did have 50 sign up for rafting, 12 for paintball, 6 for climbing, and 20 generally interested in Lifelines. Given the circumstances not too bad.

Women's Ice Hockey Climbing- The whole program went really smoothly and the girls were really challenged. I heard them say that this was a day that they'll never forget (we like to hear that). The spiritual response was lower than we expected- but we have about 5 or 6 girls to follow up with (including 2 of the girls I was with most of the afternoon)- so I'm excited about that.

Husson Freshmen Challenge Course- Well, we were hoping for about 100 freshmen and we got 18. We were bummed. Apparently Husson didn't do such a good job advertising it. But we got 18 students and they had a great time, were really bonded after the program (one of our objectives) and were introduced to Campus Crusade for the first time.

So yeah, as you can see- good and bad. So, what I've been reminding myself is that we give God the glory when something really good happens- so I'm going to try to work on trusting that He was/is in control when the disappointing things happen too. God is good- all the time.

Up for this week: Friday is a welcome back BBQ for students in Crusade/Lifelines (pray that we'll meet some new students who want to get involved). Saturday is rafting with a fraternity- Sigma Chi. Sunday is the freshmen rafting trip. Right now we don't have enough guides to cover both rafting trips so please pray that works out! Another big week- we sure do appreciate your prayers!