Summer Projects = "Spiritual Greenhouse"

I (Jenny) started ISU as a believer, but I was still very much a "baby christian." And oh my goodness did God transform me during that first year of college. He used the ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ powerfully in my life. I built deep relationships with other Christian college students who were really fun but also knew the Lord and walked with Him in a way I didn't even know was possible. Cru provided a ton of weekly activities that were also incredible opportunities for me to grow in my faith. (Weekly bible study, evangelism training, being met with one on one, ect.)

Cru created an environment where I could learn more about Jesus and how to live a life that glorified him. Summer Project is a similar environment...only intensified.It's like a spiritual greenhouse. The setting is this: Something like 40-120 students from around the US gather together for an entire summer. Cru has summer projects in places like Ocean City, Virginia Beach, San Diego, Ft. Collins, Grand Traverse Bay, and other locations that are hot spots for the summer. (Or for our more internationally minded students, they could go on a summer project in Berlin, East Asia, or Rome....to name a few.) These students spend their summers in community with other believers and are built into like crazy. Each student is in a small group, each is mentored by a Cru staff or intern, and all our students receive training in studying the bible and sharing their faith. Students also get a summer job (like McDonald's or a local ice cream parlor) and learn how to build relationships with their co-workers and share the love of Christ with them. Half way through the U.S. projects, staff leave! The students step up and lead the project, and it's an incredible opportunity to trust God, take steps of faith, and grow spiritually BIG TIME. Our prayer is that as students make it a point to really focus on God for that summer, He will meet them there in exciting and unexpected ways.

Purdue has 22 students on summer projects this summer! 2 of them are Windsor girls who I had the privilege to work with this past year: KC and Stacy. Pray for them! They are headed to Ft. Collins, Colorado for 7 weeks! :)

Summertime

Now that summer is here, most of our students are back at home. 22 Purdue Cru students are heading to Summer Projects with Cru. (More about that to come!) We are spending our summer in our cozy apartment in Lafayette! I posted a few pictures of our apartment below, just for fun. :)  Our full-time job is continuing to build our support team! This year we were part-time staff at Purdue, and we are hoping, praying, wishing, dreaming, working hard to report to Purdue in the fall as full-time staff!!!

Berlin, Berlin, Berlin!

Campus Crusade for Christ is at work in 191 countries worldwide! We are praying that through our efforts, everyone will know someone who truly follows Jesus. To help see this vision accomplished, campus movements here in the U.S. partner with universities overseas. In the Great Lakes region we partner with Venezuela, Rome, the Gateway city, East Asia, Fiji, and Berlin. Purdue partners with 3 universities in Berlin: Technische, Freie, and Humboldt. This spring break Caleb and I had the opportunity to take 8 Purdue students to Berlin to share the gospel with students at these universities. We spent our mornings in prayer for the students, our afternoons at the universities, and our evenings sightseeing. Berlin is incredible. The people are kind and welcoming. They genuinely enjoy building relationships and talking with people, and the students take school very seriously. Spiritually Berlin was very "cold." Even though the students enjoyed hearing us talk about our faith in Jesus, they weren't interested in knowing more about Him for themselves. But CCC is committed to sending laborers there, and we are trusting that God is going to work in this city! Enjoy some pictures of our trip!

Our group in front of the Berliner Dome.

The girls hanging out at a CCC staffers apartment.

All on the U-Bahn.

Crazy Americans at the U-Bahn stop. :)

Windsor Hall

I (Jenny) was very blessed to work with the women of Windsor Hall! Windsor is actually an area of campus made up of five different buildings: Vawter, Shealy, Duhme, Wood, and Warren. About 800 girls live there, with the vast majority of them being upperclassmen. I remember my first day in Windsor. I stood in the parking lot and thought, "Really, God? You think I can do this?" But God had some great things in store for me! I spent my first few weeks meeting the girls who had been involved in CRU the previous year and who were interested in leading this year. They were so welcoming and excited to grow in their faith. We met with other girls in Windsor and passed out postcards advertising our Wednesday night Bible Study. For our first bible study I baked 24 chocolate cookies, and I imagined I'd have a bunch left over. When I walked into the Wood basement my jaw dropped. 31 girls came to that first Bible Study. My first thought was, "Hmm. I should've made more cookies...." Through small group and discipleship the women of Windsor grew in their faith and their relationships with one another. I have a sweet group of junior girls who are returning to Windsor ministry next year as Seniors, and I am so excited to see what God has in store for them during their last year of Purdue. There will also be a core group of sophomores and juniors returning as well! I'm already excited for the fall...

Me with some of the Windsor girls! This was taken during the first week-ish of school.

Tarkington Hall

It's hard to believe our first year serving at Purdue is already over! When people ask us how it's been, our answer is always the same: even better than we could have imagined. Caleb worked with the men at Tarkington Hall, or Tark, as it's more commonly known. He started the year with a small group of committed upperclassman Tark guys who had a heart to reach their dorm. Right off the bat a fantastic group of freshmen guys started attending small group. The guys clicked and formed some amazing friendships. Caleb got to spend the year pouring into them, teaching them how to study the Word inductively and how to share their faith. The result is that Caleb has a group of 15 committed students who are excited to come back in the Fall and reach Tark with the Gospel!

Caleb surrounded by his Tark guys at the Cru Ugly Sweater Christmas Party.