Beginnings

The staff team: us, The Pepsnys, Morgan, and The Winders

This Monday the 27th classes finally began here at OSU. It was so wonderful to walk on campus and around Greek Row and see so many students everywhere! We feel like our part in the ministry here can really begin now. We had our first Greekside Nav night last night and about 30 students came for the dessert and discussion. It went really well and it was great to reconnect with students we have already met and to meet a whole bunch of new ones. This term we are looking at most of the world's major religions and comparing them to Christianity. Last night we began with an overview of the series and the passage of scripture that goes along with the series which is:

Colossians 2: 6-8
"Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ."

The staff team all decided that this verse fit the vision for this series because it touches on being rooted and established in your Christian faith so that you will know how to share Him with others and also so that you will not be deceived by other philosophies in the world. By sharing information about some of the world's religions we are hoping to equip students with knowledge so that they are aware of what many people around them think and are able to enter into discussion intelligently.

We are also beginning bible studies next week. We will have 4 bible studies going on each week with students from different fraternities and sororities meeting together and even some non-Greek students as well. It should be a great term and we are excited to see what God does through these next 10 weeks and the whole year!

Settling In

Well we are finally settling in and getting used to living in Corvallis. Two weekends ago my parents came down to Corvallis and we were all able to go to the OSU football game against Louisville. It was really nice to see my parents and go to our first Beaver game which OSU won!

(Thanks Life Group for the OSU t-shirts!)

Then this past weekend we were able to go to a beach house near Newport Beach with the married couples life group from Mosaic that we led last year. It was so much fun to see everyone again and hear about how God has been working throughout the summer. We've passed the group off to our good friends and we are excited to see how God will use them and their leadership in the group this year. We had fun playing cards, watching football and going shopping at the outlets (only the girls of course!). It was such a blessing to be around good friends and people that have known us for a long time. As much fun as it is to be in a new town and meeting so many great new people, there is something to be said for being around people who truly know you. It was wonderful!

Officially in Corvallis

Last Wednesday Sept. 8th we officially moved to Corvallis and into the apartment at the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity house. We did the move and unpacked everything all in one day. We were pretty proud of ourselves (it may have something to do with the fact that we've moved every year since college so 5 times and counting!). We left the next day to go back up to Portland for the Laborers Retreat (basically a retreat for student leaders) which was great. It was our first interaction with many of these students and we loved it! We felt like we fit in well and are looking forward to getting to know the students as well as staff better this year. The students should arrive sometime in the next week and classes start the 27th - then things will really begin and we can't wait!

We are really enjoying getting to know the guys in the fraternity and they are all treating us very well. We think we definitely lucked out with the best house! Here is a tour of our little but perfectly adequate apartment:

The Kitchen . . . which we don't plan on using much. I guess I will learn to cook someday? : )



The living room . . . Living room view from the kitchen . . . the door in the back goes to our bedroom.
This table is right in front of the door that goes into the fraternity living room. The African bowl has candy as an incentive for guys to come visit - it's been working so far!
We even have a fireplace - unfortunately nobody remembers if it works or not (things are pretty relaxed around here).
The bathroom . . .

The bedroom . . . which fits our bed and that's about it. Luckily the closet fits all of our clothes!

Fraternity House Fix Up

This past Saturday we cleaned and painted our new Fraternity apartment and we discovered painting is NOT fun. 30 minutes after painting begins, all positive thoughts go out the window and dreams of finishing quickly increase. About a week prior to painting and cleaning our apartment at the fraternity, Lisa informed me that I was ‘terrible’ at painting, which in the moment hurt my feelings, but in hindsight she was quite prophetic; I am a terrible painter. Fortunately, we had reinforcements as Keith, the director of Navs at OSU helped us paint in the morning and our amazing friends, Steve and Megan spent the afternoon and night cleaning and painting with us. Though it was all quite tedious (we spent 12 hours in all!), the day was cluttered with laughter and wonderful conversations.

This is the living room before (ugly couch and recliner left by the previous house dad) . . .

The living room after. Still not perfect but MUCH better!

The Andersons and The Bruckers

A Bitter Sweet Season

July has come and gone. It seems like yesterday we were merely dreaming of ministering to college students at Oregon State and yet, with August here, we are reminded once again of the immanency of moving to Corvallis. We will be leaving behind friends, family, our church and the normalcy of life in Portland over the past 4 years. There is a great sense of nostalgia when it comes to moving, as Portland for us has been the context in which God has matured us, inspired us, and called us to Oregon State. Thus, we soon leave, singing a song of joyful lament, that though filled with great anticipation for the upcoming year, we are also filled with a deepening sense that we will be leaving very meaningful relationships behind. But we go, not fleeing to greener pastures, but clinging to the commission, which Christ has promised He will fulfill, through men and women who preach Christ, and Him crucified, to those aware and unaware of their need. We go, knowing uncomfortable times await us, because students at OSU need to know of the transformational work of Christ.

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