Well we did it, or should I say God did it! Our first Nav Night was a true success.  Many students that we have been praying for and trying to connect with over the past week (new contacts that we met at quad day) as well as returning students) CAME! The atmosphere was very welcoming, students were excited to be there, we had a great little video about who The Navigators are (thanks to Noah!), the message was very powerful and it was a really encouraging night overall! We are really excited about the people that God is bringing to us and the work that HE is going to do!

On our way there Noah and I were laughing about how much stuff we had to bring! It's like on Jon & Katie plus 8 (Which I'm sure none of you have ever watched) but they often talk about all the things they had to bring for one meal or one day trip for a family of 10.O)  Well for us it was 1 cooler, 5  bottles of pop, 4 cakes, 4 bags of chips, 2 gallons ice cream, 50 cups, 50 plates, 1 drum, 3 boxes of Nav stuff, 2 banners, 1 drum, 2 backpacks, oh yeah AND US! :)

Well at the end of the night it started to DOWNPOUR and all of that stuff got loaded up in the rain.  :) To top it off we learned the disadvantage of living in a FLAT place.  All of the rain caused the streets to flood-- and long story short it took us just under an HOUR to drive 2 miles to get home! All of the streets were blocked off because they were flooded, cars were stuck everywhere, police cars were blocking roads off, etc. We tried many different ways to get home but they all were blocked.  Eventually, the rain stopped and we finally made it home.

Quite the adventure! :)

We are really excited for our first Nav Night tonight!! We are hoping to have lots of new people coming to check out our group.  We are both totally exhausted but are thankful for what God is doing already this semester.  Please pray for the energy we need to keep pressing on!

Despite our totally crazy non-stop schedule this week both Noah and I are really feeling at peace.  We are SO thankful for all of your prayers! Keep praying.

Praise the Lord our first two kick-off events (worship and root beer floats on Sunday and volleyball tonight) went really well.  We had a good mix of new students, returning students, and lots of people invited friends! At one point tonight we had all three volleyball courts filled. It is not about the numbers, but it is definitely encouraging to see lots of people we have met in the past few days come around for events like this!

Noah uses his time travel abilities to give you a peek at Kickoff Week at the University of Illinois...

Quad Day was a success!  Many students indicated interest in joining us this semester!  Please pray for us as we follow up on these contacts.

We also had a time of worship (along with some root-beer floats!) last night on the South Quad.  Several new people came, and it was great to get to know them.

Launch week continues...

After walking around campus and praying many times throughout the summer we have almost gotten used to the campus being bare.  Tonight while Jeff and I were praying around the six pack (the six dorms he and I are focusing on this fall) there were students everywhere. 

After praying for awhile Jeff mentioned the passage in Matthew 9 about sheep without a shepherd.  Essentially the thousands of students in the dorms are sheep without a shepherd. They are all trying to fit in and impress those around them with the way they dress, talk, act, live, etc.  All of these students are looking for something to follow. As Jesus said, without a shepherd, these sheep really are harassed and helpless. It stirs up compassion in us to watch them search, longing for someone to follow. Will you pray with us that they will decide to follow Christ?

Tomorrow is quad day.  Essentially there will be 500-800 student organizations on the main quad of the university passing out information and trying to get students interested in their organization.

Our desire is to interact with students who are seeking the Lord already or have a desire to learn more about Him. We don't have a significant presence in the dorms right now so it is crucial that we make connections with some new student contacts.

Please pray for energy as we will be on campus for the majority of the day tomorrow between quad day and our first event tomorrow night!

Although neither Noah nor I want to admit it, I think we both are a little more nervous for fall kick-off than we anticipated! It is all so new and huge and unknown and overwhelming to us.  We really are excited but being nervous can paralyze you a bit.  Thanks for your prayers- please pray that we will go out trusting in our GOD to take care of us and lead the way when we are on campus.

This week we are headed to Chicago (Tues-Wed) for a little getaway before the chaos begins.  We are really excited to take the train to Chicago, explore the area, visit Navy Pier and help my brother move into college at Moody.

We will return to Champaign on Wednesday, along with 40,000 students :)  Friday we are hosting a Housewarming Party for our neighbors and friends.  Then Saturday we jump full steam ahead with 6 Nav outreach events in the next week!

We have a few contacts of new students that we are eager to meet and we anticipate return of some of our students who have been home for the summer.

If you think of us, pray that we will take advantage of the "calm" and get truly ready and rested before the "storm" that is almost here. 

Supposedly we have had one of the coolest summer on record but it has been absolutely BEAUTIFUL! For the last 10 days it has been in the mid 80s and sunny EVERY day! Everyone else is calling it cool, we are calling it perfect!

Thank you Lord!!