Noah's Friday Update: 10/12/12

Hey friends!

Happy Friday!  Today's Friday Update contains a few mini-updates.

Typical...

Katie and I received two messages yesterday that do well to illustrate the variety of "typical" things that happen in our work.

• Yesterday, Katie received a text message from a student who just suffered a very significant setback in something that she has poured her whole life into (sorry to be vague).  Her parents received the first calls, as this student found out her news, but Katie was next on the list.  At a last minute meeting last night, Katie got to hear this student pour her heart out, and was able to listen and encourage and pray for her.  Our hearts ache for this student, but we sense that the Lord will use this event to draw her closer to Himself.
  
• Yesterday, I received a text message from one of our senior students.  His request was a lighter one:  "Do you have a tent we can borrow for camping this weekend?"  It's fun to be able to be a "Dad" to these students as we serve and help them along.

Fall on Green Street

We have a love/hate relationship this time of year with Green St, the lovely street we live on in Champaign.

Love!

LOVE!

HATE!!

Our block has a canopy of large old trees hanging over it.  In the fall, it's probably one of the most beautiful blocks in the city!

Then, all the leaves fall.  We had a reprieve last year, only having to fill 60-70 large paper bags full of leaves. Previous years, the count was in the 90s!  We'll keep you updated :)

Fall Conference

A week from today, we leave for our annual regional fall conference:  Journey 2012.  We'll gather with 200+ students from campuses in Illinois and Indiana.  The speaker this year is Tom Yeakley, former collegiate director for The Navigators, who actually was the speaker at my first fall conference as a student at UWEC.  His messages are the most memorable I've heard, and greatly challenged me to trust God with all of my life.  I'm anxious for our students to hear from him.

Our campus staff are in charge of the registration for the conference this year.  The next week will be filled with preparations for this.  Katie will be spending the weekend (and following week) with her parents in Platteville.  She's sad to miss out, but a young child and a pregnant body would prevent her from being able to experience too much at the conference.  I know she'll enjoy her time at home, and I'll be freed to serve our students in whatever way they need.

Please pray that God would impact our students' lives tremendously at this conference.  These conferences are significant times of momentum in the lives of our students.  Pray that they would be challenged to trust God in life-altering ways.

Grace to you all!  Thank you for standing with us for the Kingdom of God!

-Noah