The Fabulous Five

We started the semester with just 5 students. Thank God that it was these five. These students have been such a blessing to us, both in the ministry and in their friendships. It would be difficult to fathom San Diego without these gems.

God has blessed the ministry at SDSU above and beyond our expectations. Yes, we started the year with only a handful of students, but God grew that little group 4 times over. It was so awesome to each of these students grow in Christ, and continue growing in their friendships with others and one another. It was a privilege working with these students. Lord's willing these students will stay in the San Diego area for another year, which is exciting for us personally, because that means our friendships with them have the possibility of growing even more.

Our theme verse for our ministry is Luke 10:2 He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. These students have exemplified what it means to be laborers for Christ.

With the semester at SDSU now at a close. I just wanted to take a minute to show these students off.

Thanks guys for all your perseverance. Your friendships and laborers in the Lord mean more to us then you'll ever know.

Community

By Val,

"This isn't real. It'll be hard going back, because here you have people who understand you...who get it and understand what you do." -Kristine Maschhoff

Ryan and I recently got back from our last training (called a summit) as EDGEr's. EDGE is a 1-2 yr commitment to ministering on a college campus with the Navigators. Our EDGE class recently ended it's 2yr commitment with over 70 members (shown at top). I've had mixed feelings about this class because I entered into it a year late. However, out of everyone I talked to regarding how this summit feels, I resonated with Kristine's comment the most. True, unfortunately I did not get time with everyone in my class. However, there was such a sense of camaraderie, acceptance, and partnership. All these people, in some form or another, have experienced the same things concerning college ministry as Ryan and I. Like Ryan and I, they've all experienced the fear of funding, the excitement of starting the semester, the disappointments of students flaking out on you, the hardships of creating community and the heartbreaks that come when you commit to living life alongside these students.

These 70 people created a safe place for me last week. I felt like I had community, friends, a place to belong. But...in many ways it wasn't real. Ryan and I go back to SDSU in a couple months, still struggling to fit in our church, fightning to find community, and inching our way towards true friendships. However, this summit gave me hope. Hope that SDSU can feel that same sense of community through the unitied purpose of advancing the gospel. That we will really be a ministry that picks each other up after falls. That everyone in the minstry will feel a sense of belonging. I pray that for our students....But I guess even more I pray that for Ryan and I. For how can we create community for our students if we ourselves aren't investing in our own community?

Off We Go...!

By Val
"Off we go, into the wild blue yonder flying high into the sun"....um. or something like that.

Ryan and I had our 3hr hour, gruesome, no bars held interview on Tuesday. It was to evaluate whether we could continue on in staff with the Navigators. The interviewers dig through all your past and find all your juicy secrets which you then have to flesh out with them. Okay... Maybe it's not that bad. BUT you do have to go through different aspects of your past and discuss what you've learned, how you've healed and if further action is required in order to help us to become spiritually and emotionally healthy missionaries.

God was soooooooooo gracious. We talked through some pretty difficult stuff and they asked some tough questions but through it all we felt our interviewers were so loving and full of grace. Coming out of it Ryan and I felt so blessed to be a part of an organization that cares so much of the well being of their staff.

So the short end of it is they gave us the green flag. Staff in Training here we come! Staff in Training is the next step in our training to be full fledged Navigator Staff. It is generally a 2-3 year commitment and is more focused on training. Our desire, if God allows, is to one day open a Navigator program at an untouched campus and this is one step closer to that dream.