Waves

by Val

Last week we took a "vacation". Funny how our home is perfectly situated for such a thing. We had such an intense time during the beginning of summer with our training in CO and our meetings with people in AZ, I was completely peopled-out when we got back home to San Diego. I pretty much just curled up for the week and relished in my introvert side. However, a couple high points of the week was our trip to the beach, a half-day with Jesus at a coffee shop, and a trip to an amazing farmers market.

Ryan and I love just staring out at the beach. For me, I love watching any moving body of water. The tranquility and serenity of it...it's amazing. But the ocean especially, it kinda just washes over me and my worries. When staring at the ocean it's almost impossible NOT to think of how big God really is. A God so huge he can hold this mighty ocean in the palm of his hand...So powerful he spoke the very waters into existence.

Jer 5:22
Should you not fear me?" declares the LORD. "Should you not tremble in my presence? I made the sand a boundary for the sea, an everlasting barrier it cannot cross. The waves may roll, but they cannot prevail; they may roar, but they cannot cross it.

Is 40:12
Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?

As many of you know, Ryan and I will be in AZ most of the summer, funding and looking for summer jobs. However, though we may be very far from the ocean, this summer I'm praying that both myself and the students at SDSU will not forget tlook at the ocean. To look and remember how great and powerful our God is. We know that he keeps the ocean waves from prevailing, so why don't we trust him keep our personal troubles from prevailing. I worry so much and I know I need to discipline myself to trust God with my worries. To know that yes, the waves will roll...but they will not ultimately prevail.

New Path

Well, today we have to forge a new path for our summer. The previous path for our summer was to...
1) Go to Colorado for a week of training.
2) Go to Arizona to spend a couple weeks updating partners and thanking them for their support.
3)Go to California to help train students at a summer training program (STP) on relationships.
4)Go back to Arizona to meet with potential partners.

Well...our number 3 got blown out of the water.

Today we learned that the number of students attending the STP was far lower then expected. Also, our funding has been a difficult journey and never quite made it to 100% for the year. Because of that, our salary for a month or so has been cut back quite significantly to offset holes in our budget from last year. Because of these two factors we decided instead to go straight back to Arizona to find summer jobs and also to possibly meet with new people to share our vision and need.

This was an incredibly hard decision for both of us. However, we are praying that in the long run this decision will help free us up financially in the fall so we can be completly available to the students at SDSU.

We are completely financially dependent on the financial gifts of family and friends to allow us to minister full time on the campus. Their gifts enable us to be completely available to the students at SDSU with our time and resources. Without their gifts one or both of us will have to take a step back from the ministry in order to get part-time jobs. There is nothing wrong with an outside job, but we know from experience how draining it is on a person, a marriage and a ministry when one's time is pulled between work, marriage, community, and ministry.

We are praying for 38 new monthly partners this summer. Monthly commitments ranging from $10-$500, whatever God lays on one's heart. Would you consider partnering financially with us in the endeavor to proclaim Christ to this next generation? Please click on this link or email us at rpbuss@gmail.com.

Please free us to proclaim Christ to the students at SDSU without financial hindrances!

Please pray for us as we look for temporary summer jobs until we are freed up financially to minister full time with the students at SDSU!

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?