Friendship

"Friendship with a vision." For some reason that phrase has really stuck out to me this week. You see, for the last week all of us have been in Florida attending workshops and listening to talks put on for Navigator staff in the collegiate world. Many of the talks were about discipleship and a phrase used to describe discipleship was "friendship with a vision." Even though this phrase may seem trite to others, and as my husband said "as vague as it gets", that phrase still resonated with me. However, it also made re-evaluate some things in my life.

This last year semester has been harder in regards to time management. My priorities are 1) God 2) Ryan 3) Our home 4)Work 5)Bible training 6)Discipling women. This has been very difficult for me to wrestle with. When I look at this list 1 cor 7:34 comes to mind "An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord's affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world—how she can please her husband." I love my husband dearly. I am so grateful to God for our home and for my employment of teaching gymnastics. However, I now see the gift God gives single women, and I see the beauty of it.

With that said, I MUST also view this season in life I am NOW also as gift from God. I need to embrace it and use it wisely. I talked with many women this weekend to listen to what it looks like for them to do ministry with a husband. Thankfully, the answers were as diverse as the women. There seemed to be no "right" way. What I did hear though is to have one, to be faithful to at least one women and love her well.

So goes the phrase, friendship with a vision. My friend Alicia and I are going through the book of Ephesians this semester. Alicia is a student at SDSU who also happens to only live a couple blocks from my house. Yesterday she showed me this great restaurant that's an identical copy of Super Salad ( A restaurant my family loves going to even now). It was such a joy to talk about life, God, family, school all while eating amazing chili and biscuits. I love the way she can take a complicated idea in the Bible and phrase it so perfectly understandable. However, during the course of out time I remembered, I'm not just meeting with Alicia, I'm meeting every women Alicia ever comes into contact with. So I asked her "how would you explain the gospel?" She gave a great answer, but I challenged her to try and simplify it even further. I then asked if I could share with her 1 of the many ways you can use to share the gospel. I showed her the "Bridge Illustration." She listened intently and seemed genuinely interested in what I was sharing. To the point that at the end, she even asked if she could keep the illustration I had showed her! I then asked if I could train her to show this with others, and she readily agreed.

Friendship with a vision. I love hanging out with Alicia, but I also love that God has blessed me with tools and experience that I can then pass on to Alicia, to help her bless others.

Blessings

Praise God! I (Val) now have jobs teaching gymnastics! Ryan and I crunched the numbers and realized we needed to be working 10hrs a week to keep our budget balanced. Along with all of you, the economy has also hit us pretty hard. We are so grateful for those supporting us though. It is because of you that I only have to work a few hours a week, rather then working 40hrs a week. It is because of you, and God's mercy that I can have the flexibility in my time to love the women on campus more freely, to pray with them, listen to their stories, help them learn to read the Bible for themselves, and to help them learn to tell others about Christ. We are all full-time missionaries in our lives and jobs, but their is something beautiful about being able to be there for the students during times when a typical 9-5 would otherwise not let me. Our God is a God who provides!

I love the women God has put in my life. I facilitate a couple hour long studies in the book of Mark. I know Harvest Bible did a session on this book so if any of you have notes or thoughts on this book feel free to send them over. It brings me so much joy to see these women deeply exploring the Bible at such a young age. These are the wives, co-workers, mothers, leaders, artists, and fellow church members or our future. How awesome it is to be able to touch these lives if even only for a season. I feel completely blessed. Thank you for all your prayers and support!

First Week

Yahoo! 1st week of School, done and done!

Who: 6 staff and 3 students
Where: Campus of San Diego State University
What: Invite students to bible studies
When: 1st and 2nd day of classes
Effort: Intense, long hours, hot sun, much rejection
Results: Many women, few guys...

We've been praying and praying for men. We thought we had men from last year, but due to different circumstances they did not come back to SDSU. We started the year with two male students. Double what we started with last year, but still a number that's easy to be discouraged by. So here I am, living in a household of men. Seeing up front and personal how God is using this in their lives, in my life. It's easy to see the insurmountable odds and give up. It's easy to wonder "Why? Why after so much labor last year is it so difficult to see tangible results. Even after two days of recruiting God saw fit to give us only a handful of male contacts. I see Ryan struggle with this. Feeling like we're starting all over again in the male side of things and wondering if it will always be like this. I see disappointment in Tim's eyes, knowing that last year brought about so many more contacts. I have a talk with Gabe and we discuss how difficult it is to get financial partners excited about the individual, in a culture driven by numbers and events. I don't know all what is going on in each of these mens hearts, but one thing I see constant in all of them is determination and a hope in God, not self...Yet we constantly need to remind each other, our work is not in vain.

1 Cor. 15:58 Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Please pray for men at SDSU
For male labors who will follow hard after God dispite culture apathy
For finacial partners to get behind my team, and encourage them to look at quality...not quantity

Thank you for your prayers and we know that in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

So It Begins

School starts tomorrow!!!! Wohoo!

We're all excited here at the Buss house. Can't wait to see what God has in store for us, for the students and for the campus at SDSU. Please keep us in your prayers as we start out this brand new semester.