A Distracting Week

It's been a challenging week. Gene went in to the hospital a week ago with a kidney stone (which passed over the weekend), but he has been recovering all week. Our kids have been home for winter break and I have been very tired helping Gene and spending time with the kids. We are also having some financial challenges that add stress. But I am not overwhelmed. This is the way ministry works - life is a part of it.

Gene leaves for Arizona for the annual two day conference for national Chi Alpha internship directors. I will be leading the Tuesday night meeting this week. I was going to do some teaching but I am having trouble focusing this week with so many distractions. So I plan on leading an hour in prayer and worship with the students. It's something I have wanted to do for a while and I believe that the students will appreciate it. Planning a worship and prayer time is much easier for me to do than a teaching.

Continue to pray for our upcoming retreat. I still have a few more students that I hope attend. They need a prayerful push.

Winter Retreat

We will be having our Winter Retreat on Feb 26 - 28. We have invited Matt Herman to speak. He is the Chi Alpha campus pastor at Cornell University.

We will be going to the Marist House, a Catholic monastery and retreat center in Framingham, just outside Boston. It's on the commuter rail so its easy for the students to get there, but far enough out of the city that they feel they are getting away. The Marist House is on 25 acres of woods and we will have an entire mansion to ourselves.

Pray that all of our students would choose to come and that the Lord would minister powerfully through Matt.

A Cold and A Stone

I usually only catch one cold a year. This year I am working on my third cold. I have felt very miserable for the last week - so much so I have forgotten to keep up on my posts. I am sorry.

But I don't feel as miserable as Gene. On Thursday (Feb 11 - his birthday) Gene realized he was working on passing a kidney stone (Happy Birthday :(  ). We were up all night and on Friday I took him to the hospital. They gave him some drugs and got him hydrated. He is okay and we think the stone has passed now, but he has been in a lot of pain and extremely tired.

My cold is passing. Pray I don't get another. Thanks.

Tuesday Night Gatherings

We have had four weeks of school now and our first four gatherings have been very good. We have been praying that the students would grow in their worship experience with God and we have seen that happening this semester. Students are participating and expressing themselves in worship and we have a couple of students who have been praying for our meetings during the week and they are bringing insights and scripture to share with the group. That's wonderful!

I lead the worship team. I play the piano and sing and I am the main leader. Edward plays the piano - he's wonderful - and I am working him into some leader experiences also.

Amanda will be helping me plan and lead worship for our upcoming Winter Retreat.  (Edward won't be there) She is not on the worship team but she wanted to help for the retreat. Her enthusiasm is exciting.

Please continue to pray for our Tuesday night gatherings and the worship experience. Thanks.