Chi Alpha, Montana

Fall 2009 Life Groups

2009-09-30T16:31:00.004-06:00

Here's the updated list of groups.

NFL Sunday Ticket
Sundays at 2:00 pm
XA Student Center (532 6th Street E)

Folf
Mondays at 3:30 pm
XA Student Center (532 6th Street E)

Knitting/Crocheting
Tuesdays at 5:00 pm
XA Student Center (532 6th Street E)

Ultimate on the Oval
Wednesdays at 5:00 pm
meet at the Griz

Volleyball/Basketball
Fridays at 3:30 pm
Pantzer Court

For more info about any of these groups or if you want to start another life group, contact Scott at scott@umchialpha.com

Sermons on Video

2009-04-29T12:38:00.003-06:00

Matt Cragwick has begun recording the Pursuit sermons on video and posting them to vimeo.com. Find them here. Enjoy!

Spring '09 Life Groups

2009-03-04T16:26:00.002-07:00

Just a quick update on the current life groups. Bring a friend!

Lunch after Church
Sunday, 1pm
810 Park View Way (Clay's house)

Craft Group
Wednesday, 3pm
XA Student Center (532 S 6th Street E)

Girls' Dessert
Wednesday, 7:30pm
Aber 952

Movie Club
Thursday, 8pm
XA Student Center (532 S 6th Street E)

Salsa Dancing
Thursday, 8:30pm
Rec Center (need Griz card)

Board Games
Friday, 5pm
UC Commons

For more about any of these groups or if you want to start another life group, contact Scott at scott@umchialpha.com.

Come hang out with us!

2008-09-03T14:43:00.004-06:00

In the next few weeks, we will be launching Life Groups. These are weekly gatherings of 3-12 students based around a common interest (like rock climbing, fixing cars, or cooking). These are open to anyone, from believers and followers of Jesus Christ, to those maybe just investigating faith to those seeking a group of friends to hang out with. Here are the groups starting next week:

Work-out
Mondays
11:10am - 12:30pm
Rec Center*

Rock Climbing
Mondays
7:30pm
Rec Center*

Ultimate Frisbee
Wednesdays
6pm
UM Oval

Coffee
Thursdays
5:00pm
XA Student Center

Folfing
Fridays
3:00pm
XA Student Center

*-need griz card

More groups are coming soon so keep an eye on the website. Also, if you want more info about these groups or want to start another one, contact Scott Barnett at scott@umchialpha.com.

Welcome Week

2008-08-24T22:12:00.003-06:00

Hello everyone and welcome to Fall 2008 at The University of Montana! We have lots going on this week to help you get acclimated to the new year and meet new folks. Here's the run down:

Monday: Remnant Concert, 5:30 pm (the Oval)

Tuesday: Hike the M, 10:00 am (Base of the M)

Tuesday: Pursuit, 7:00 pm (Skaggs Building Room 114)

Wednesday: Ultimate Frisbee, 6 pm (Oval - Griz Statue)

Thursday: Trip to Wal-mart, 5 pm (Oval - Griz Statue)

Friday: Peter Mason and Remnant, 6:30 pm (Bonner Park)

Hello Fall!

2008-08-18T09:27:00.002-06:00

Can you believe it? The summer has flown by and school is just one week away. I hope you have had a restful and fun time, and are feeling ready for the new year, 'cause here it comes! Here at UM Chi Alpha we already have lots of cool things planned for the next semester. Check out the Events page on our website for the latest info. If you are new to Chi Alpha and the U, be sure find us at Orientation and the Welcome Feast on Friday August 29. And whether you are new or "old," we invite you to check out Pursuit, our weekly worship meeting. The first of the year will be on Tuesday, August 26 at 7 pm in Room 114 of the Skaggs Building. We hope to see you soon!

summer bible study

2008-07-01T23:15:00.001-06:00

Just an update:
the 2008 Chi Alpha Summer Bible study will be starting up next Tuesday at 7 pm at the Chi Alpha House (532 S. 6th St. East)

Here's Scott's plug for it: This is a sweet time to read and discuss the Bible, and hang out together. Bring a lawn chair, or a blanket, since we'll meet in the backyard if the weather is good.

Hope to see you there.

Hear Ye, Hear Ye!

2008-05-23T15:13:00.004-06:00

The Spring 2008 semester's sermons are finally posted on the Chi Alpha website. They are, for the most part, in chronological order. The dates next to the titles, however, are from when they were posted, not when they were shared at Chi Alpha, something that Lance has said he may be able to fix in the future. But the thing is, even if he can't, you can listen to the entire semester again: everything from stories of Scott's Polish wedding to Paul Whitley's southern accent to the April talk to Amanda's so-called "Chi Alpha story." Yes, you too have the opportunity listen to these stories (and more!) and fall in love with them all over again! ;) Enjoy.

Closing out One Season, Looking to a New One

2008-05-14T18:33:00.008-06:00

So the semester has finally come to an end. Most folks' grades are posted, campus is eerily quiet and we're all hoping the weather starts to feel like summer soon. In the UM Chi Alpha, the last few weeks have seen a whirlwind of activities to close out the semester: last XA meeting, a group picture, End-of-Year BBQ and Student Leader Dinner as well as a host of other gatherings where we had to say "goodbye." Now what? Well...
We have a little break in official action, while our fearless leader Scott is out of the country on a Big Sky Expeditions missions trip. But in June Rocky will be heading up the Fireworks stand and in July Sylvia will be leading the summer Bible Study on Tuesday nights. And there will be a Rafting Trip and all other kinds of good stuff. So if you are in town, or even if you aren't, stay in touch. And happy summer to you.

Mexico '08 Missions Trip

2008-04-04T18:12:00.001-06:00

the Missoula team: Sara, Sylvia, Emily, Megan

Hello all.
As you may have heard, a small group of folks from Missoula went on a missions trip to Mexico with a group called Get Away, Give Away. Megan Sherer was the fearless leader/organizer of the our little team. We left Missoula at 9:30 pm on Thursday March 20. We arrived in Twin Falls Idaho around 4:30 in the morning. Here is where we met up with the group from LaGrande, OR. The next day we drove down to Las Vegas and spent the night in a church. On Saturday, after about 20 hours of driving, we arrived in San Luis Rio Colorado, Mexico!

Here we met up with the main group of folks, most of whom were from Eugene, Oregon. In the next 5 days "in country" the forty or so folks on this team built three houses. Those of us from Missoula also led a Vacation Bible School for neighborhood children and those at the house sites where we were building. The last day of VBS was one of the highlights of my week. I loved sharing the story of the Jesus' death and resurrection with the kids. I held up the picture book and Megan read the translation into Spanish. I loved helping the kids put "brillantes" (glitter) on the paper crosses they were making, and I loved that of few of them copied "Gracias Jesus" onto crosses made out of popsicle sticks. I loved that we were planting seeds in little hearts and minds and watering these seeds with love and songs and fun games like "pato, pato, ganso" (duck, duck, goose.)

But if you chat with Megan she'll say that the thing that got her most excited was the way Anna, mother of 8 children and recipient of one of the new houses we built, responded to the Bible stories and our presence in her life. Our first day at the plot of land she and her husband own she kept saying over and over again how thankful she was and how great God was to provide for her and her family.

Anna and her youngest, Luis

At each day of VBS she was very involved answering questions and making crafts. Later, Megan was working on Anna's new house and overheard Anna singing the VBS songs to her children. At the end of the week, the whole team visited each of the new houses and prayed over them and the families that would be living there. As we surrounded Anna, Abel and their children, Anna cried while clutching a calendar that the folks from LaGrande had given her. It was clear that we were seeing God moving in her heart and our work there not only blessed her materially but also brought her closer to God.

So in summary, it was hot. It was sandy. It was very dry. It was tiring and challenging, especially because we had less people than the leadership had anticipated. But God showed up and directed our steps in amazing ways. It was an amazing week.

Abel in front of the old house in which he, Anna and their 8 children had been living

Anna and Abel and six of their children in front of their new house, surrounded by those of us who helped with the house

Ski Retreat

2008-03-09T21:12:00.011-06:00

Megan, Ken, Chris, and John

Hello all. One week ago at this time I was really, really sore from my first time skiing ever. In the past I've always told folks that I'd never ski cause I have bad knees. Then when it turned out that we would have an entire Chi Alpha retreat built around the opportunity to ski or board, and to do so in beautiful Western Montana powder on amazing Rocky Mountains, how could I resist?!? So I took the plunge and loved it. Somewhere in the middle of the 1.5 hours it took to "ski" down the easiest Green Dot trail, however, I realized (remembered?) that the main reason I've avoided skiing/boarding is fear. I don't even like going down a mountain on foot when it's really steep, never mind flying down it on little waxed pieces of plastic. So that was huge for me, learning to trust that if I did what Scott and Anna said I would not die! Mind you, I still have bad knees but they were not what hurt; every thing else did. :)

Songe and Scott

Songe and Ben Dawson were the other beginners on the slopes. Ben was the Natural of the group, and with just a few times down the Bunny Slope headed up the mountain. Scott and Anna were the patient teachers that stayed with Songe and I most of the day. I'm not sure how Songe felt by the end, but I was pretty excited at the end of the day since I was finally learning how to turn. Hooray!
Most of the folks experienced with the snow sports had their own snowboards. Amanda was the beginner of that group, and, similar to Songe and myself, she expressed super gratitude for her friends who stuck by her all day. Megan was their photographer and took lots of sweet shots, including ones of Ken, who is known to anyone who has done the Mini-Missions trip to Plains. He was our guest speaker Saturday night, and God really spoke through him to quite a few of us. Then we Chi Alphans got a chance to pray for him and his wife and daughter, and God really spoke through us to bless them. It was a good night. God is good, yes?

Here are a few of Megan's pics. Go to her facebook album for more. Enjoy!

Battle of the Bands - Update

2008-02-13T21:57:00.007-07:00

In short, it was pretty awesome. It started at 8:00 pm and finished just before midnight. Eight bands played, about 20 minutes each. We sold 151 tickets; that means we had at least 200 people in the ballroom over the course of the night, including band members and their groupies, as well as Chi Alphans who were working the event. Speaking of which, props to all those who helped with the event, especially Rachael, Gretchen and Zach. Below are some pictures and videos (sorry no sound).

The decorating committee (led by Jen) blew up balloons and put up a curtain of silvery stuff over the entrance. Little did they know that it would be waving in wind the entire night. We're not sure where the breeze came from but it was a cool effect.

Things got off to a rough start when a few minutes before the first band was to start we learned that their lead singer had been arrested. Oh dear. Scott and Rocky had to entertain the crowd for 20 minutes while the next band got ready to play. After this, though, there were only minor glitches, and many people commented on how well the event was run. Not bad for our first time doing something this big.

A handful of local businesses made some pretty sweet donations for our raffle. Here Scott reads off a ticket number from the box held by his "lovely assistant" Anna.

The event was judged by the members of the local band Tom Catmull and the Clerics. Audience members also voted for their favorite band of the night. Counting the ballots around 11:45 pm...

Tear down didn't finish til after 1:00 am, but even in this we had help from friends. One of the bands - two crazy guys who are RAs and friends with Annie - helped quite a bit. Then they were pretty excited to take balloons.

For more pics, go here. Enjoy.

Lenten Season

2008-02-08T16:38:00.000-07:00

Hi all. As you may know, this past Wednesday was Ash Wednesday, the first day of the season of Lent leading up to Good Friday and Easter. I just found an interesting blog post about this. It's a thoughtful look at how we can draw closer to Jesus and move "toward resurrection" in this season. The author hopes to continue this Lenten conversation with at least one post each week of the journey. Enjoy.

Battle of the Bands!

2008-02-05T00:09:00.001-07:00

This Saturday, February 9 at 8:00 pm in the UC Ballroom.
Seven local bands.
Two stages.
Judged by local band Tom Catmull and the Clerics.
$1 admissions.

This will be an amazingly fun outreach, with bands playing against each other for a chance to win $100. It will be a mix of American Idol and the Gong Show. Come...and invite as many friends as possible. You won't be disappointed!!

There are some free tickets available...come to XA Worship to get some to pass out. Also, Zach, Rael, and Gretchen have done a lot of great work on this event, but there are still ways you can get involved to help it all run more smoothly. If you're interested, send an email to sylvia@umchialpha.com and we'll hook you up!

UM XA Flickr Group

2008-01-30T15:19:00.001-07:00

Hey there blog readers! Did you know that we have our very own Flickr group? What is Flickr you say? Well, it's a great photo sharing website. You can upload all those great photos you take and share them with the world! Or just your friends and family if you like.

On Flickr we created our own group for Chi Alpha, so if you take some sweet photos at SALT, on a mission trip, or even just around town with XA friends, you can add them to our group. Then, they magically show up on the website and blog! Pretty cool, eh? Yeah, I thought so too. So far we have 13 members, but more are definitely welcome. In fact, please sign up so we don't have such an unlucky number :)

There is also a national Chi Alpha Flickr group, and they would love your photos too.

So here's what you do.

Sign up for Flickr
Upload some photos
Join our Flickr group
Add some photos to our group (you go to the photo's page and above the photo there is a send to group button)

That's it! I'll be sure to comment on any new member photos I see. If you have any questions, post them in the comments here.

SALT 2008

2008-01-21T18:57:00.000-07:00

SALT, as expected, was pretty amazing. Twelve of us from the UM Chi Alpha headed to beautiful Butte on January 8 for the four day convention. There were students and staff from 13 campuses in 5 states.

"stop, children
what's that sound
everybody look what's goin down..."

Our speaker was John Fischer, one of the leading musicians in the Jesus Movement of the early 1970s. He serenaded us with all sorts of tunes of his generation. And while we had alot of fun with that - by the last session folks had cellphones and other lights at the ready for his ballads - what we really appreciated was the wisdom this man was able to impart to us from his life experiences. One particular thing that sticks out was his call to young people to enter the marketplace as salt and light. He was adamant that we should not feel guilty if we do not go into a foreign mission field or ministry. Christians are desperately needed in business, in the arts, in schools, in medicine, etc.

The third night's session was all worship. After baptisms and communion, our own worship band - Peter, Amanda, Kelsey, Chris and John - led the music portion. Meanwhile there were also stations around the room where students could participate in other forms of worship, including journaling, artistic expressions of the names of God, and nailing pieces of paper to small wooden crosses. For many it was a time to process and give thanks for all that God had already done in them during the week.

One of my favorite parts of the week was sharing with students about the opportunities for summer trips with Big Sky Expeditions (Central Europe and Ireland) and a National Chi Alpha trip to Kyrgyzstan. It was a life changing experience for me, and I recommend such a trip for any Christian, since it gives you a bigger and better picture of God and what He is doing all around the world.

A student from Montana State took many, many pics. You can see them here. A few pics that I've collected from others who attended can be found on my flickr photostream. Finally, Rachael has promised to upload some pics to her flickr photostream in a few days.

If you didn't get to SALT this year, there will be a mini-SALT next year over President's Day weekend. I hope you can make it!

New Contributor and New Podcast

2008-01-19T02:28:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to Missoula! I hope you all had a great Christmas. I know I did. My brand new niece came for a visit with my brother and his wife, so we had lots of fun. Ember is just 17 days older than my new son.

Good things are happening around the ol' Chi Alpha website. As you may have read, Sylvia is our newest contributor to the blog. She is our newest staff member at Chi Alpha but she's been around the XA blogging scene for a little while now. She runs her own blog too. (that ought to prompt a new post)

The other news is our newly launched podcast. I've submitted it to iTunes so it should start showing up in iTunes searches in a week or two. In the meantime, if you have iTunes you can use this special link. If you don't have iTunes, or you just want to check out the archive in your browser, head on over to our new Sermons Page. You can read overviews of all the sermons and any scripture references. There's also an RSS feed on that page so you can keep up to date if you have a Zune, or Zen, or something.

Let us know in the comments if you subscribe, and what you think about it. If you don't know how to subscribe or what all this means, ask away!

greetings, chi alphans

2008-01-13T23:43:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to say "hi" as the newest contributor to the Chi Alpha blog. In the very near future I'm going to be doing a write up of some cool things that happened at this year's SALT and give you some links to pictures taken there. I hope you that you enjoy your last week of freedom before the new semester. See you soon.

Website Refresh 2008

2007-12-19T00:47:00.000-07:00

Hi there faithful blog readers. We haven't updated the old blog in a while, but were working on changing that. We've been recruiting some new writers, and wrangling up big ideas.

One of the changes we want to make before to long is an update to the official site at umchialpha.com. Part of that update will include moving this blog over there, and starting a podcast. You can download the weekly messages right now, but they aren't a podcast. So you can't subscribe to it. We'll also be setting up an RSS feed for events. So if you use an RSS reader you'll be able to keep up with new events easier.

The last couple nights, I've been working out a design for the new site. I've put up a mockup at umchialpha.com/refresh2008/. Tell me what you like and what you hate about it, and if it's missing anything. This is just the homepage. You can send me an email or just comment on this post.

Welcome Back

2007-09-12T00:09:00.001-06:00

Welcome back! We've been kind of slow about blogging around here, but hey it was summer in Montana. We had raft trips, tubing, and fires. No not campfires, wild fires, and they were miserable. Nothing ruins a summer like smoke filled days. I am loving the cooler weather right now.

But enough small talk. Let's get to what up in XA right now. We just started a new school year, and this year we moved to a new room and a new day. Our weekly Chi Alpha Worship is now in Skaggs 114, Tuesday nights at 7:00 PM. You should stop by if you haven't already - students and supports alike.

Also, if you didn't know already, we have been uploading the sermons from Chi Alpha worship. You can find them over on the Chi Alpha website on the stuff page. This week Scott preached on Soul Friendships and Discipleship Relationships - two ideas collected from the book The Celtic Way of Evangelism: How Christianity Can Reach the West...Again.

Click here to download Tuesday's message: Soul Friendships and Discipleship Relationships

Another new thing is our web address. We are in the process of moving off of chialphamontana.org, and moving to umchialpha.com. Right now both addresses point to the same place, but update your bookmarks, because sometime in the future chialphamontana.org will probably take you to the state Chi Alpha page.

scott's euro missions journal 2007 #4

2007-06-01T10:22:00.000-06:00

dobry dein supporters....(we are now back to the slovak version of "Good
Day")

We are back in slovakia after 6 days in Krakow Poland. There are only 2 1/2
days left on our missions trip. But things have gone very well here and we
are seeing the most people come to Christ than any of teh previous 4
missions trips. This is exciting for us, and also confirms the need to come
back to the same region for 3-5 years vs. just going to a new place every
year.

Krakow was a good time for our team. The 16 of us who traveled north grew
together as a team, and were exposed to many new things: Aushwitz
concentration camp where 1,000,000 people were murdered, Krakow culture (one
of the top 10 cities in Europe in my view), and the frustration the
evangelical church here faces.

There were not a lot of planned outreaches here in Krakow. Instead the team
often divided into groups of two or three and spread out over the city
center striking up conversations and trying to allow the Holy Spirit to lead
us to strategic people. In addition to this we also helped with several
service projects, rebuilding a playground at an international school, and
helping a church clean up some property where they plan to build a new
church builiding.

Many of our students felt a deep heart for Krakow and the people of Krakow.
It is a city of about 800,000 with 80,000 college students. Most of Poland
is Catholic...it is hard to know how many of these are born-again believers
with a personal relationship with Christ. Since so many people know "about
God", when spiritual conversations are introduced, they are often met with
indifference or spoken of as a "private matter".

However Poland contains many of the signs of people lacking a life-giving
relationship with Christ...alcoholism, divorce, dysfunctional families.
Several students from previous missions trips have caught a vision to give a
season of their life to help reach Polish people enter into a life-giving
relationship with Jesus, including Rebecca, a girl who went on the Chi Alpha
trip two years ago, and is now back to stay for a full summer working with
some U.S. Missionaries in Krakow.

After our time in Krakow, we returned to Slovakia to a small town called
Nove Mesto. We linked up with the other half of the team, and had a great
time sharing all the experiences we'd had in our different cities. The
church here is very organised for our outreach just like Kosice. they have
us ministering in the schools in the mornings, either speaking in english
classes or leading school assemblies. This morning we led an assembly for
over 300 students...speaking about making right choices, setting goals and
how Jesus has changed our life.

Later in the afternoon we spread out to three different parks to play sports
and invite people to our evening concert. Last night we had about 40 people
show up at the concert to hear us play music, perform dramas and share
testimonies. Tonight we hope to see double that number.

I will be speaking tonight so please throw out some prayer for me to have
the words God wants me to share, and to unlock the doors of students hearts
to believe. We had seen over 10 people come to Christ on our trips so our
faith is high!!!

Thanks for your prayers...

scott

scott's euro missions journal 2007 #3

2007-05-28T12:31:00.000-06:00

dzien dobry supporters,

well we finished our time in kosice, slovakia with a flurry of activity. we
started with a school assembly at a gypsy school in this village of run-down
high rise apartments called Luneck 9. Lance Lanning the Youth Alive
Director in Montana (an outreach to high school students), is traveling with
us and he led the assembly...giving the students small talks about purity,
dreams, treating each other with kindness and Jesus is life...these were
interspersed with songs and drama and funny videos on the projection screen.

The principle of the school loved it, and said they had never had anything
like that ever come through their school. We really gave the students a
chance to hear aobut Jesus and how to enter into a relationship with Him.

When we finished there we traveled to the square for our second outreach
there. The church has a huge sound system that they set up, which makes our
band sound terrific. The band is really good...especially when each of the
students in the band come from a different city, and we've only been able to
practice once. During this hour long "concert" we perform the dramas and
give testimonies...finishing with a small talk on how to enter into
relationship with Jesus.

Many of the students from the english classes have come to watch these
performances, and they tell us they will come later the night to the
send-off party at the evangelical church here.

so we grab a quick bite to eat and head to this church for the last rally.
the place is fairly full with people age 12-35, including quite of few who
have never been to this church before. At the end of the message by Lance,
6 students stand to recieve Christ...i will tell you more of their stories
later.

We had a good party, then raced to the train station. we got there a bit
late and so we only had 3 minutes to scamper through the station and hop on
the train before it pulled away from the station. 7 long hours through the
night and we ended up here in Krakow, Poland.

Thanks for all your prayers!!!

scott

scott's euro missions journal 2007 #2

2007-05-27T17:05:00.000-06:00

ahoj supporters,

Thank you for praying for this time with the gypsy church on Sunday. We had
a great time with this small but passionate group of believers. They packed
about 50 people into a small room that is built onto the side of a gypsy
school. The worship lasted about an hour, and was very up-beat with lots of
clapping and joyful singing. I could only take two students to this church,
but each of them did a great job, Leslie sharing her story, and Robbie
playing his trumpet.

The church welcomed us with broad smiles and many greetings of "dobry rano"
which means "good morning". When i got up to preach i felt so filled up
with the Holy Spirit i was "ready to preach!!" I ended up sharing for
almost an hour...and afterwards we prayed for people for almost another 1/2
hour.

I shared from Mark and talked about the "three legs of faith"

-believe that God exists
-believe He has the power to change anything in my life
-believe He cares about me enough to use His power in my life

This third leg, is the one on which most believer's faith gets shipwrecked.
I also felt God leading me to preach this as well...to emphasize the second
leg of the power of Jesus. Gypsy's are often drawn to the occult and any
religion that will offer them some kind of "formulaic power" . Jesus can
often be lumped in with the other god's...so i felt Jesus wanting me to
impress upon them through scripture Jesus power over -demonic powers,
-sickness, -death, -provision, and even the weather.

We had a powerful time of prayer afterward, and I believe there will be
reports of some healings or some calls to ministry through this time. Thank
you for your prayers, they are having "real time" impact on our missions
trip.

In about 20 minutes we are heading back to this same Gypsy settlement called
Luneck 9 to do an outreach similar to the one we did in the square on
Friday, with music, drama, testimonies and a call to Christ. Please pray
for this outreach tonight as well as our last outreach tomorrow afternoon in
the square.

Tuesday night we will be taking the night train to Krakow, Poland. Please
pray for me as i will be leading this leg of the trip. Bless you all for
your investment in this missions endeavor!!

scott

scott's euro missions journal 2007 #1

2007-05-25T22:55:00.000-06:00

Hey XA Blog readers!

Scott and others are over in Eastern Europe right now. Every once in a while they're able to get to the computers to send off an email, so I'll post them up here for you to read as they come in. Enjoy!

-Lance

---

hello supporters:

I am writing you from an internet cafe in the slovakian city of Kosice. It
is one of the most beautiful cities in central europe, a city of around
300,000 people. I spent last week in Krakow, Poland visiting with friends,
but took the train wednesday night to meet the rest of the team here in
Kosice. I didn't sleep much on this train, because I have had a few bad
train experiences, including getting off the train in the middle of nowhere
:(...and almost getting mugged on a train through cheque republic. So when
i made it to the hostel where the team is staying i only had 30 minutes left
until we had to be up for the first part of the outreach.

There are 25 students and staff here with this team. It would have been the
biggest team we've ever taken to Central Europe, but unfortunately four
members of the team had to stay behind. Three of them did not receive their
passports, and one girl could not find hers. This was really sad thing, so
maybe pray for them, as they are all very dissappointed.

We hit the ground running on Thursday dividing into two teams and going to
public schools to talk with students who are studying english. This is a
great way to start missions trips, because each person gets a chance to talk
and share...usually at first about normal stuff...where we are from, what we
like to do, U.S.A stuff, but then the questions start turning to: why are
you here?...and then team members get to share their testimonies with these
students.

We worked with students all morning, then met together at a large
evangelical church here in kosice to practice our dramas and music for
outreach on Friday.

Friday I traveled with Curtis, the team leader to a really sad Gypsy slum
called Lubeck 9. It is a village in kosice of high rise apartments that is
full of trash, broken glass and poor people. but awesome things is there is
a small church there (i will preach here on sunday) and there is a plan to
build a church there as well.

Then we traveled to the square for our first public outreach. We were
amazed when we got there, because the Slovak translators had been hard at
work setting up major sound system for our team. luckily this year we have
such a talented team, that we acutally have a full band...with two guitar
players, bass, violin, trumpet and myself on the drums. we sounded pretty
darn good for only 2 hours of practice.

well i will give you full details of this outreach and our weekend next
email...but please be praying for us and especially for my sermon at this
gypsy village, that it would be full of hope and power for the gypsy
believers there.

scott

Adios Amigos!

2007-03-23T11:07:00.000-06:00

Two years ago I recorded these thoughts in my journal: "Today I experienced the most delight I've ever felt before: walking into a room where 22 dark little heads swarmed my person shouting "arriba" and giggling with exuberance that was so contagious I laughed for an hour. I'm in Mexico with Chi Alpha. We are working at an orphanage this week, and in just the short time I've been here I can honestly say it's changing my life. How beautiful, how precious are these little lives. They radiate with excitement and mischief. They exude joy and hilarity. I'm taken with one little boy already... little Diego, who seems somewhat attached to me as well. We can't communicate properly (note: study spanish for next time!) but we converse in tickles and zurberts. Thursday means goodbye, and from the overwhelming love I have for this place and these kids, I can already tell 'adios' will be difficult."

I thought it would be fitting to share these observations as the Mexico Team departs tomorrow morning for Tijuana. I'm praying for them whole-heartedly as I will sadly have to stay behind... but I know that what lies in store for them is more beautiful and satisfying than spending Spring Break anywhere else. I love you guys! Have a great trip!

Krysty's First Day Snowboarding

2006-12-04T14:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, a bunch of us went up to Lookout and went snowboarding. Some were seasoned pros like Megan the Red, and others were completely brand new, but all of us had a blast.

I was amazed by how quickly John picked it up. He went down the bunny hill about 10 times, and then we were off to the chair lift, and by the end of the day he was zooming down the blue squares. I have no doubt he could have made it down the black diamonds. All that skateboarding and surfing must really help and/or he's fearless.

Megan the Red fast. I had a blast trying to keep up with her, and practicing riding switch.

If you weren't invited, it's because I didn't know you snowboarded. Send me an email at lance dot fisher at gmail dot com, and I'll be sure to give you a call next time we go. I'd love for you to come.

Chi Alpha Video from Matt

2006-11-12T12:59:00.000-07:00

Check out this video that Matt made:

my vote's on this one

2006-10-31T22:49:00.000-07:00

Bono and the Edgee
Originally uploaded by lancefisher.

who are those other guys supposed to be?

on the edge of our seat

2006-10-31T22:48:00.000-07:00

Bono and The Edge
Originally uploaded by RachelandEric.

just wanted to put a little query out there...whose costumes do you think are better?

The Best Theme Float

2006-10-18T10:44:00.000-06:00

Just like last year, and two years before that (we missed a year), this year we built a float for the homecoming parade. The theme was "I <3 UM." So we decided to build a eye for the I, a giant heart, and a couple of big UM letters. The letters aren't in this photo, but we held them up on sticks above the heart for the parade.

We were up until 4:30 a.m. the night before/morning of the parade finishing the float, but this is normal and fun.

We ended up winning the category of "Best Theme Float" so we were pretty happy about that.

If you want to see more pictures, I have some, as do Beth and Tina.

Float Building

2006-10-11T22:22:00.000-06:00

We had quite a turnout last night over at the guys' house to work on the homecoming parade float. Homecoming is this Saturday, and we are building a super-rad float. Last year we won third place for our super-cool pirate ship, but we hope to do even better this year.

For those of you "in the know" you'll already know what part of the float this is in the background of the picture. For the rest of you (if you can keep it on the D.L.) let me just say that the theme of this year's parade is "I <3 UM." The "<3" is a heart by the way, but just think what part of that sentence this could be. Eye know what it is. See what eye mean. Just don't look too hard.

We'll be continuing to work on it all week, and then Friday night we'll have a big party to finish it off. Saturday morning we'll be meeting at the guys' house at 7:30 a.m. to head downtown for the parade. Dress warm.

Oh, and yes, that is liquid starch in Tyler's hair.

Mini Mission: Plains, MT

2006-09-18T22:17:00.000-06:00

Ken says, "we're all a bunch of chainsaw junkies," and I suppose they have to be. If you cut over 100 cords of firewood a year, you'll need to know a little bit about chainsaw maintenance.

We, sixteen of us, went to Plains for the weekend. Plains is a small town in Western Montana where most people still heat their homes with wood stoves. Plains is also the location of my favorite church - Church on the Move. I have never seen a church more involved with their community. Aside from serving thousands of meals to anyone who wants one in their soup kitchen, hosting the state's largest food bank, and running a huge clothing bank, they run a firewood ministry.

Many families can't get their own wood. They can't afford it and they can't get it themselves. That is where Church on the Move found an opportunity to show the love of Christ to a community that is used to being self-sufficient. Pastor Jim simply says, "Giving works." It does. They have story after story of what God is doing. Of the 220 or so high school students, 175 showed up for a concert their youth group put on and they regularly have around 100 students show up weekly.

So it was quite a blessing for us to be a part of what they are doing. This is my third year going to Plains and every year, this church always inpires me. We were able to cut, load, and deliver just over eleven cords of wood. That's a lot of wood, but really nothing beats the feeling after a hard day's worth of work when you know it is for a great cause.

allehe's eyes will guide the way

2006-08-21T21:43:00.000-06:00

allehe's eyes will guide the way
Originally uploaded by lafalda.

greetings one and all. here's a little update on the xa front. update number one: they have been having chi alpha ...without me. :) well, summer bible studies at least. and as you can see by this picture, we've, er, they've been having a pretty good group. this was my first one of the summer and i enjoyed it a lot. lance and rachael led worship and it was so good to sing in english. some off-brand refreshments were certainly consumed before miss holly b led us in a discussion about mark. the book of mark, that is, we didn't just sit around and discuss what's going on with mark, you know. :) sorry. no, mark chapter 10. lance had an interesting perspective on the
story about the children, i thought. most people take this line about childlike faith to mean that we have to believe as simply and purely as children do. and i think it is this too, but he said that when children are given a gift they don't try to give it back. we so often do, with forgiveness, for example. we find it hard to accept or hard to hold on to whereas children accept gifts gladly. the evening was rounded out with a little trip to, oh boy, the big dipper (great cones!) in fact, the study is likely there now, i had to leave prematurely to come to work...and blog. yes, come to work and blog. that's all for now but we are all inhaling deeply in preparation for the start of the schoolyear (craziness) in addition to scrambling madly to get assigned tasks done before reverend scott barnett sets foot back on american soil this wednesday. some things will never change.

2006-07-18T09:57:00.000-06:00

Hello gorgeous people! Tomorrow is July 19th, which shouldn't really mean anything to you... but it is exactly 40 days until school starts. We are planning on bathing those next 40 days in some serious prayer... so our plan is to have at least one person praying/FASTING a day so that we are all petitioning God to do something radical on campus this year. I have this anticipation in my spirit that something beautiful is going to occur... that God's hand would be revealed as mighty to save! I just hope that some of you would like to participate in these next five and a half weeks... if so, just pick some days from now (July 19th) to August 28th and really concentrate on spending those days in prayer and fasting. You can fast relatively anything: food, media, spending money, your phone etc. Just make sure that something will 'cost' you and the time you would spend to enjoy that something would instead be substituted with prayer... You can be praying for:
A move of God on campus
Influence in International student's lives
Any friends who need salvation
Any needs or breakthroughs you need to see in your life
The leadership of Chi Alpha (Scott, Jess, Rocky, Krysty)

So, hopefully some of these ideas have been inspiring because our hope is that everyone involved in Chi Alpha would participate. So please, prayerfully consider getting involved. I have great faith that this will expand our lives and influence on campus! You won't want to miss out!

kupalisko

2006-07-17T06:16:00.000-06:00

Slovakia
Originally uploaded by davidcharding.

welcome to hell on earth. ok, maybe that was a bit strong. but this was one of my choices for free-time during the camp i was at last week. but you can bet i opted to sleep instead. sure, it would have been nice to get wet because it was quite hot, but if the price was two-fold: sardine-age and being seen in a swimming suit then no thanks, lady. i think i'll snooze. slovaks are really crazy about their kupaliskos:) the camp was, after all, very much like salt in the summer. there was a large tent with services in the mornings and evenings. great worship and funny videos. nine different people spoke about the touch of God. the eternal touch. and it was amazing. it was so neat to hear about this topic from so many different perspectives. my favorite speaker was an american missionary named danny jones. slovaks absolutely loooove this man. he's lived here for maybe ten years and his slovak is really good, but occasionally he'll make a mistake and they are just sooooo endeared. he talked about how none of us was a mistake. that Jesus was there when every single baby was conceived. whether they were wanted or not by their parents, whether they were expected or a surprise, God made them. it was God's touch. he said it so much more beautifully than that. but one part i liked so much. he talked about when bad things happen to us, like sexual abuse etc. and when people ask "where was God when this happened to me?" he said that that's why Jesus came to earth. because of these things. that He cries when these things happen to us. i don't know it was so heart-felt and sincere and beautiful.
i got to spend the week with my friend katka and it was so great. i like her so much. and then people from banovce came every night for the services too. the last night my gypsy lady came with pastor rast'o and others and it was amazing because they had us go forward and pray for our leaders and i got to go with the banovce church and pray for rast'o and i just felt so much a part of them. our church tends towards quietness and shyness (rast'o is quiet and full of humility) and while other churches were sort of roaring in prayer (which is also beautiful) ours was quietly praying. just such a blessing for me. God did a lot in me at the camp, too. one night we were praying for the touch of God and i saw a vision of Jesus walking toward me. well, actually i saw his feet walking toward me and i was overcome with the realization that this same Jesus is the one that was in the Garden of Gethsemane. then my roommate prophesied over me (she knew nothing of me or my story) and it went right to the heart. for the third time God said to me, "you are doing so much more than you realize here." and i just cried. and on the last night during worship people went forward for prayer and this gypsy man we call "little jaro" from our church went forward and my friend asked me if i wanted to pray for him. i was shy to just because of the language barrier, and it takes courage to do so. but then God spoke to me the same things He's been telling me for a year or so. something along the lines of "live without regrets." i wanted so badly to pray for him but was frozen. then i just felt this rush and thought about how i would feel if i didn't. so i went forward and did it. and then later, too, for an angel of a girl named idka who is a nanny in england. i was so glad i did. prayer unites us. not just people but unites us with God and it's so precious. i'm starting to see that the things in life that are precious have to be fought for.

young believers' group

2006-07-03T08:47:00.000-06:00

FH000001
Originally uploaded by lafalda.

just wanted to give some shout-outs to some peeps from this picture who have blessed, inspired and challenged me. dead center beige vest...curtis cole: blessed me with many a song and joke, challenged me to walk in the confidence of Jesus. disembodied head at the bottom of the picture...majo: up and moved to ireland for the summer to make some money and upon arrival discovered that promised job was not there. prayed, fasted, believed and found job with impending 350 euros being due for rent at end of week. blue shirt in front...jaro ferianc, lovingly called jaro fero in order to differentiate between the other 2300 jaros around here: sought God from a cloud of pot smoke and found Him. now radically serves Jesus by, among many other things, using his gift for carpentry to help gypsy families...for free. crazy, passionate, gifted musician who reaches out to and reaches crazy, passionate, gifted musicians and artists. slovakia tshirt on the left that i now own...juraj: currently in teen challenge after having been in prison. former heroin addict. loves Jesus with a love and fire like i've scarcely seen. knows literally every third person he passes on the street by name and greets them, telling them that Jesus is alive. walks around asking the Lord whom He wants him to talk to next. upon me asking him where i could buy a shirt like his, peeled off his own and gave it to me. did the same last friday while we when all praying together. thank you all for your prayers from home. as juraj so often says, Jesus IS alive.

don't say it...

2006-06-27T08:06:00.000-06:00

18195-R1-07-18A
Originally uploaded by lafalda.

hoo boy. well, although this cake came a year too early, the picture is coming in handy now. i did, indeed, three days ago say farewell to my twenties. i didn't know how i would take it, but as it turns out, i took it pretty well. i awoke to a text message (i have officially given in to calling them sms's [essemesska, to be exact:)]. no one in europe knows what a text message OR a cell phone is) at 9 am from a guy in the church named toncho. it said happy birthday and may God supply all your needs:) then "babka" gave me a fancy chocolate bar with raisins and nuts. i had a quiet morning of writing in my journal, then at 3 i had a date with my gypsy girls. they found out it was my birthday and wanted to throw me a party. so i walked to the square and met them "pri tesca" which means in front of tesco (the walmart of europe;). they held my hands and walked me to their street, singing me happy birthday, mostly in english. i was nervous to go into their apartment complex because some members of the team had had some unfavorable experiences with family members of the children. but i prayed on my walk to the square and God really provided...most of the parents were out of town at a big wedding. so the girls excitedly sat me down and made me coffee with cookies and...wait, as a precursor: everyday i walk by a house that has peonies. peonies are my favorite flowers. for the last several years my mom or cousin has bought me peonies from the farmer's market on my birthday. each day that i walked by the house i dreamed of knocking on their door, telling them this, and asking if i could have a peony for my birthday. so my day had come and i walked by the house as usual, hoping someone would be in the front yard, because the yard is fenced in and locked with a sign that says, "danger, bad dog" on it. so even if i had gotten up the courage to knock on the front door i couldn't have. but to no avail. so i walked by the house and breathed a little prayer, "God, please let me get a flower today." you know how sometimes you pray things, not really thinking they can happen? now back to my birthday party. you guessed it, the girls presented me with two...PLASTIC RED ROSES!!! it's just God's humor and blessing in one because i hate red roses:) but at the same time, to me they were the most beautiful flowers in the world. we had coffee and tea like young ladies (i was surprised by their flat. i honestly thought it would be much worse. it was tidy and they had furniture and working water and everything) we looked through photo albums and laughed at how silly they looked as little girls. they were a little embarrassed because they're at the age where they like to look sophisticated. then the girls took turns with my camera, making videos of themselves talking about how wonderful i am. i have to chuckle because i know it was because i had just bought them new outfits. then stanya came and invited me to her flat. stanya is a gypsy woman who got saved a few years ago. i work with her, doing ministry with the kids and visit her flat regularly. she made me coffee some sort of cream of wheat-type thing and stale cookies. my heart couldn't have been gladder. i played with her daughter, vaneska, who is the joy of my life. she is three and we get along because i am on her speaking level:) (that is flattering myself). so i left and stanya walked me out and gypsies called my name from all around. babies calling from dumpsters, waving from dirt heaps. i walked home. it was hot and humid out. then daska made me coffee and we had hazelnut icecream. i decided to take a walk that evening after it cooled off. i only have to walk about two blocks to find possibly the most beautiful place in the world. it's like the edge of the world. we live in blocks and blocks and blocks of communistic-style flats, then you walk and there's nothing. a huge, beautiful field with hills in the distance. it's so green because it rains regularly here. many would not agree with my calling it the most beautiful place. but to me it's more beautiful than words can express. but i know it's more than geography. i walked along the edge of the field and cried from the joy i felt in my heart at being there. it was a beautiful sorrow of missing loved ones, yet an inexpressable gladness and gratefulness to God. one, i think, that only those who know Him can understand.

Jess and Megan from Slovakia

2006-06-11T10:21:00.000-06:00

Hi guys it's Jess. Finally doing one audioblog. It's taken us a long time to get a hold of a card, and get a hold of a way to call, and a country code, and all that kind of stuff.

So Megan and I are here. We're in Koshitsa, Slovakia with our friend Katka, and just been having a wonderful time. She and Scott will leave the day after tomorrow. We leave at five a.m. tomorrow morning to take a train from Koshitsa to Bratislava. Then we hope to find a hotel, which might be difficult because Depeche Mode is in town, but we're hoping and praying that we might be able to find one. Hopefully close to the train station.

So yeah, we've just been hanging out with Katka. We went to church this morning, and it was wonderful. They had an American team there so we sang a bunch of Hillsong music and American worship songs, so that was good for us. Then, Treti Den played which is Third Day played for worship. They're a pretty famous Christian band in Slovakia.

Let's see, we're... I'm doing well, she's doing well. We've been eating way too much. Katka's mom is amazing, and won't let us stop eating for more than twenty minutes at a time, but it finally got nice out today so we're about to head to the square and take some pictures. So that's about it. I miss everybody at home, and I'm going to hand it over to Megan. Okay, bye.

Hello people that speak my language. I'm really excited to talk to you when I get home, because you will actually understand me. I don't really know what to say. I just wanted to let you know that Jess is going to be amazing here on her time when she is back in Binotsa. The Gypsy kids are amazing, and they all love her, and you guys, I wish you could all see what I saw with Jess and those Gypsy kids. All the girls just yell for her name, and I don't know... she's amazing and she doesn't even know it, but I'm telling you this because... I don't know, because you already know it.

I don't know what else to say except for I miss you always and I can't wait to talk to you. So here's Jess again to see if she wants to say anything else.

Nope, that's about it. We're going to hang up, and I think Lance has enough to transcribe with all of this. So we love you, and we'll talk to you soon. Keep listening to the blogs and reading the blogs, and I'll try to be more faithful with blogging once I settle down. Okay talk to you later, bye.#

Mail from Megan Part V

2006-06-06T14:09:00.000-06:00

Hey guys!!
Well the team left 2 days ago. So I am still here in Slovakia with my friend Jess (many know her). We are also with a girl named Katca, and are headed to her house tomorrow. It is Two hours away. After our time there we are headed back to Poland to met up with Scott (Chi Alpha Pastor), and head to Vienna to fly "home". That's the plan so far.

We took one day to relax after the team went home. They left on the bus at 3:30am, so we all stayed up and wish them off... honestly I miss them a lot. We made some great friends on this trip, and it was hard to say good-bye. Anyway today Jess and I went into another town, by bus. A four dollar bus ticket got us a 2 hour ride! We walked around this castle and ate at a little cafe. So fun! Katca stayed at the hostel, because she is fighting a cold. We all had this awful cold at one point in the trip. I still have mine, but I am thankful it wasn't as bad!

Lets see... Oh man everyone should come here for the pastries and ice cream... okay all the food is amazing! Now I am just being random... Before the team went home we did a lot of service for the church here. We painted and cleaned and did music outreaches, helped at a childrens outreach. These kids were so cute! I tried to play soccer with these boys, but they schooled me over and over again. Then I tried to juggle the stupid ball and my toe started bleeding again. Lame! yep the toe still hurts, it's getting better though. Well I am not sure what else, just know I love you all! I will see you soon, hopefully! Megan

Scott's Euro Missions Journal #5

2006-06-05T09:49:00.000-06:00

Hello Everyone,

We finished the last lap of the 21 day marathon today. Many of our team is glad to reach the line, as about 7 of our 20 student and staff have come down with nasty colds. Our meetings have turned into coughing/sniffling festivals, with the speaker being constantly interrupted by someone's uncontrollable outburst.

It is part of the cost of ministering at such a steady pace for three straight weeks. We sleep in different beds, eat new foods, have a different schedule every day, and share everything with 19 other people, plus all the people we invite into our life during this time.

However, it is definitely worth the cost...we have all been powerfully touched by God's Spirit on this trip, and we know God moved in the hearts of many believers, seekers, and cynics as well. Many of the "results" of this trip will not be known for quite a few years, but i believe the effects will be noticeable by the people in the churches here shortly.

The last three days we have worked in a university town here called "banska bystrica". The Evangelical Church here just started renting a new building that used to be a school. It was very dirty and had tons of junk strewn everywhere. In a few short hours our team of 20 "ants" had taken all the junk out of every room, filled about 3 dumpsters worth of garbage and completely swept the building.

We then divided into two teams...one team stayed and began prepping and painting the walls of the room that will become their new sanctuary. My team walked to a centrum near the church to do some street evangelism. We played music, invited people to an outreach Saturday night, and passed out Slovak "Books of Hope". (a compilation of all four gospels)

The first day of this centrum ministry was very gray and rainy, but the second day the sun broke out of the clouds and there were lots of people coming and going in the Centrum. We passed out about 120 copies of the Book of Hope and about 200 invitations to the outreach.

Lots and lots of children and teens showed up Saturday night, many of them hanging around all day, because they wanted to play with "the American's" so bad. For about one hour we had Football, Soccer, Basketball, Hackey Sack and Volleyball going on...with the team spread out making connections with people.

Next we did a program of songs, testimonies, a drama, and then I shared a short message about God. I shared about how we often have a wrong perception of who God is and the way He feels about us. I told them about how God tries to show us who he is through different pictures in Scripture. He is like candy...like a chicken....like a party host...like a lover...and like a good Father. (You will have to order the sermon tapes to hear the verses...maybe you can figure them out on your own :)))))

I really had the kid's and adult's attention, which is quite a miracle since they had been playing sports and it was such a beautiful day. During the prayer time at the end it was so quiet you could hardly hear anyone. I think many seeds were planted in the people's hearts.

An older couple even approached the pastor of the church and said they just heard about this outreach and they needed prayer, as the man was starting to suffer from Alzheimer's. They prayed for his healing...and were able to counsel the woman on some things she was wondering about. Hopefully they will start coming to the church here.

We finished today attending a regional service. It was a beautiful scene as the stage had two Slovakian pastors, next to an African man (the pastor of the church here), Curtis our American leader, and an Indian pastor who was preaching at the service. It was a great way to finish the trip getting a little taste of heaven, where "every tribe and tongue" will surround the throne worshipping!!!!!! I loved it.

Well now the team will head back to the States tomorrow. I will be staying one extra week. My plan is to head back to Krakow to spend some time with some friends that i have met up there...then i will travel on Sunday back down to Slovakia. I will connect again with Vlado a young man leading a great college group in Bratislava (slovakia's capital). We have been talking about trying to form something like Chi Alpha in Slovakia. An outreach that prioritizes reaching University students.

Then I will fly out on Tuesday of next week...and head back to a Summer of activity. We will run a huge fireworks stand...I will marry my first Chi Alpha couple...I will speak at a Summer Teen Camp...as well as do some fundraising. And then of course there is another incredible year of Chi Alpha at UM to plan for. But God has some great plans for Missoula, and I think some of the things I have learned on this trip will be very useful as we try to reach more students with the good news about Jesus.

Thank you for being part of this journey with me. I hope you found it enjoyable to come along for the ride through this email journal...

A BIG THANK YOU to everyone who was a financial partner with me for this trip...remember you have a stake in any of the fruit we gathered on this trip. God has good dividends!!!! Thank you for believing in me and the ministry of Chi Alpha

Thank you to everyone who prayed for me, at mealtime and devotion time, before bed and in the shower...in the Spirit and with deep intercession. You mean a great deal to me and your sacrifice of time and compassion will be rewarded!!!!

I love you...Please continue to pray for Poland and Slovakia...and especially for Anka, Tomas, Mayo and Igor. These four people have a very special place in my heart!!!!!!

Scott

Audioblogger Working Again!

2006-06-02T15:19:00.000-06:00

Yes! This post came through. Unfortunately, we've been missing posts from the Slovakia team, but now I think we'll be able to get them. It was a username and password thing. The audioblogger site couldn't log in and post the messages once they were left, but this message is evidence that all is well now.

Banska Bystrica

2006-06-02T14:16:00.000-06:00

what is happening to all mz blogs_ that underscore will have to stand in for the elusive question mark. anzhoo this is bb and where did our audioblog go or the blog i wrote about zaczek_ well no matter. im in an apartment now with a reallz sweet girl named lubka. she teaches russian i believe. she is letting me use her computer for a long period of time while i trz to catch up. the weather here has been absolutelz lousz. we have not experienced the fountain like this at all. but its still going well here. im verz excited to travel with mz friend katka and megan the red. and then to work in banovce. work and live and enjoz. missing missoula summer, though. and all of zou.

Photo Shoot

2006-06-02T09:59:00.000-06:00

Yesterday morning, my agent called and told me we had a photo shoot to do. You know, for brochures and stuff.

We all met on campus around 2:00 and walked around while Krysty the photographer shot us. I took some meta shots (pictures of us being photographed), and Tim took some meta meta shots. It was all fun, and I'm anxious to see what Krysty captured.

Mail from Megan Part IV

2006-06-01T18:20:00.000-06:00

hey guys, thanks for all the emails...I kinda felt like I was annoying you all... but I am refreshed to know that you still love me! Things are going great!! \i will tell you a little of what we have done.... Lets see, oh we met the Pope. Haha just kidding, we saw him though. He was in a bullet-proof car thing, and people were lined up all around the square (center market). People were running and chashing him. Honestly it was madness, and you can imagine us as loud Americans in a square full of reserved Polish people. That was an event in itself. yep we were doing the wave... now this was embarrassing We just spent 3 days in Banovce, Slovakia to minister to the Jypsies. I loved this! They just wanted to be loved and kissed... oh it was amazing. Just to let you all know before he comes home....Peter Mason is now offically a Backstreet Boy!!!!!!!!! SO FUNNY! The little girls swarmed him and made him sing. He had this sign (patting his head) if he was in trouble, but I was so caught up in my girls that I missed all the signs! OOPS! He said there were a lot! Oh man leaving was hard, one little girl, who was a typical teenager (attitude attitude attitude) cried! Okay more funnies! A girl on the team and I were walking up these stairs at night and there was this stupid statue at the top. She got scared, then I followed. But I really thought something was after me, so I kicked the stairs to get away faster. This was no good! My toe hurts so bad. It won't stop bleeding, and now a bruse is forming under the nail (gross I know). NOw this was all getting better, but no Megan has to go and ruin if for herself. We were helping these Missionaries move out of their house (5 freeking flights of stairs) and I have to drop 2 HEAVY book shelves.... and a Liter of pop on my bad toe! LAME! As of now I have to limp, because it hurts and it won't stop bleeding again, but I laugh because it's so dumb! Anyway things are going so great! I have used up my 250 picture card already, and I can't delete any, so hopefully I can burn an CD soon. So much has happened, so many lives touched and changed, in and out of our group! Our devotion time has been amazing and tearfilled/rainfall for me! I miss you all though SO MUCH! The group leaves in four days, and Jess and I still have no idea what we are doing... so I will update you more later! I love you again and hope you all are doing better than well! Megan

Mail from Megan Part III

2006-06-01T18:19:00.000-06:00

Well hello again...the keı board is a little funnı, so bare with me. We left Poland and are in Slovakia now. I loved Poland...it was amaying, just too much of a big citı. We made some prettı sweet connections with the people there and I miss them a lot. So todaı was the first daı with the jıpsie people. THe kids just hung on everıone. THeı want love so bad, and it breaks mı heart... the language barrier doesn§t even matter. I love them, and i love ıou all for allowing me to come, I think about ıou everıdaı and miss ıou... I have to go, everıone is waiting on mı computer... I love ıou Megan

PS thanks christi, I love ıou, and congrats Amie go all the waı... Love ıou

Mail from Megan Part II

2006-06-01T18:18:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone... I just have to tell you how I typed this email the other day, and it erased, so I gave up. Share in my frustration! I also wanted to say sorry if you got this twice, I sent these to different people everytime...don't be angry!

Well we are still in Krakow, and will be here until Saturday morning. THe pope will speak saturday night... we were bummed! Let's see... I have given up on the language, except for thank you and bathroom. :) Everyone speaks english well enough, and we kinda stand out as Americans.

Yesterday we painted a fence for a lady. it was sweet.... Oh yeah (sorry) the population is like a million people here, something like 90% catholic, and only 350 "christians" The few here are looked at as a cult. So our main mission is to encourage the few christians... The people are amazing. The culture is so different from ours. It is reserved and everyone keeps to themselves. When I walk down the street, no one makes eye contact... to me this is sad, but it is just how it is. YOu can imagine how we stick out!

Sweet things have been happening though. The group was sitting in a park worshiping and this lady just cam up ans sat down. She said she couldn't pass the bright circle we had formed.

Today we had an outreach at a part of the University, where I spent the entire day talking with this couple. THey were so cute. Then half of our group went to a english converstaion class. I talk to two 16 year old girls for a long time... They were amazing. Another problem over here is the way women look at themselves. Eating disorders are HUGE! When I asked what their favorite food was, one girl said she didn't like to eat becasue she wanted to keep her figure! I was broken! Honestly I haven't seen one over weight women yet, seriously!! It's sad!

I hope everyone is having a great time in the states!! For those on summer vacation, I hope you are enjoying it, and for those still in school, good luck with finals, and those who are working... um have fun? In any case i love you all!! God bless and I miss you!

Mean

Mail from Megan Part I

2006-06-01T18:12:00.000-06:00

Hey there. I just got some forwarded messages from Megan the Red that she sent out from the Poland/Slovakia trip. I'm posting them here for you to read. Enjoy.

-Lance

Hello everyone! WELCOME HOME BETHANY!!! ( I guess we switched places) Send this to anyone who might want it, if I missed them!! Sorry if that is you

Well I am here in Poland after like 30 hours straight of travel! It was sweet as you can imagine! Yep we are all tired and haven't done much yet. Yesterday was our first "day". We went to the Plaza and to a church to work on our dramas, testimonies, and worship. I wanted to do the testimony part, but somehow people pressured me into the stupid drama... no it really isn't that bad, you all know how I love acting! We have until next friday here then we move to Slovakia!

This morning we prayer walked around a park right outside of our hotel (a dorm for college students). In a little over a week the Pope will be here.. Now a little history that we learned is.... The last Pope was Polish, and actually lived here in the town we are in. THe new Pope is German. Bottom line if this "meeting" doesn't go well many people will leave the Catholic church, only God knows if that is a good thing or not. So all we can do is pray.

The language is difficult! I am frustrated, but the majority of poland knows english. In our little intro paper I was reading on how not to be loud because this is like shouting "I'm an American" Well I know you are laughing, but this is hard for me too!

I can't think of anything else to share... you should all go to Nicoles concert though... pretend that I am there laughing with you! I love you all and miss you!

Megan

Scott's Euro Missions Journal #4

2006-06-01T11:10:00.000-06:00

Hello Everybody...

THE POPE WAS ONLY 8 FEET IN FRONT OF ME...THEN HE TURNED AND LOOKED RIGHT AT ME AND GAVE ME A "THUMBS UP" SIGN. At least that is the story i will be telling my children 15 years from now. We were in Krakow last Friday when the new pope Benedict XVI (called B-16 by some polish people) came to town.

The main square was packed with travelers eager to see the Pope. There in the midst of them were us 20 Protestant believers caught up in the event. It felt more like a rock concert to us than a spiritual pilgrimage, especially when the helicopter showed up and the pope came rumbling into the square in his "pope mobile" (a special display car with bullet proof glass). The crowd began to roar and we roared along with them. We screamed and took pictures and were so excited about the opportunity to see a world famous person that the Polish believers just laughed at us.

The Pope was in town for three very important days for the spiritual future of Poland. He even led mass for an estimated 900,000 people on Sunday. For several of the days we were in Krakow, we prayer walked around the large field where this took place. Our prayer is that God would use the time that the pope was in Krakow to start a fresh move of His Holy Spirit.

The Polish people as a whole have a real precarious future. They have been predominately Catholic, especially since the last pope was Polish, but now many Poles are leaving the Catholic church and searching for other answers...materialism, buddhism, atheism...our prayer is for a new generation to radically change Poland by giving their hearts to Jesus. The Polish people are very independent and have a strong sense of confidence in themselves as a people...if that was coupled with the love and power of Christ, i truly believe they could impact much of the rest of Europe...we will see.

The first part of this week we traveled to a little town in Slovakia called Bonovce. We have been to Bonovce three times before...so it was good to see friends and Pastor Rasto, who we had met before. While there, we mainly focused on ministry to Gypsies. They are people who have been mistreated over their history by Europeans. They have a very different culture and values than the rest of Europe and they don't integrate very well, in many ways they are a forgotten people.

A gypsy woman in Bonovce gave her life to Jesus two years ago. Now she is slowly reaching and influencing other Gypsies for Jesus. She developed a kids choir with some Gypsy kids and on Monday they gave a concert. This was great because these precious little kids were singing worship songs with all of their hearts, but also many of their fathers and mothers and uncles and aunts came out to listen. Our team also played music, shared testimonies, performed dramas and then a girl named april from our group gave a simple salvation message using her life story. It was a beautiful time to plant seeds for Jesus among the gypsies of Banovce.

Now we are in Banska Bystrica a bigger city in Slovakia. It also has a University here so there are college age people all over. Last night we spoke at the mid-week service of an Evangelical church here in town. Then today we helped a missionary couple move out of their apartment. It was a long day since they had a lot of stuff and lived on a 5th floor apartment. There are 20 of us in our team so we made a snake (or a "little house on the prairie fire line") in order to get all the stuff down the stairs. We worked for almost 9 hours. But we cleaned out their entire apartment, which was an incredible help to them. They are now headed to Greece for the next 5 years.

Tomorrow we will resume with more street ministry, playing music in the square here and trying to form relationships with the people we attract. Live music is a very big draw here, because they do not have a lot of chances to hear good music. It has been fun having some more musicians on this trip. Sylvia our violinist has added a bit of class to our jamming, that we've never had before. Last night the other guitarist Peter sang a worship song in Slovak and English. (Open the Eyes of my Heart) The Slovak people were so excited to hear him singing in Slovak they all started clapping in the middle of the song :)

Well it has been a great trip so far...God is doing some great things in every place we have been. Please pray for the young believers in Poland like: Igor, Gregori, Ewa, and Bartek...that God would continue to fill them with His Spirit...pray for the young believers in Slovakia like: Tomas, Mayo, Mario, Katka and Lubka...that God would give them His power...and pray for the Poles and Slovaks that we have been able to share Jesus with like: Maria, Barbara, Simon, Martin and Adam...that they would give their hearts to Christ.

Thank you for your prayers and support,

Scott

zaczek

2006-05-29T12:36:00.000-06:00

ahoj friends and family. i found this picture on flickr of the hostel we stayed at in krakow. our beloved zaczek. and since i havent uploaded any pics yet ill have to pirate this one. anyhoo there wont be proper punctuation in this post bc im lazy. we just got back from a gypsy outreach today and i was in heaven. by the way, we are in slovakia now for the second full day. yesterday we had church and it was incredible. Gods spirit moved in powerful ways as always. my slovak is improving in leaps and bounds. people talk to me as if im a native and i have to stop them and remind them to speak slowly. today we had a powerful time of devotions in the church. we had worship and prayed together then the pastor told us his vision for his church and also a little about the gypsy people. i couldnt believe it as God recounted the events in my mind of the past year. He gave me a dream a year ago to partner with a woman named stanya who is a gypsy woman who got saved through our ministry in banovce three years ago. i sent a support letter to peter telling him about this dream i had but i thought it would be far, far into the future. i am not very good at dreaming. then as i sat and listened to pastor Rasto speak God showed me that He gave me this dream, then last year in sk during worship He told me He wanted me to spend this whole summer in sk. then i found out i couldnt stay with sara since she is moving to greece with the slovak missionaries. then i found out the my friend majo will go to ireland for the summer which allowed me to stay with daska, his mom. rasto said that stanya is a gift from God and that she now works with about 15 gypsy kids doing bible studies etc. i wept as i saw my dream coming into fruition and everyone is already excited and thankful that i am here to help. tonight i saw the need once again firsthand. they need Jesus. so, so much.

Meet Sylvia

2006-05-26T10:29:00.000-06:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, meet Sylvia. Ths is her playing violin for the children at the orphanage in Tijuana in 2004. She studied here at the U of M for a year, and it was great having her as a part of Chi Alpha. Right now she is with the team over in Poland.

If you want to read a different angle on the trip, you should check out her blog.

Scott's Euro Missions Journal #3

2006-05-24T17:31:00.000-06:00

hello everyone:

I partied until 5am!!! A girl named Anka that i met on the missions trip to Poland last year, invited me to be her date for the wedding of her brother. I got to witness first hand a traditional Polish wedding. There was the beautiful Catholic church, lots of gifts, the Polka Band, tons of food (that just keep coming no matter how full you became), and the party literally goes all night long...the sun was coming up as i finally made it back to the student hotel where our team was staying.

I had an amazing time! It is not too often that you can fully experience something in another culture as important as a wedding from such a close position. All of Anka's family and friends were very kind to me, speaking to me often in whatever english they knew, and many knew quite a bit.

When I got back to the Zaczek hotel I only had three hours of sleep until i had to wake up...i had to go preach :)

Half the team came with me to a pentecostal/evangelical church in a small suburb of krakow called skovina. I was actually quite awake and excited to preach...my lack of sleep acting like a rush of adrenaline for me.

I preached about the need for us to be continually filled with Holy Spirit throughout our life...so that we can have his POWER, LOVE, and SELF-DISCIPLINE in our life, all our life. The prayer time afterward was really good, and many shared with us that this message was very timely for them as a church.

The last two days we have been doing music/skit outreach at a group of dorms in the eastern part of krakow. I sing most of the songs, but since we have more musicians than ever before, some of the others get a chance to sing a few songs as well. When we our done with our music and dramas (usually about 90 minutes) then we play sports and talk with anyone who is outside. Through this we have met many people and invited them to our university meeting on Thursday, called "Impact."

Tomorrow we will finish our last day at these dorms. Please pray for the students we've met and the students we will meet tomorrow, that many of them will come to the "Impact" Service on thursday night. I think I will be preaching...it will be a great opportunity to see many come of the people we've met to know Christ and to inspire the polish university believers.

One last story...we visited a homeless shelter for men last night. We had a full worship service with all the guys. We shared some music and then I preached a message about "wrestling with God". Afterward we offered to pray with anyone who wanted prayer. Many men stayed afterward to be prayed for.

The last man I prayed for was a guy named Andre. He said he wanted to serve Jesus better. When I asked him what was his biggest barrier to following Christ, his answer was, "I am the biggest barrier." So I began to pray the God would fill Andre with His Holy Spirit so that Andre could know him and know His love.

As I was praying for this...I had one of those moments, when the incredible beauty of this thing God is doing became so clear and powerful for me. The reality that the CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE, THE HOLY AND PERFECT ONE puts His very Spirit into man...screwed up, sinful, rebellious man...and that through this amazing gift we are made into men of God...beautiful, righteous and pleasing to God settled on my soul in a very profound way. It is truly amazing!!!!!!

When I finished praying for Andre, I was so filled up with the Holy Spirit, i needed someone else to pray for, but there were no more homeless guys to pray for...so i looked around and grabbed one of the polish university age believers there named Gregori and told him, "I've got to pray for someone...and you are going to have to be the one that gets all of the benefit of this extra filling of the Holy Spirit I just got!!!" :)

It just makes me loves Jesus so much, that He gives me these moments...these moments when He re-romances my heart to this incredible divine dance that He has invited us all into. I am so thankful that He called me and filled me...and that now He gives me the opportunity to be a part of Him calling and filling others!!

Thank you for all your prayers!!!!

Scott

Scott's Euro Journal #2

2006-05-19T16:50:00.000-06:00

Hello Everyone,

Jet Lag hurts!!!! We have been moving around a lot these last two days. But each day around 8pm an extreme tiredness pores over our bodies. We are 8 hours ahead of Montana time, and with the 24 hours of constant travel, coupled with the time change all of us are struggling with jet lag. Today i feel asleep on the tram we were riding and luckily someone woke me up barely in time to get off, or else i would have kept going on down the line :)

The past two days here in Krakow, we have settled into our rooms in a student hotel near the city center. We have also been practicing our skits, our outreach music and our testimonies. We will all of these later in the missions trip when we start doing more street ministry.

The first night we joined with a bunch of polish university age believers that have a group like Chi Alpha called Impact. We met with them...but we did not do any ministry, we just joined in with them for their worship service. Afterward we all went out to eat together. Our hope is that by meeting them early in the trip, many of them will join us for the outreaches we will be doing later next week.

Tonight we met with some other university believers from another church in Krakow, but this time we led in worship, performed one skit, and had a student give his testimony. I finished by preaching the sermon. I spoke about Adam and Eve and how they hid from God when they sinned and tried to fix themselves with fig leaves, and how we follow in their footsteps, hiding from God when we sin, and trying to fix ourselves to please Him.

I said we need to be more like David, who in Psalm 51, runs to God for His mercy and grace. David trusts the heart of God...that He truly wants to have continued relationship with David and he lets God fix him instead of trying to fix himself. I think the message was very well received, and i hope it is timely for them as well. There is a strong Catholic culture here, almost 97% of the population. While there are some born-again believers in the Catholic church, many times people buy into the lie of trying to please God by being religious to fix themselves. Our prayer is that every Polish person will desire to enter into a deep relationship with a God who loves us enough to fix us from the inside out, and is was not afraid to use the death and resurrection of His only Son, to allow us to be called His sons and daughters as well!!!!

Speaking of the Catholic church, the new pope Benedict XVI will be visiting Krakow next Sunday. It will be a very big event here. We are praying for the Spirit of God to really break out among the Polish people when the pope will be here. Unfortunately by next Sunday we will already be in Slovakia.

Lastly please pray for a Polish girl named Barbara, she joined our worship time yesterday morning, as we were doing our morning devotions. She was just walking by and she said that she "saw a light coming from our group" as we worshipped. She liked the music and so she sat down and entered in to what we were doing for about 1/2 hour. She said she will join us in the future as well. That is pretty amazing that on the very first morning God brings people to us to allow us to share with them about His incredible love!!!!

Scott

Scott's Euro Missions Journal #1

2006-05-15T18:23:00.000-06:00

Like last year, we'll post Scott's emails here for everyone to read. Enjoy.

Hello Friends and Family,

It is 2:50 am, early on Monday morning. I am busy packing and getting all my last minute details locked down. I am about to embark on a month long missions trip to Central Europe. This email is sent to keep all of you who helped support this trip connected to what is happening on our trip.

Tomorrow all 22 students and staff going on this missions trip will travel to Bozeman, Montana. While we are in Bozeman for a day we will get to know everyone, receive our first week's schedule and pray together for God's blessing on our trip.

I hope to round up all the musicians as well. Hopefully we can get a small practice in. This year our music outreach should be more than just me singing my guts out while beating on my guitar :) We have three other guitar players, two other singers and one very excellent violin player. So our music should be much more pleasant to the ear than last year's :)

Well my next email will probably come once we have made it to Europe; we will be in Krakow, Poland for the first leg of our outreach. Please pray for our safe travel, for our team to gel with personalities and giftings, and for God to prepare the hearts of the people who we will be speaking with during our time there.

Thanks for joining the journey with me!!!!!!

Scott

Jamey In Russia

2006-05-08T19:55:00.000-06:00

Jamey made it safely to St. Petersburg, Russia where she'll be helping out the local missionaries for eleven months. You can follow her adventures on her very own blog. Check it out!

let it rain

2006-05-02T11:53:00.000-06:00

IMG_4172
Originally uploaded by lafalda.

"And God said, 'This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.'"

do svidania

2006-04-27T11:49:00.000-06:00

IMG_0834
Originally uploaded by lancefisher.

yesterday we put my cousin, jamey, on a plane to st petersburg, russia for a year. the departure was bittersweet because, yes, she will be gone for a year, but she is finally getting to do what she has dreamed of for a decade or so now. she'll be teaching photography in a school in st petersburg while working with missionaries there as well. i believe she's there now. arrived this morning after what was sure to have been a bear of a flight. mine was when i went. she, like me, arrives just in time for the famous white nights. she'll have a little more time before they're in full swing, though. i loved them. then again, i can sleep in broad daylight. or night light.

Canyonlads Video Series Part X

2006-04-25T23:38:00.000-06:00

And now, concluding our Canyonlands Video Series for 2006, here is Scott buying stamps. Enjoy.

Canyonlads Video Series Part IX

2006-04-25T23:32:00.000-06:00

Once we got back to town and got cleaned up, we went out for dinner. After we ate, some guy named Jerry was nice enough to offer Krysty a motorcycle ride. We caught it on tape... or SD card rather. Enjoy.

Canyonlads Video Series Part VIII

2006-04-25T23:25:00.000-06:00

This a group shot. I set the timer on the camera, and it wasn't until I pulled the pictures off the card that I noticed the camera had been in video mode. You can hear some dialog about Scott hitting a squirrel on his birthday for the second year in a row. Enjoy.

Canyonlads Video Series Part VII

2006-04-25T23:20:00.000-06:00

This is Justine crossing a creek. There were quite a few of these. One day we counted around 54 creek crossings. I think the trail makers were doing it on purpose for a laugh.

Canyonlands Video Series Part VI

2006-04-14T16:15:00.000-06:00

Scott got snowed on at the Salt Creek 1 campsite. Zach, Justine, and I actually climbed up to the same rock that Scott shot this from. We stayed in this same valley our first night, and Scott was there a couple of days later. Enjoy.

gone loggin'

2006-04-13T09:24:00.000-06:00

888825-R1-13-11
Originally uploaded by lafalda.

welp it's official folks. the votes are in. this is my most popular photo on flickr "in order of interestingness."
it is ranked by the number of views, comments and people who marked it as a favorite. i think this will greatly embarrass the subject, which makes me a little happy. she never much liked this photo, but with scientific proof like this, i think she can no longer deny that it's a pretty great pic. you might find another pic or two of her here.

skid row

2006-04-13T06:53:00.000-06:00

skid row
Originally uploaded by lafalda.

we arrived at the dream center early tuesday morning and received our first assignment. and to quote tina, "first time in l.a. and the first place we go is skid row." you can see the trip through her eyes here.
the skid row ministry is out there almost every day, serving hot meals and offering the hope of Jesus Christ to those who are among the most hopeless in our nation.

watts

2006-04-13T06:34:00.000-06:00

fave pic
Originally uploaded by lafalda.

this spring break four of us piled into a small car and braved the road that leads to los angeles. we wanted to work with the dream center which is the product of two young men's dream to reach out to the inner city of los angeles. they do too much even begin to go into here. 200+ different ministries including the few we got to be a part of: hope for homeless youth, skid row outreach, food truck, and metro kidz (which, by the way, is run in part by a guy named joe from missoula, who was very excited that we were there). this is my favorite picture from the whole trip. it's from our time in metro kidz. we went to a couple of schools in watts and handed out fliers to kids after school for an outreach we helped put on with games, music, candy and a bible story. the girl on the left's name is omri. she is a beautiful combination of shyness and goofiness.

Canyonlands Video Series Part V

2006-04-12T22:38:00.000-06:00

Well, I missed a day. Sorry, but I've been working late. Does that mean you get two today? I don't think so, but this is a good one. It has both a tree and a cabin. Enjoy.

Canyonlads Video Series Part IV

2006-04-10T23:35:00.000-06:00

We got caught in some rain, so we took cover under an overhang. It looks like Scott did the same.

Canyonlads Video Series Part III

2006-04-09T22:07:00.000-06:00

Scott took a couple of soundless videos of a waterfall that he saw, but we missed somehow. I think it was because we were off the trail at that part. Hey, we had a GPS why would we need a trail? Anyway, I'll just skip over those and head on to the next one with some commentary. Enjoy.

Canyonlands Video Series Part II

2006-04-08T18:27:00.000-06:00

Scott's incredible majestic views and his really heavy pack. For those of you who don't know, there were eight of us, however, the park will only allow seven to hike together. So Scott tried out a solo hike from north to south, and the rest of hiked from south to north passing him on the way.

Canyonlands Video Series Part I

2006-04-07T10:47:00.000-06:00

Well, we didn't really post any audioblogs from the Canyonlands trip. I tried a couple of times. The first time the call was cut off half way through because we were driving, and the second time I couldn't get good enough reception to place a call.

We're back now, and I have posted a bunch of photos. Also, we came back with a bunch of short video clips. I'll post them here once a day until we're done. Some will be more exciting than others, but for the first one here is the Krysty walk. Walking on those steep sandstone cliffs can be scary. This is the real thing, not a reenactment. Enjoy.

Testing and Leaving for Spring Break

2006-03-24T18:17:00.000-07:00

Well, it looks like it is working. I gave the number to Jess so the L.A. team should be able to post, and I left a voice mail for Megan the Red so the Gulf Coast team will be able to post if Megan checks her voice mail.

If you didn't know already we have several teams leaving for spring break. Team 1 (we'll call them the green team) will be going to Los Angeles and helping out at the Dream Center. Team 2 (blue team) will be going to Canyonlands National Park in Southern Utah for a week long hike. I'm on blue team. Team 3 (red team) will be going to the Gulf Coast to help with the hurricane relief effort. I orginally had colored the teams differently, but when I got to team 3 I had to make it the red team in honor of Megan the Red.

Everyone, have a great spring break whether you are going on one of the trips, on another trip, or staying in good old Missoula.

St. Pat's with Colorado Chi Alpha

2006-03-18T17:56:00.000-07:00

You know a party is good when you can play Dance Dance Revolution, Katamari Damacy, and Settlers of Katan in the same night. We rented three rooms in the University Center (a.k.a the U.C., it's the mall type place on campus) and set up a bunch of different games. Also, Peter brought his band, and Kathleen made cookies. All in all a pretty fun evening. Be sure to check out my photostream for all the photos.

Thanks for the great time Colorado Chi Alpha! I hope you enjoyed your week in Montana.

First Monday

2006-01-25T13:30:00.000-07:00

Monday was good. It was the first day of the semester, the first Chi Alpha of the year, but sadly it was Dan's last day in Missoula. It was good to see him there though. I'll miss that guy. Be sure to check out Dan's myspace, if you want to keep up with him, he has a great blog post about the new Gillette 5-blade razor.

Chi Alpha was great! Yes, we are on a new day and time now. Mondays at 7:00. I think that it will be good. Thursdays were always kind of hard after a long week of school, so it will be nice to start the week off with some good worship and a great message, and that's what it was this first Monday. I felt like the music really clicked, and I'm excited to have Krysty leading it. Scott's message on God's mission for your life was really good. It really spoke to me since I often wonder what the heck I'm supposed to be doing with my life. God knows though, and as long as I listen for his voice, and move when he tells me to, he'll use me.

Afterwards, we went to Denny's - as usual, and also as usual, we took up the big corner booth plus three or four more. It's great to see everyone again.

Kentucky 2006

2006-01-01T15:06:00.000-07:00

Hello friends! Yes, we rung in the New Year in good ole Louisville (Loo-ey-vull) and the CRAZY audio blog beneath is a likely indication that we were enjoying ourselves thoroughly.

I just wanted to jump on and post this picture of me and my new friend Nora. She was this fun, hillarious girl I met while standing in line for the Chocolate Fondue fountain and she really ministered to my heart. She is living proof that God is out to redeem His daughters, and even now it makes me smile to know He makes everything beautiful...just in time!

Happy New Years everybody!

World Missions Summit Part III

2005-12-31T22:39:00.001-07:00

Jess: Happy New Year! It's 2006 in the Eastern time zone. Well, it has been for about 36 minutes. So we're all excited because you all back home are still waiting for the new year.

Zach: We beat you!

Jess: We beat you! We're having fun here in Louisville, otherwise known as Loo-eh-vol, and some people want to say some stuff.

Rachael: Happy New Year! As Jess just said we are in a new year and you guys are in an old one. How does it feel to be in the stale new year while we're - the stale old year while were in the new year? I don't know 'cause I'm not there. But we hope you guys have a great New Year. We are having fun with country western band playing for us. He he he he he he he. And also some serious rockin'... Oh, sign language interpreters that already know the words to the [unintelligible]. So awesome. But I'm going to let Krysty tell about some really awesome people that we met here. I think.

Krysty: [unintelligible] it's a new year, and I'm excited about it! Usually I'm excited about a lot of things, but 2006, psht yeah baby. Okay, so I wanted to tell you about this girl that we met here. Her name's Nora, Nora Doughty and she is beautiful. Her middle name is Teal, as in the color. Which rocks by the way. Anyway, so we meet her line as we're like standing in line as we're like standing getting chocolate fondue in this chocolate fountain which basically is going to be in my mansion in heaven and it was amazing. So anyway, only [unintelligible]. Anyway, so I'm standing in line at this like fondue fountain, and freaking out having fun. This girl is like telling us she's here from Illinois she's all alone at the moment. She came with like fifty people. Anyway, she started telling her testimony. And like she's a new baby Christian. Only saved like five months ago, and saved in a radical, powerful, amazing way and God has just been rocking her world. So great. And, I loved her to death because she'd get excited and she'd do this little like fist thing. Oh you can't see me 'cause you're on the phone. Anyway, so she was doing it and then I'd do it and then we'd all laugh at each other, and then she'd just kinda look and she had this really loud laugh except and and a chipped tooth. It was awesome. But anyway, she'd go "ahhh!" and then that would be it. And it was so great. Then we'd laugh at her some more so Nora's my new friend and she's going to check out our blog, and she's beautiful, and God is going to take her to amazing places. Here is Lacy to tell you Happy New Years.

Lacy: Happy New Year!

Krysty: And this is Zach. Going blog a little bit about his experience in Louisville.

Zach: Okay Jess, I promise I won't turn it off. No what a tragedy, the treasure would be lost forever. It was a good new year. Did some dancing, listened to a country rock band, which I think somebody already said, and a crazy rock band, and a couple of guys running "Game-a-palooza." Which was basically answer the question with any of the possible multiple choice, and you win a prize. And they gave away a million bucks. Not in our currency though, in some currency where that equals maybe a hundred dollars. But it was pretty sweet anyways. So I'm going to let Jess have the phone now for closing remarks.

Jess: That's it from here folks. We'll be blogging later. Talk to you later. Bye.#

Something's Wrong

2005-12-31T22:39:00.000-07:00

Noooooo! It started over. Something. I don't know something's wrong.#

World Missions Summit Part II

2005-12-31T16:53:00.000-07:00

Jess: Hey guys, this is Jess. We're just heading back to the hotel, and Scott wants to tell a story. Okay.

Scott: It has been a wonderful time here at the Missions Summit. Except that we've had six girls and only two guys in our group. So definitely, definitely causes a lack of focus, a little bit fractured stories, and you know just overall giddiness.

But no, it's been a good conference - a lot of interesting speakers. We get a lot of interaction with missionaries. I think there is over two hundred missionaries that are here actively interacting with the students. I went through the experience this morning with the Northern Asia folk, and heard some incredible stories, especially about a population group of fifteen million Muslims that live in the northwest corner of China and don't have any missionary presence at all, and so one of the missionaries who thought he was going to go to reach Buddists, of which the majority of Chinese are, now feels like God has placed him there to witness to this fifteen million minority which is you know about five percent of the United States, which is a pretty big chunk of people.

So then I went to Europe this afternoon, and also met with the European missions leader for the Chi Alpha movement as we talked more about the potential opportunity of planting Chi Alpha in Slovakia, and had a great time with him. I ended up having him pray for me as I'm going to embark on my trip to Poland and Slovakia in T minus four days.

So that's the last report for 2005, and we'll catch you in 2006.#

World Missions Summit Photos

2005-12-31T12:20:00.000-07:00

If you haven't already, be sure to check out lafalda's photo stream for all the latest pictures from Kentucky and the way there.

World Missions Summit Part I

2005-12-30T08:57:00.000-07:00

Jess: Hey it's Jess, we are... Where are we? In some small town. We're in Effingham or somewhere near, getting gas and we just had a good night last night. We stayed with some host families in Brighton, Illinois. Scott is using the restroom right now, as usual. No, don't put that in there. Don't transcribe that, Lance! Just kidding, but here's Krysty to tell some stories.

Krysty: Okay, so dude, last night I'm driving right. Just going down the road driving as you do, and Scott was way ahead of me. So I was like, "Okay you guys, buckle up 'cause I'm seriously going to speed. Which equates to five miles over the limit right, because I'm a Christian, like that's what you do. Anyway, we're going along and sure enough (the speed limit was seventy) I started going like 78. I was pushing it I admit, and there was a copper, and he pulled me over. But then he got up to the car, and he saw that we were a bunch of girls, and we were like, "Oh, we don't know where we are. What state is this?" And was like, "Okay, just try to keep it at 70." And he let us go, and it was 'cause he saw we were girls in the wrong state. It was awesome.

And yesterday we were just having these passing games with this guy in a Caddie. He had eyes for Rachael, and it was awesome.

Rachael: I took my hair down.

Krysty: And she took her hair down and flapped it in the wind as we were passing him in our Geo Metro.

"Oh my gosh, yeah the little boy!"

Okay, so last night we stayed at this family, and I was so in love. There was this little boy there. He was six years old and he had downs syndrome. His name was Conner, and he's in love with Darlene Zschech. Like, he watches her all the time on TV, or like their DVD or whatever. So hello! Child after my own heart, and he's basically in the trunk right now, 'cause I wanted to kidnap him. No, that was a joke. Totally, totally not legal and I have already broken the law. I fought the law and the law won.

::burrrr::

That was Rachael's sweet lighter. Not me burping. You open it up. It has a hologram tiger slash... what is that a golden retriever. That is so awesome. But anyway, this is probably eight minutes long. Okay, Rachael's talking now.

Rachael: I don't want to talk, but... So we had a really good time last night with Viola, and she fed us a lot - a lot of spaghetti. And we were so full, and we just stuffed it down 'cause it was so wonderful. But she made it and it tasted really good, but we were all stuffed, but we did have a really good time, and they have a beautiful house on a lake. And I want them to be my grandparents. Here's Jess.

Jess: Alright, so that's about it. We're heading into Louisville. We'll be there in about... yeah Lacy... we had some fake Cheerios this morning, and Lacy’s stomach can only handle real ones. So she's sick. But yeah, we'll be in Louisville in about five hours, and we'll probably check in later. Okay bye.#

World Missions Summit

2005-12-28T11:36:00.000-07:00

Today a group left for the World Mission's Summit in Louisville, Kentucky. Let me try and remember everyone who was going: Scott, Jess, Krysty, Jamey, Lacy, Rachael, and maybe Zach. What is the world missions summit? Well, if you didn't already look at that link, I'll give you the overview. A bunch of missionaries from around the world were invited to Kentucky and so were all the Chi Alpha groups. College students will be able to meet with missionaries and see what they are doing.

The Hadingers, who are missionaries to the Old Colony Germans in Cuauhtemoc, Mexico will be there. I met them in January when I went down there with Dan and Andrew (my friend from Boise). Here's a photo set and a blog post. I'm excited for some of our Chi Alphers to meet them because that's where we are hoping to go for our spring break mission trip.

The group headed to Kentucky is set up with audioblogger so hopefully we'll be hearing all about it from the road.

Feliz Navidad

2005-12-22T18:38:00.000-07:00

I know I speak for everyone on staff and student leadership when I wish you a GLORIOUS Christmas and an EXTRAORDINARY New Year! We hope your winter break goes smoothly and safely and that you return refreshed and ready to embrace another amazing semester of Chi Alpha and all that that entails...

MERRY CHRISTMAS,

Krysty Kay

Merry Christmas

2005-12-13T22:12:00.000-07:00

There are few Chi Alpha events that include wrapping paper, bath robes and egg nog chugging... but once a year you are guarenteed these amazing pleasures at our annual Christmas party. Friday night marked our last organized event for 2005 and it was possibly the best way to end the semester and celebrate all that God has done. Some of the highlights included HJ singing a worship song in Korean, an air hockey match that brought out La Roja's competative side, and a stunning victory in pool by Rocky. All in all it was a beautiful thing. It simply leaves one with a little mist in their eye, so grateful to be a part of such an amazing group of people...
Merry Christmas everyone!

Krysty Kay

thoughts, reflections, nonsense

2005-11-17T10:37:00.000-07:00

it's been a veritable coon's age since i posted in the xa blog so i thought it was high time. God has been doing some really exciting things in xa this year and i'm even more excited to see what happens next semester. last night rachael and i had one of our best bible studies yet. it had little to nothing to do with the study, but one girl offered a story about her prayer language and that launched us into a wonderful discussion, which will tie nicely with what scott's preaching about tonight. for me it was just incredible to get to hear how God has touched these girls, as uniquely as the girls themselves. then nearing the end of the study, a different girl asked us our opinion on a moral dilemma and we discussed for another half an hour. it was just so good to stretch our conversatory (is that a word?) muscles and to feel closer to one another as a result.

Parking Garage Worship

2005-11-09T22:18:00.000-07:00

Remnant. Contrary to popular belief, this is not something archaeologists stumble across, but rather it is an extraordinary band that houses God's fame. Last Saturday night they had the chance to usher us into Heaven's throne room in the most unusual setting: a parking garage. Even though it was -2 degrees Celsius outside, it didn't seem to phase the number of people gathered to sing love songs to their Savior.

The Director (Scotty B) had this brainchild of 'worship in random locations' many months ago, but I don't think anyone was prepared for the beautiful way God chose to show up... even people just walking past were drawn in to catch a glimpse of our Creator moving among us. If the night reminded me of one thing, it was that God is alive and well on the University of Montana campus.

If you happened to miss the delicious night of worship, don't be disheartened! 'Remnant' will be playing for the 'All Campus' Corporate worship night this Thursday as well as for another 'worship in random locations' on December 3rd... so stay posted for details (I'll pretty much tell you right now, we won't be in the parking garage simply because it's hard to worship when you can't feel your face!)

Okay, Friends... I love you all!
Krysty Kay

Halloween Party

2005-11-02T20:28:00.000-07:00

Upon discovering that I am completely hopeless at pumpkin bowling, I decided that I will stick with consuming sugar and bobbing for apples on Halloween from now on. Last Saturday was Chi Alpha's completely amazing constume party and I was amazed at the star-studded cast that decided to attend. We had Chaplin, Dean and Monroe. Annie, Jessica Rabbit, catwoman and a rabbit judge. We had a scottish piper, a hole-y ghost and an almost terrifying 'cereal' killer. Truly, the event had a flare all it's own and everyone who attended enjoyed trick-or-treating for canned goods as well as an intense game of pictionary. But never to be outdone, the beautiful women at the girl's house made a creepy spread that even Martha Stewart would have envied. Here's to next year and several more creative ways to make a costume out of a sheet!

Girl's Retreat update

2005-10-30T12:59:00.000-07:00

Finally, almost a week later, I have an update of the girl's retreat for you.
In a word the weekend was divine. God showed up in such a beautiful way, that all the girls who attended went home changed and inspired. I can't even articulate how much God's heart is moved when His Daughters get together to adore Him. It's as if Heaven pauses to listen to the passionate worship they throw before His Throne. Truly, I sensed our Savior walk among us during the weekend and I hope you would agree that it's the sweetest thing on earth... at least us girls enjoyed it.

We also enjoyed chocolate, Mike Myers, baby cheeses, a short lived campfire, phenominal worship, a beautiful guest speaker, a lot of laughs and a much needed session of encouragement. As I stated earlier, it was divine. I can't think of a better way to spend 24 hours of my life, and you can be guarenteed that this is just the beginning of a great thing. Plans are already in the works for Daughter's Retreat 2006! So fabulous females, make sure you don't miss out next year...

Scavenger Hunt

2005-10-28T17:13:00.000-06:00

Last night we couldn't have Chi Alpha worship in our normal room, because a professor wanted that particular room for testing. So we got a room in the UC. Scott played guitar and led us in some great worship, gave a short message, and then we did a scavenger hunt. The location was changed up a bit, so we thought we'd change up the usual Thurday program a bit too.

The scavenger hunt was pretty cool. It was a little bit different than your average scavenger hunt. We divided into four teams. Each team had a camera phone and a list of things to find. They would snap photos, and send them to a certain email address. The photos would then show up on our specially made scavenger hunt website which we displayed on the projector. Once a team found seven of the photos, we sent them a photo of the final thing to find.

It was really fast-paced. The photos came in much quicker than I expected, and we had a winner in about 45 minutes. Afterwards, the teams told us a little about the photos they took, we had some snacks, and played around on John's skateboard. Then, as usual, we went to Denny's.

Be sure to check out the scavenger hunt photos. I can't remember that was on the list but here are some:

One of the other teams taking a photo

A building erected in 1898

An unflushed toilet

Someone playing the piano

Main Hall at 9:00

A squirrel

A bear wearing an article of clothing

Someone in shorts

A human pyramid

An issue of the Phillips County News

An uncarved pumpkin

A neon open sign

A freight elevator

A haloween decoration

Someone climbing a tree

Adios

2005-10-21T15:40:00.000-06:00

It's true. The Chi Alpha women are heading off for their very first girl's retreat today! Stay posted for an update... it's going to be amazing!

DAUGHTER'S RETREAT 2005

Mini Missions

2005-10-15T18:11:00.000-06:00

I never ever ever ever ever ever ever thought I would be into logging... but I may have found a new secret hobby. Last weekend ten of us descended upon Plains Montana with the intent to lend a hand in their 'Wood Ministry'. The church we went up to help out is exceptional. They have such a passion to serve their community that they literally are fulfillingg people's basic human needs. They are feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and helping to heat elderly and single mother's homes who don't have the means to gather and chop their own wood. Nothing demonstrates Jesus better than this concept, and their church has seen radical growth to prove it. I can honestly say it challenged me in extraordinary ways. What are some ways that I can serve my community in the same way? Is there anything I can do to minister to the University Campus with much the same idea? I really believe there is something to this servanthood thing, and I can't wait to see where God goes with it all... stay posted because I'm sure I'll let you know!

Much love, Krysty Kay

Homecoming 2005

2005-10-05T15:17:00.000-06:00

Okay, I'm pretty sure that Chi Alpha is awesome. This weekend we stayed up till wee hours of the morning constructing a pirate ship... and I'm pretty sure that I will gladly be a part of any group who participates in such noble feats.

This weekend was the 2005 Homecoming parade for the Montana Grizzlies and we all went out in style (to the biggest parade of the year) in our XA pirate ship complete with theatrical ensemble and dingy. I had the thrill of passing out candy to small children the entire route but most of them were too distracted by 'Zeek' and the 'bandit stowaway' to notice the dum-dums we had purchased for them. After the parade we shockingly dismantled our creation in a matter of 60 minutes and had a very undignified ceremony for "The Scott Barnay" besides the dumpster out back. Twenty minutes later we were cheering on the Grizzlies in an amazing game that reminded me how much I love Missoula and the first week of October... Here's to the Griz and to next year's "Naval-Worthy-Water-Craft".

Krysty Kay

Fall Retreat update

2005-09-27T22:00:00.000-06:00

Besides being nestled in the most beautiful part of the world and being able to have the most amazing encounter with God this weekend, I guess you could say that Fall Retreat was 'okay'. Actually, I jest. Fall retreat was UNBELIEVABLE. I literally had one of the best weekends in my Chi Alpha career and would gladly wager that all who attended would agree it was 'pretty good'.

I mean, let's look at it objectively. There were s'mores, late night card games, a hot tub in the sanctuary, a number of dead animals around the fire place, an unbelievable abundance of brownies, a ton of great people to get to know and a ten minute drive to the greatest national park on Earth! Could you really ask for anything more?

How about a phenomenal speaker who articulated the very Father heart of God? How about a time of worship that brought you into the Holy of Holies? How about people following Christ in water baptism? How about the sweetest presence of God that brought everyone to their knees? How about a Holy Spirit encounter that set people free and healed people's hearts? To be honest, it had been a while since I had sensed Jesus in such a beautiful way, and it simply wet my appetite for more of Him... so as I was saying, Fall Retreat was UNBELIEVABLE!

Fall Retreat

2005-09-23T17:32:00.000-06:00

This weekend we are off to the fall retreat in Hungry Horse. I'll let you know how it goes.

Here's a photo from last year.

WIRL

2005-09-18T00:28:00.000-06:00

The idea for tonight was something that Scott thought of when God told him to dream big. So as the first in what I hope will be a series of many, we worshipped God in the parking garage at the U.M. The highly-talented Master's Commission band played for this WIRL or Worhip in Random Locations.

Luckiest Girl

2005-09-06T22:07:00.000-06:00

I'm pretty sure I'm the luckiest girl in the world. I think working with Chi Alpha is by far the highlight of my life (granted I don't have much else to do but entertain small children during the day) but it makes me so exceptionally happy to work with collegate age people. They bless, inspire and challenge me more than I could have ever dreamed, and I would basically do this for the rest of my life! This Thursday was amazing and I was so proud of everyone involved. Each segment was excellent and I can already tell this is going to be a semester of "lengthening our cords" so to speak (see Isaiah 54) and it makes me so excited to be a part of college ministry. I hope to keep you updated on what happens within Chi Alpha this year and the amazing people involved... so ta ta for now, and many blessings till later. PS: this is Krysty Kay, not Scotty B!

First XA of Fall 2005

2005-09-02T15:50:00.000-06:00

Well last night was the first Chi Alpha worship service of the year, and it was good! It was great to see so many people back from summer break, though I missed those who have moved on. Scott mentioned how each of his college years was completely different than the others. I don't know if it is quite the same for me, but there are certainly big changes each year.

We are back on the sound system this year for the music, and I really like it. I dusted off the old electric guitar, and got to lug in the amp and play. The acoustic stuff last year was good, but I enjoy playing amplified more. Also, my prayers about getting a djembe were answered! Patrick showed up and played, and he said even though he usually won't be able to make it, he would leave the djembe at the guys' house so we can use it. It's such a sweet sound.

Afterwards, we got together over at Denny's. About thirty of us. I think we kind of took them by surprise. I had fun making some terrible sketches of people. I'm not an art major.

All and all, it's not the technicalities of the music that makeup worship. It's God showing up when we earnestly call to him; it's us submitting to him. Last night was a great time of worship and fellowship. I'm excited to see what God will do this year at the UM, and to be a small part of it. My prayer is, "Use me, God!"

letters from the vortex

2005-08-27T23:35:00.000-06:00

it is a beutiful thing to start a new project...you know sit on the edge of the precipice ready to see how far your wings will take you. sitting on the edge of anothe school year outreach with chi alpha is like a kayaker standing next to a raging river wondering whether he's remembered all the details before he plops in the water and in short order gets shoved miles down the river. i love the rush of the river, but i'd rather get in and forget the details. so many powerful things happen during a chi alpha year that i am very excited about getting it on...but yet, the wise side of me slows me down and says, make sure you have your t's dotted and your i's crossed... so we wait. tomorrow we'll launch by having the student leader get-away, a time to plan, pray and prepare for the upcoming year. tonight we had the welcome back bbq and it was quite a good time to see old friends and catch again the fun of a chi alpha year in full swing. i can't wait to meet the new people god will bring our way, to taste of the new adventures that will be sure to come, and to have the long conversations, that mean we are indeed growing in our relationships with each other and with Christ.

Kazakhstan!!!!!

2005-08-09T10:31:00.000-06:00

Hey everybody,

We found and internet cafe in Karaganda, so I'm going to send out a quick e-mail to all of you. Please feel free to post this or send it to anyone who I might have missed or who you think will enjoy it.

All of our planes connected and we got to Almaty at about 1 in the morning. Dima, our contact, met us at the airport, and we went to a very nice hotel to sleep off the jet lag. Kazakhstan is 12 hours ahead of Montana, so with your sleeping in yesterday, I'm wide awake in tomorrow (Good luck with that sentece.) We had a tourist type day on Saturday, and were able to see a lot of Almaty, as well as eat some local food (YUM!!!!) On Sunday we made our way up the mountain to a junior high camp. Oh, those kids stole our hearts. It reminded me of camping in Montana. Tents, no running water except the river, but we still had so much fun, and the kids were really receptive to the messages about relationships with their parents. Even though we couldn't speak Russian, and they couldn't speak English, we had some awesome times together playing, swimming, eating, fellowshiping, and sleeping. We were with them until late Monday. It was so hard to say goodbye.

Next we took a 10 hour train ride to Karaganda. The train was so nice with running water, a shower, and matresses on the beds. I felt human again. So right now I'm in Karaganda with the rest of my team, all of us frantically e-mailing people. I also got to meet Dima's family, Masha his wife, and Mark his two year old son. Very cute. I'm going to try and convince Masha that he needs to come home with me. We'll see how that works out.

The plans are still a little sketchy, but I know that we will have some ministry time at a church here in Karaganda for a couple of nights, and then we'll move to Atbasar to do some work there. I think it is in Atbasar that Dima started a church.

Please continue to pray for our team as we travel, minister, and grow together. The people here are wonderful, treating us like kings and queens. And their love for the Lord is refreshing. Like I said, even though we can't communicate well some times, we have Jesus in common, which is enough.

I can't wait to give you all more details of my trip when I get home on the 19. (Thanks Mom for picking my up.) I also thank you for you prayers, and ask that you continue them. They are so vital to what we are doing. Thanks, and again, feel free to pass this message on.

Love you all,

Dawn

Farewell Dawn

2005-08-02T10:46:00.000-06:00

For the second summer in a row, we've enjoyed Dawn's presence at the summer Bible studies. She's usually over in Helena, but we get her for the summers. Yesterday we had a little farewell dinner for her at Fiesta En Jalisco because she is going to Kazakhstan. So be sure to pray for her and the rest of the team. They'll be gone for two and a half weeks.

Also, here is a zipped folder with the Bible study I led on Acts 5-8 a couple of weeks ago. See you Thursday if you can make it!

Thursday Night Bible Study

2005-07-15T16:09:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we had our second Bible study of the summer. This time it was over at the cool new XA guys' house. Krysty and Jess taught on Acts 1-4. I know that's a lot of content to cover, but we didn't actually sit there and read it all. We hit on some highlights, and they had a few really good discussion questions that got us all talking.

What do you know about gifts in general and what can you say about gifts that God gives?

What kind of promises did God make in the Bible? Who did he make them to, and how did they respond?

Has God ever made you a promise that you've seen to fulfillment? How has that effected your faith?

We'll be having another Bible study at the guys' house next Thursday, and yours truly will be leading it. I hope to see you there!

Summer Fun

2005-07-08T16:07:00.000-06:00

What's wrong with me? I didn't take one photo yesterday evening. Last night we had our first summer Bible study over at the XA Girls' house. It was really good to see everyone again, even if it wasn't everyone. We sang some worship, prayed, began studying Acts, or "The Acts of the Apostles" as it is called in Krysty's Bible. We sang a belated happy birthday to Jess, and made her kiss the five-headed Tom Cruise that Scott made. (a bit of her own type of humor)

After all this, some of us headed up to Fort Fizzle to have a bonfire. We burned the branches from Scott's sawsall pruning sessions at the XA houses, and some of my left over fence and waterbed parts. Rael showed us the W that is called casiopia, and Scott gave me a wonderful cheese dog.

Maybe we can post some photos from Scott once he posts them to flickr.

Next up: Rafting the Blackfoot tomorrow!

New XA Website

2005-07-02T21:00:00.000-06:00

Hey, I've been working on a new design for the Chi Alpha Website, and I wanted to post my first mock-up, and see what you thought. How can the graphic design be improved? Colors? Let me know what you think. You can click the image for a large one. It's large, so you'll have to be patient while it loads.

Thanks!