Videos!

This year we have at least three videos that have been made celebrating the work done through InterVarsity so far.  Recently, one of the new students has decided to use his gifts and love of video making to produce future videos for us.  This is a huge blessing as it frees up Kathryn's time for other things and enables more people to serve the Kingdom.
Check out the most recent video below then subscribe to the channels to see new videos as they are posted:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuoq58vAK2fdNDLfEO2jXBw

https://www.youtube.com/user/IVCFatFredonia

And if you missed the September newsletter, check it out here:
http://us6.campaign-archive2.com/?u=b8ad235dbdf3cdd411d46dca5&id=ab7bfd753a

Fall Service Trip

Ten students spent their Fall Break connecting to the local community and here's part of one story of where God met them in their service location.  

I Saw God in an Assisted Living Home

To the person reading this blog post, a reminder: 

God is alive, moving, and working in the most unexpected ways. 

So, where have I seen God lately? Well, everywhere, but there's one place in particular; the WCA Assisted Living Home. There, senior women from the community have the opportunity to live in an assisted living home, with other senior women, and caretakers who help them. Thursday morning, a group of friends and I had the opportunity to serve these women. What did we get to do? We painted nails! I was ecstatic! I was so excited to have the opportunity to just hangout with these women and hopefully have the chance to hear some of their stories.

So, I arrived at WCA, with intentions of sharing hope and love to a somewhat depressing place. I mean, for a lot of these women, this may be the last place they will live in their lifetime. Mentally, they prepare themselves to finish their long-lived lives in this place. Most of them don't have visitors, and all they are left with are the memories they have from before they got here. But, my God is a God who lives and is not afraid of death. He has never left these women alone. He has never given up on them. He loves them. 

Read the rest at Kayleigh's blog.  

http://kayleighricks17.blogspot.com/2014/10/i-saw-god-in-assisted-living-home.html

Five Years and One Week

It's been just over five years since I returned from spending a semester in Rockhampton, Australia at CQU.  I never would have guessed how much that experience would have transformed my life.  So instead of digging out my suitcases to start packing for my next trip there, I'm going to postpone that by sharing some of the lessons that stuck out and ways that trip continues to impact my life.

My favorite picture outside my dorm with friends

Lessons:
1.  The decisions to sacrifice the ability to graduate a year early by not going and a semester early by not taking a super challenging class, I've never regretted.  It gave me the four years I needed to easily complete my major, get a jump start on my Master's to finish it early, and learn what job I wanted.
2.  I learned to connect with the local culture and make friends with people with different backgrounds.  Most of the friends I keep in touch with are Australian, not other study abroad students (although I do keep in touch with a few).
3. I learned so much about hospitality as I was welcomed into my friends lives, and my friend's friends, and people who kinda knew someone that I kinda knew.  It gave me a living example of Christ's description for how Christian community should work.
4.  I got to be an international student, realizing how important that first ride home from the airport and every one of the first communications is.  Little things like translations (yes, Australian has slang that I did not know) and proofreading are and were simple things that made a big difference.  Now I can relate as I work with International students to minister how they need it.
5.  I engaged in life in new ways: getting outside of my comfort zone to do adventure sports, appreciated nature more deeply, and learned to build fun time into my schedule (Thursdays at 8pm, at a minimum).

Opportunities:
1. The chance to be called Ranga all summer at a camp just after returning and to share my Girl Guiding experience with Girl Scouts.
2. The ability to experience the party atmosphere in a safe, legal way which enabled me to better empathize as an RA.
3.  A chance to discuss a modern day conquistador (for God, not glory or gold) during student teaching and to have 36 5th graders interview my Australian friend over Skype.
4.  When students study abroad from campus, or think about it, I can offer my experience.  I also get to go back to Australia with the Study Abroad Office to help train the students there now to use their time missionally.
5. I have a learning attitude and patience when working with people of other cultures, realizing that white American is not the best or only culture, but that there are great things to learn from the people around us and across the world.  Plus lots of their food rocks!

That's not all that I learned, or all of the opportunities that have opened up due to having something to compare my life to, but there are so many I can't list them all.  I wonder what God will teach me when I arrive there in a week and as time continues.

I guess it's time to start packing to leave in two days for a return visit after taking a few minutes to look around my walls at the beautiful pictures captured from the last trip down under.

Australian Hospitality

As I prepare to go to Australia again, I've been blessed by how pieces are falling in to place.  While my airline ticket was a pain to buy, other things like housing are reminding me of the joys of Australian hospitality.  I will be visiting five different cities and learned from the last time I was there that Christian hospitality is alive and well.  I opted to stay with friends at as many places as possible.  This enables me to hang out with Godly people at night (instead of staying in a hostel with unknown roommates), know that I am safe even if I am out later than dark (groups are great and it gets dark early), and it helps with cost and transportation (my public transportation skills are still lacking since I drive everywhere).
For four of the cities I have set up housing already, but the setting up of Cairns housing was the most amazing.
Two nights in Cairns are going to be my vacation and I knew noone who lived in the city, or so I thought.  I asked a few friends if they had any friends who lived there.  One only knew a few guys and wouldn't recommend me staying with either, while another mentioned a mutual friend who knew someone there.  I contacted him and go the name of the girl who lived in Cairns.  Turned out I had met her at the EasterFest Christian music festival in 2009, but had not kept in contact.  She agreed to let me stay there after checking with her roommates.  Then she realized she was going to be out of town... but her roommates are super excited for me to stay with them.  I even get to celebrate one of their birthdays during my short stay.
This short exchange with roommates of a friend of a friend reminds me that Jesus taught us to stay with others in Luke 10.  I am thankful of my brothers and sisters who are people of peace welcoming travelers on the way.  They remind me of how I need to be hospitable in my own apartment.



Luke 10 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. 3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. 4 Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.  5 “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ 6 If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. 7 Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house.  8 “When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you.

Check out my blog from 2009 for other stories of Australia. Unfortunately, I did not blog as much as I wanted to cause I was busy.

Saying Yes to Jesus: From Andrew

The Beginning

During Fredonia Chapter Times at Basileia, God broke down walls with a spiritual hammer as I (Andrew, the President) call it.  Altogether, the e-board and other students began to Stop Faking It and to be honest and real with each other beyond just a simple, “How are you?” “Good” or “Tired” response.  We were honest and some people confessed stuff like pride, anger, and unforgiveness toward parents.  I confessed my deep fear of others criticizing me for what I do, whether it’s big or small.  It would dominate my thoughts frequently.

The second night I believe, Jason Gaboury the Regional Director, allowed students to respond to God after the message he gave from the Sermon on the Mount.  He talked about on how disciples of Jesus treat others differently and how Jesus changes everything, before allowing students to accept Christ for the first time.  Five students got saved!  From that, God put it on my heart to hold a call to faith as I led our Chapter Time right after.  When I started to question whether God put it on my heart to do this, at the end a woman said, “When God is speaking, don’t change the topic.”  I knew this was from God! Though I was nervous, I trusted God to give me the words to say and I prayed just that.  

Once the Chapter Time started I said that “When God is speaking, don’t change the topic” and that God put something heavy on my heart to share about our salvation and I wanted to allow us to recommit to Jesus whereas Jason allowed first time commitments.  God has everything flow perfectly!! (better than what is written down here)  I asked everyone to close their eyes, and I spoke about God’s love and freedom that He offers through Jesus, and asked them to raise their hand if they wanted to recommit to living for Him.  As I waited, God eventually gave me scriptures to recite that I memorized like 1 John 1:8-9, Romans 3:26, and the verse in Romans about how whomsoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.  In all, 4 people raised their hands!!!!! That could only be God!!

The Rest of the Story

Right after chapter time, I felt God calling me to go to the Club Room, and then Prospect Point (book store) to find Jason and tell him about what God lead me to do to encourage him!  I walked with Andrea, and when she asked what if he isn’t there, I said we must walk by faith and not by sight.  He wasn’t at the club room, but then we easily found him in the book store! #GodRocks!  Andrea and I sat down with him on a couch in the back of the room and I told him what happened and it went great! I also shared that the thought from scripture connecting why I should tell him came from how when Jesus healed some people with leprosy, he told them to go show themselves to the priest to show that they are cleansed.  Jason shared with us that he reads Psalm 100 and 95 regularly.  He pointed out where it says that when you heed God’s voice to not harden your heart.  He also said that he is happy that I am going to be President at Fredonia, which was super encouraging and made me happy.  He then prayed for us before heading off for the night.  What a great testimony of God’s faithfulness when we listen to him. 

Medical Story and Work Crew at Basileia 2014

My first Basileia turned out to be a lot different than I expected. When I arrived the first day, I was suffering from an infection that would need antibiotics. I had been trying to treat it on my own and was going to wait until the next week day to go to the doctor, but by the end of the first day of Basileia I was in too much pain to wait another few days. That was when I met the nurse, who turned out to be the only new friend I made during the week. Looking back it is kind of weird that we bonded over me having a really bad infection that required two visits to the ER and a trip to a surgeon, but I am grateful to have met her either way. Every time that I returned to camp after visiting the fancy Adirondack Medical Center I would check in with her and give her an update on how things went. For example, I told her about the antibiotics that I was put on, and later she hunted me down after lunch to warn me that the amount of drugs I was taking was pretty toxic and that I should be very careful about when I took them. I ended up visiting the nurse so much that Kathryn joked that we had become best friends. From this experience I learned that friends can be made through almost any situation. I think that God had the right idea in mind for me to make one close friend rather than a bunch of acquaintances that I would not keep in contact with after Basileia was over. That being said, go to Basileia! God will be sure to surprise and bless you with the people you meet. During track week I didn't make many new friends, but there is a great opportunity to get to know new people during meals and free time. I made one new friend and that was enough for me.

Overall, Basileia is a wonderful experience where you can spend a week in the beautiful Adirondacks surrounded by other Christian students who would love to talk with you about anything and everything. It is a great learning experience and I left Basileia feeling much better equipped to evangelize and share my faith with other people.

Work Crew: After a wonderful week in track week, I had the opportunity to spend another week at Basileia on work crew. I volunteered for housekeeping, where I cleaned bathrooms three times a day and did laundry in between that. There were a lot of sheets, tablecloths, and towels to fold, but it was fun. Being on work crew allowed me to get to know a smaller group of people a lot better than just meeting people during meals during track week. The work kept me busy and it was an awesome experience to help out around the camp and see what goes on behind the scenes to make sure the people in tracks are having a great time. Work crew is a great way to both give back to people around you and to help pay for a track week. I loved working with housekeeping, and I plan to do work crew every year that I attend Basileia.


Check out what the work crew does behind the scenes by clicking the picture.

Picture/Video of Work Crew Week 3 courtesy of Tim Peterson

What is InterVarsity at Fredonia

What is InterVarsity at Fredonia?  2014 Graduates Alex and Aaron recorded this video two years ago and the chapter is continuing to grow and change the lives of students.  Today, these students are changing the world as they serve and work vocationally or continue their education.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qI82qcl5bWc&feature=youtu.be

Andrew is serving as the chapter President at Fredonia leading the chapter of 60 students to establish and advance witnessing communities on campus after deciding to extend his education so he could follow God's calling to teach.
Kathryn joined staff with InterVarsity and works to transform lives, change Fredonia, and develop world changers full time at Fredonia.
Erin just served as the Outreach Coordinator, heading up the Winter Service Trip and beginning the change in the Fredonia chapter's evangelism culture.  She will graduate in December from Fredonia.
Derek just graduated from Fredonia and is serving as a Christian camp counselor
Christine just finished her Masters at Roberts Wesleyan College
Darren just graduated from Fredonia and will be looking to teach HS Biology.
Danica is continuing her Masters in Speech-Language Pathology at Ithaca College.
Lindsay is continuing her education in to teach English as a Second Language at Nazareth College.
Josh is serving as a campus intern with Campus Ambassadors after transferring colleges and will join as a full time missionary staff after he graduates.
Jonn is using his Film degree to create films and advertisements in Atlanta with a Christian mindset.

*Recent updates on all students are not available.

Nine More Hours

Currently, I’m only 70% funded which means that instead of working full time at 30 hours a week, I only spend about 21 hours a week on campus.  (Honestly, most weeks I spend extra time between planning and the flexibility of meeting schedules.) I've been stuck at this level for the academic year with limited time to increase partners and a few unexpected losses.  

As the new leaders and I begin preparing for next semester, I’ve been thinking…what would 9 more hours of time on campus each week look like? 

1 hour per week would help further the development of up to 10 sophomore/junior students as leaders and potential leaders in Leadery 201 through biweekly meetings.  The current Leadery students desire another year of more in depth study and training on how to be a Christian leader.

2 hours per week would be dedicated towards a small group for international students reaching other international students

2 hours per week would focus on seniors to help combat the typical trend of disappearing by encouraging them toward the vision in new ways and providing monthly gatherings to discuss topics specifically prevalent in their life. 

1 hour per week would be dedicated to inviting students individually to start something new where they are, ex. in their major, dorm, or team, and providing resources for them.

2 hours per week would be spent enhancing the ministry partnerships with church, volunteers and others through communication and guiding new volunteers on campus

1 hour per week would be spent with faculty and staff members with the plan to begin prayer or bible studies on a regular basis. 

The vision of InterVarsity is to see Students AND Faculty Transformed, the Campus Renewed, and World Changers Developed.  As my first year on campus ends, I invite you to join with us on campus for another year.  Partner with us prayerfully for the events, financially to enable me to reach my full time goal, and with your time as I help develop new ways for volunteers to participate with the activities on campus (in short term and long term ways).  

Travis shares about ST14

Travis's story of the Winter Service Trip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmZYnNQ-sPk

Money or Trust

I (Kathryn) teach my church's 8th-12th grade youth group with a few InterVarsity students helping out. This last week the topic was money after watching some of Linsanity and discussing NBA contracts.  It seemed like we all needed to check where we put money on our list of priorities: where we serving it or God?  I used this lesson plan and cut out a few of the verses due to time.

The top of the lesson says to get a bill, the more valuable the better.  My original thought was to get a $50 bill and use that to see how students would spend that money.  Then I finished reading the lesson... which at the end says to rip up the bill.  I decided that a $10 bill would accomplish the purpose without putting too much money at risk (as I'm still not fully funded).  As I went through the lesson, asking the students what they would use the money for and realizing that we held money strongly, I debated internally if I would actually be able to rip up that bill.  But I figured if I did not, then I held money in too high of a regard and that I should know by now that God would provide for me trusting Him.  It was hard for me to rip it and the students flipped out as I tore the bill not just once, but into eighths.
One student tried to tape it back together then took the bill home.  I said and really wanted to continue to trust that God would bless me for ripping it.

The next night in Walmart I ran into his mom who said that he had taken the bill to the bank and they actually gave him a new $10 bill in exchange for all of the pieces.  So he gained $10 from the lesson.  Now it was up to me to really decide if God would bless me for following Him and doing this dramatic lesson.

One more day later, I was at a pot-luck dinner and as the basket went around for people to contribute cash towards the general cost, I realized I only had $1 left in cash in my pocket.  I put that in then the person next to me turned and handed me a $10 bill.  I asked her why and if she wanted me to put that in the basket for her.  She stated that it was for me to keep and that God had told her to give it to me.  After a few times, she's learned to not question God's promptings.  I then explained how $10 was exactly how much I had used of my own money to help try to teach the proper place of money in our lives as Christians.

God wants to be the person that we rely on to take care of our needs.  He uses money to provide for things, but He wants us to listen to Him about when to share the money/possessions He's given us and when we should keep them.  In the end, all things we have are His and we are only responsible for the money for as long as He wants us to have it.  Where is money in your heart?

Remember Matthew 6:24.  “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Service Trip Willow Mission

“The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Sleeping, playing video games, and relaxing with some Netflix may be what most college students did for their last week of break, but not for SUNY Fredonia’s InterVarsity Christian Fellowship! I was blessed with the opportunity to be on a Servant team of 20 fellow students whom spent their week serving the communities poor, youth, and elderly. The locations we served at included the WCA Home, Dunkirk Historical Museum, Salvation Army, Saint Columbans, Meals On Wheels, Fredonia Place, Concord Estates, Rural Ministries, Dunkirk First Baptist, and my personal favourite Willow Mission through the Dunkirk First United Methodist Church. For those of you whom don’t know, Willow Mission is a project that was created to house and serve the poor, homeless, underprivileged of Dunkirk. Upon my first day of arriving to the women's house, located next to the church where the guys sleep, I thought to myself ‘Wow. They want to have the first person moved in here in about a week or two?!’ However, that didn’t discourage my friends and I. Our head chief was donating his time the whole week to make sure construction went smoothly and we assisted him in every way we could whether it was painting, waxing floors, electrical work, drywalling or whatever. With 20 students coming 5 hours a day in groups of 6 on 4 different days of the week we put in nearly 130 hours of an individual’s workload. One hundred and thirty hours… Upon the last hour we spent there I went around and prayed for each room and the futures that would soon be made in them. Each room had it’s own colour, furniture, and personality which would soon develop lives that hadn’t had the chance to prosper until now. Meeting with the pastor on my way out of the house she broke down in tears overjoyed in how much work went into this house and how through Christ we were all able to come together to make it happened. The last thing our head chief said to us before he left was “Thank you. For everything. You’ve restored my faith in the youth and a lot of faith in myself alone. I have learned so much from you kids.” I think I stand for all of my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ that participated in our Winter Service Trip when I say that it would behoove you to ask around to come join us next Winter and “serve the Lord with gladness.” (Psalm 100:2).

Austin's Service Trip

Austin, who became a Christian partially through the ministry of InterVarsity earlier this semester, shared at the first official meeting about his experience during the Winter Service Trip.
Watch the video here

Simple Things = Big Impact

After hearing of the service trip during our Friday night large group announcements, Andrew decided it might be a good idea to come and give back to the community, even though as a freshman he hasn’t lived here long.  The encouragement from the upperclassman and staff helped him desire to go, especially after he missed the fall mini service trip. 

As he reflected on the trip so far, he shared that it’s been a great experience, despite the fact that exhaustion has set in.  “I have seen the impacts at the places where we have gone and it’s been a true blessing.  We go out and serve people, serving the servants who do this every day and giving them a bit of a break.”  For example, at Willow Mission, students have been painting, hanging drywall, and tiling as they work to turn the parsonage into a home for homeless women with children.  Andrew learned he is semi decent at carpentry, at least better than he thought.  The water damage from the pipes that froze and broke last winter had left the staff unsure of how long it would take for them to be able to open the place up.  After three days of workers there, the pastor and other staff were so happy to see the progress over the time. 

Even simple things, such as playing Uno with the elderly or dropping off a hot and cold meal with the normal volunteer from Meals on Wheels, resulted in uplifting smiles.  It was almost like these simple actions helped to light up their worlds. 

Community service is only a part of what happens during the trip, many other memories are built inside of the church building during meals and the evening program.  The morning devotions help to set the mindset for what to think about during the day while the evening program includes time talking in a family group about where we saw God during the day.  Prayer, worship, fun, and fellowship are also included at the church.  Andrew has been one of the regulars on the breakfast cooking crew as he gets pleasure out of making food and it allows him to serve other servants and fellow InterVarsity members.  “It’s a way of saying thank you for what you’re doing in the community and for me.”  Most impactful so far for Andrew was yesterday’s devotional from 1 Corinthians 12:12-26 which was shared during a multiple generation dinner at First Baptist.  Despite the fact that we are all different, each part of the body does have a job to do.  We sat at tables with 3-4 church members, typically 50+, 2-3 college students, and even had three 8^th graders join.  Andrew specifically loved talking to the older members and seeing that God’s love can cross generations as we share the common ground of our faith in Christ.  The conversations were wonderful as we crossed the age gap and enjoyed delicious food as well as a discussion on the diversity of squirrels. 

Overall, the most surprising part of the trip was seeing the impact of such a small thing on someone else.  How all of the small things add up, although Andrew figured people would be appreciative, their appreciation level was so much deeper.  It was wonderful to see people’s passion for serving others and their dedication.  Everyone has worked really hard on the trip and it has opened the door to see how passionate people are about their faith and helping out around the community.  As Andrew returns to the campus to start the semester, he wants to find some way to get more involved in the community and spend time helping out somewhere.  Some places have already been planned for follow-up trips. 

Winter Service Trip 2014...pt 1

          The 6^th annual Winter Service Trip has begun and 18 students moved into a local church to spend their days serving the Fredonia/Dunkirk community.  Evenings are filled with prayer, worship, devotionals, and plenty of time to build the friendship bonds with each other.  Unique this year, we partnered with the International Education Center to invite the new students to join us for games each night.  Our t-shirts, see below, include on the back the word SERVANT printed on it, where STAFF, SECURITY, or our last names usually go.  The goal is to have the shirts be a constant reminder of how our attitude should be, both this week and always for Christ.  

            The first day the students got grounded in scripture, learned the ropes of how to live at the church in an authentic community, spent time praying for God to work this week, and learned how to Cross the Line and get over the Xenophobia.  Xenophobia also set up the verse around the theme of Matthew 25:40 “And the King will reply, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did to me.”  As I gave that message, I was reminded that we are not called to serve the poor as a prescription for how to be in a right relationship with God, but instead that we should serve the poor to show that we are followers of Jesus.  It’s not that we are reaching the poor, but that God is using us as a channel of blessing for them, and in the meantime we are being changed and blessed. 

            Day two: After serving in six different locations in groups we took time to think about what we had learned, heard, and did during the day.  One student mentioned the importance of finding God in what we were doing.  You see, many of our tasks are not glamorous, but they are necessary.  From painting and cleaning to help out churches and non-profits better accomplish their mission, to playing bingo with elderly.  But if you start singing a hymn while vacuuming, or you put yourself in the mindset of a SERVANT, it can make a difference.  The conversations students have while painting, cleaning, or peeling potatoes are a reminder that others are listening to us and the depth of conversation can draw people closer together.  One gentleman even stated that while eating lunch and chatting that the students helped restore his faith in our generation.  Dinner gave a chance to hear from one of the local pastors about his Acts 2 church, not that he was the speaker for the night, but everyone ended up listening into that conversation as we ate.  Then our faculty advisor reminded us that humility doesn’t come when we classify people, by their attitude, job, or attire.  God loves us regardless of our circumstances and nothing we can do can change that.  So if he doesn’t classify us or judge us, why should we think some people are better than others?

            Day Three: My favorite comment was a story of how one student used her time painting a bedroom to pray for the women and children who would class that room home.  This homeless shelter needed to be prepared before it could open and an extra four people a day helps that goal be achieved.  Another student had her schedule adjusted so she could return to the same nursing home to see one of the residents she had really connected with…her excitement was contagious as she asked the head coordinator for a switch. 

             My favorite parts of the service trip are watching the students step up in leadership to plan and run the trip, to see their comfort zones growing through the new experiences, and also to see the connections being made between the community members and the students.  Yesterday at a potluck dinner hosted by my home church, I was able to listen in on some of the conversations as the students sat with 3-4 church members and with the core of the youth group teens.  These chances for the important parts of my own life to meet each other and share their stories is what the partnership with InterVarsity means.  This trip could not be done without the gracious partners we have in the ministry who financially and prayerfully provide support and who help by providing dinners and other in-kind donations for us. 

Day four is just beginning and students took some time before their service locations to write prison letters, read their morning devotional from Luke 10, and to write in each other’s Appreciation journals. 

Stay tuned for stories from the students.