loving, learning and leaning on God

https://m.facebook.com/activechristianstoday?id=406729619436851&_rdr#!/activechristianstoday/mediaset?album=pb.406729619436851.-2207520000.1383236329.&__user=1464069696months two and I'm not sure where to begin!
4 free food Fridays
4 worship services
1 visit to the urgent care with a student
2 birthday is in our family
1 22nd wedding anniversary
1 retreat
1 board meeting
1 trip to Bowling Green (I got to hold a baby, I was in heaven :-))
and lots of hours just hanging out with awesome student....

AND since I know what you really want....PICTURES

Here you go :-)

I i am learning a lot, making lots of mistakes, getting to know some amazing students..... and sometimes  I get very discouraged....seeing students hurting, making bad choices, leaving ACT for other ministries, just to name a few, is really hard. I find myself on my knees a lot.

PRAY!!!!

please pray for me and the students we learn how to live as Christians in this dark and lost world. 

I cannot thank you enough for taking the time to read this blog and pray for this ministry !

you are loved

lots more pictures of retreat at

facebook.com/activechristianstoday

my first month as a campus missionary

My first month as a campus missionary

with

Active Christians Today

Last Friday we had an ice cream party at the house. Some of our students brought their international conversation partners! If you have never played "Apples to Apples" with international students you are missing out!

not to brag or anything but they kicked me out of the game when I won 6 out of the first 10 rounds ;-)

We were invited to Delta Church of Christ to share about ACT. We had a wonderful time leading worship and they treated us VERY kind. They through a paper shower for us and stocked our cupboards!

Some of the students helped me make cookies for a prison ministry and Change for Change in the O4 water jugs.

Dan is teaching about the attributes of God on Monday nights

And we all end up at the campus house after worship...where there is a LOT of laughter!

I have made 5 meals, gone to 4 parties, led 3 service nights, attended 4 worship services, played COUNTLESS games of catch phrase,taken students to work, hugged students as they cried over car accidents and sick grandmas, prayed for parents with cancer, texted many students and encouraged them to join us, spent many many lunch hours at the house with students, invited strangers to free food Fridays, painted the kitchen......no day is ever the same and I am LOVING EVERY MINUTE OF IT.

What do you get when you add 10 volleyball games, 2 bushels of tomatoes to can, a weekly housecleaning job, 5 meals for 40, 90 meals for 6, 30 loads of laundry, 20 dozen cookies, 40 students to get to know, 3 kids in a new school, and I could go on but I will not.....one very tired woman.

he leads me by still waters..... I took an afternoon to pray and refresh, only with HIM filling will I be able to overflow onto those He has called me to serve.

please pray that I will make good choices on how to spend my time and that I will stay well so I can continue to serve the students and serve my family the way God wants me to....I really love them.

PLEASE PRAY FOR THE STUDENTS

• that they will manage their time well
• that they will make time to go to retreat
• that they will invite friends to ACT
• one has a mom with cancer
• one has a grandma in hospice
• many are struggling academically 
• many are struggling financially 
• 
  
• 
  
• 
  

Look and see all that the Lord has done for us.......

Girls sleepover....

 

way fun! I wish I had half the talent that these girls have! We made thankfulness journals and they all decorated them so beautifully.....NOW to fill them up with all the ways God is good and how he is blessing us :-)

 

 

 

 

I think the Guys had a good time at our house, the party was going strong at 2am when I came home from the campus house.....rumor is that Emma stayed up VERY late "serving" them and giving them her build a bears to sleep with.... There was a picture of said event but it has mysteriously disappeared :-) We will just say it involved Patrick and pink bear!

 

FREE FOOD FRIDAYS!

IF YOU FEED THEM THEY WILL COME :-)

 

We have seen this event triple in size over the first 3 weeks and expect it to continue to grow. I will be offering a Bible Study on Gratitude after the meal for anyone who would like to stay.

 

was not expecting 40 :-), we had JUST enough to go around!

 

We had a contest/vote to see what color we will be painting the kitchen.....café mocha it is! Now all I have to do is buy the paint and get some students to help paint it.

I had the privilege of picking up two students and bringing them to Westgate chapel.

 

After worship on Monday the girls came back To the house and played catch phase, while the guys did the hard work of breaking down the sound system and bringing it back to the house.

 

Thank you for taking the time to learn about what is going on with ACT on the UT campus. just knowing people read this means the world to me!

 

My 3 youngest girls are doing great, they LOVE school and Paul and them are getting used to getting out the door by 7:40 every morning!

 

How YOU can get involved...

1. your prayers.
2. people to sponser a free food Friday at $40, I can feed 50 students with this amount.
3. your encouraging words and feedback.
4. help in raising my salary for the next year.

if you want to help please go to actoday.org and click on support or write a check to ACT and send it to me at 4923 Cranston, Toledo OH 43615

Where is YOUR root system???
"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

 

We all know that a strong foundation is everything. we sung the song "a wise man builds his house upon the rock" as kids, we know that if a tree has a shallow root system it will fall, eventually...

 

But what is their rock, or WHO is their rock? We give our kids the best education we can, we offer them good food, we read to them, pray with them, train them to be moral and kind, and take them to church.

 

I have begun to wonder if I have let them make ME their root system. Do I allow them to tap into MY faith instead of teaching them to go to the one true source of strength and stability



As this new year begins and so many sons and daughters go off on their own to make their own choices I am praying that they will be rooted in Christ and not in US their parents.

My first week as a campus missionary...

 

The first week of classes was topped off with a great pool party. We had lots of fun in the pool with the football, finding challenges to complete. And by "we" I mean the students and Dan :-)

If you would like to see what they tried for an hour to accomplish and finally did click here!

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10101420068094160
and if you would like to see a few of the failures click here...
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10201479014364963

We also played ultimate Frisbee, well, they did, I took pictures and cheered them all on.

And of course there was lots of just plain visiting.......

 

I am continually impressed with how much Anna and Dan love the students and how much the students love them. As the new person I am doing a lot of watching and learning. This week during worship we had a wild party going on on the other side of a false wall and Dan handled it SO well, he had us all laughing as he challenged us to step out and share the gospel with people on campus.

Wes Blood also was there and many students signed up to be conversation partners with one of the hundreds of international students.....Im telling you, WE LIVE ON A GREAT BIG, HUGE, AMAZING MISSION FIELD! people from all over the world right here in Toledo! No plane ticket needed!

international students from UT at my friends house.

I am learning to be willing to change gears, re-vamp, put kids in front of plans and just hang out without an agenda. I am also learning that this is going to take time, and lots of it!

Huge praise, we were given a couch and a chair for the lounge area in the basement! this is a huge blessing since the one down there has no legs and is very small :-) We are still in need of folding chairs.

We fed 15 students on Friday and I am looking forward to feeding many more as the year progresses. If you are willing to underwrite a meal ($20-$40) I would be VERY grateful.

In September we will be doing training and getting ready to serve in the 04 with some of the poorest kids in the country, I am so excited to introduce the students to the amazing kids down there.

what a blessing to do ministry with my big kids!!!

Please pray for me as I

• seek open doors to show students how much Jesus loves them.
•  I learn how to juggle 5 children, a husband, a house and this ministry.
•  I try to cultivate close relationships with the students.
• continue to find people who will support this ministry.

our youngest 3 in school for the first time! SO thankful for the amazing people at Emmanuel.

Paul has shown himself to be an amazing home work helper, take the kids to school, save my butt when I am running late, run to the store for lunch supplies, supportive husband! I am so very thankful for him!

to support me please send a check to 4923 Cranston , Toledo OH 43615 made out to ACT or go to the www.actoday.org site and click on donate.

AND WE ARE OFF.....

Sunday night freshman cook-out

First night of worship for ACT

Today we will have our first Sandwiches and Service night, we will watch Andy Stanley's Christian, eat together and learn about the 04.....starting the last week of Sept. we will be serving at TNC with the Childrens ministry. Friday will be our kickoff  for Lifeskills Lunch.

I would love to have some people come along side me on Fridays and sponser a lunch.
I also have a need for folding chairs, 8 would be great.

ActiveChristiansToday

I debated for a long time whether or not I would start a new blog for my missionary position at UT or stick with the old one.

 

 

Since I love the title "Captivated by Grace" and I Think it works with campus ministry as well as with parenting I decided to just keep the old one.
 

SO I will be transitioning my old blog into one that will keep all my ministry partners updated on what GOD is doing at UT.Believing that God is going to provide where HE has called I would like to share with my friends the needs of ACT and our family :-)

HOW CAN YOU HELP????  SO GLAD YOU ASKED!

---underwrite a meal, about $25 will feed 30-40 students Lunch

---donate you gently used furniture, we are in need of seating in the campus house.

---I would REALLY like 4 card table sets, this way I could set them up for meals and take them down for added space and use the folding chairs for added seating for Bible studies.

---be a guest speaker at "life skills Fridays" this is a time when I will be teaching cooking, budgeting, grocery shopping, laundry etc. to the students.

---Be a prayer partner! BE A PRAYER PARTNER!!....BE A PRAYER PARTNER!!!

---support ACT in my name so that they can continue to pay my salary.

Thank you for reading this blog and for supporting ACT in any way God leads you to.

In HIM who loved us first
Cyndi