One full week of ministry down and I want to share with you how ministry went last week, our first week working with Cru.
Monday: we bused to the Cru main office and joined the whole staff in their morning devotions at 9:30am. After there was bread and coffee. We then went with Sean, one of the Cru interns to meet Brianna the other Cru intern at Sean’s apartment. We then spent the rest of the day in training, learning about Cru and learning different ways to strike up a spiritual conversation with students.
Tuesday: Practice time! We got to the Central campus in the morning and after more practice we prayed and split into groups to go out on the campus and evangelize. I went with Sean and Sarah and we found these two girls sitting on the lawn and we asked if we could talk to them and do an “activity” (Soularium). They said we could, and we had great conversations about God, community, and their faith walks.
Wednesday: We headed into the valley to a place called Cumbuya (yes really) to the Universidad San Francisco, which is basically Ecuador’s Yale. Students there are required to take a self-discovery/spiritual/religions class, so they’ve had to have thought about the questions that we ask them.
Jen and I went walking around the gorgeous campus and approached three girls and asked if they had a couple minutes to talk. Two said yes, and one was in the middle of taking an English exam, so that was understandable. We shared the gospel with the two girls, both were not really sure what they believed about God or Christianity.
Thursday: Valentine’s day! Back to San Francisco we go, for a Cru-run event. From 1-5pm, we were going around campus, handing out candy and also “love letters” similar to the one below. We would ask students to read the letters and ask what they thought of it, and if they’d ever experienced a love like that before. We’d then go on to share more about our faith walks and also make a plug for Cru on their campus.
Friday: a Galentine’s Day party! We made our way to Brianna’s apartment where we were hosting this event. We had cookies for the ladies to decorate, snacks, and then two students led a devotion and a conversation about self-love and finding their identity in Christ. After, our team led an activity where every woman had a piece of paper and some markers. They were to find a quiet place and ask God how He saw them, and to give them a picture/image/word for them. The students (and us) then wrote and draw on the paper how they heard God and how God sees us.
After, several of us shared. I felt led to share, and my picture is below.
God told me I’m a rug. Like a really intricate Oriental rug. (see above). God told me I’m like this rug because I’m something He made, something beautiful and intricate. I had initially just randomly picked three markers, red, green, and gold, and so I asked God if the colors meant anything to Him.
He said yes.
The green represents everything He’s creating in my life, and all the ways He wants to grow me.
The red represents His agape love for me.
The gold is for royalty, because He’s the King, and since I’m His daughter, everything He has belongs to me.
Finally, the last part is the white. There’s still a lot of white spaces on the rug, and that’s all the ways that He’s going to use me in the future, ways I can’t even imagine yet and how the colors and shapes will fill in.
So there you have it, college ministry in a week. I’m excited to see what happens this week!
