Spring Break and World Prayer

Thank you so much for your continued prayers. Last week we took 65 students from UK to Daytona Beach for spring break. Half of those students were international students from E. Asia, Scotland, Venezuela, Mexico, and Iraq. During the week 2 of our E. Asian students made a decision to accept Christ! We have wonderful stories to tell! I just posted photos on my profile from the week I would love for you to enjoy them too as the events are the fruit of your investment.

I hope to share more stories soon. This weekend I am leaving for Chapel Hill, NC. We are hosting a briefing for summer long missions trips going out from our region of CCC. I am co-leading a team to Senegal for 6 weeks. Please pray for us as we get to know our team and prepare.

Students from UK are headed to E. Asia, C. Asia, Senegal, and Hungry, as well as NYC, Charlotte, and Santa Cruz. We are so excited about how the nations will hear of Jesus' name.

Some of my girls at UK have been joining in a 60 prayer experience that helps them pray for the world. It is through World Vision and their Operation World website. Everyday for 60 days you receive an email highlighting a country with prayer requests, info and videos. It is really powerful. I invite you to join us too in praying for the world.

http://www.operationworld.org/join-prayer-movement

Blessings!

Abigail

P.S The photo above is Thomas, our intern, sharing the gospel with William in our hotel lobby. This was right when William made a decision to follow Christ! :)

Praise the LORD Oh my Soul!

Dear Friends!

So much has happened this semester. It is impossible to share all of the news, but hopefully I can give you a glimpse of what God is doing.

First, because of your generosity the Lord provided above and beyond my short term financial needs. I am so blessed by you. I hope to begin having time to work on more long-term goals sometime this spring.

Changed lives. Students are accepting Christ and many of them are hearing the gospel through OTHER STUDENTS. We have been praying for our believing students to catch the vision for how God is at work and it is happening.

Kim - Is a freshmen. She met another freshmen, Cari, last semester through living in the same dorm. Although her past has been difficult, she began searching for meaning and purpose and a deeper understanding of God. Cari and her began meeting. This semester brought a lot of confusion as an "Atheist Club" sprung up in her dorm through Cari's roommate, an RA and another student. Cari asked me to pray. On a Saturday night in January I received a text message asking me to pray for Cari at 10:30pm. She invited the atheist RA and Kim to come together and talk about their varying viewpoints on God. The LORD showed up! Not only did the RA withhold her typical animosity, but after spending most of her time talking about God the atheist RA told Kim, "Why don't you try being a Christian." Cari and Kim were shocked. Kim began reading her Bible late that night, attended church with Cari the next day, and on the following Wednesday I received a text message from Cari saying:

"Praise the LORD! We have a new sister in Christ! I can't believe it. Kim gave her life to Jesus today. :)"

Kim is now attending our weekly meetings with Cari. I meet with Cari weekly for discipleship. She is then meeting with Kim to help her begin to learn about her new relationship with Christ.

Since then we have seen Stewart (another freshmen), Keiran (an exchange student from Scotland), Ashley and Erica (2 freshmen girls and roommates), and Jose (an exchange student from Venezuela) accept Christ.

I traveled to Dallas for a week in January to begin planning a summer mission trip to Senegal, West Africa. The trip will be 6 weeks and I plan via skype with my co-leader who is in NC every week. I have also done hall programs with RA's, am meeting with 8 girls regularly for discipleship, lead a freshmen girls Bible study, and am preparing for a women's retreat this weekend, spring break mission trip in Florida, and a Fund raising dinner in April. Life is full! But God is blessing.

In other news I am enjoying getting to know people in my connect group from church, continuing ballroom dancing when I can go, have seen the Lord provide with small and big health concerns, and just today welcomed a puppy into my home (well, I won't get to pick her up until next weekend, but she is officially mine. :)

Thank you so much for all of your prayers. I can't thank you enough for joining with me in ministry.

Please be in prayer for these upcoming events:
Essie - a student I have met with for 4 years is now on the verge of accepting Christ. Her freshmen year she didn't even believe God exists!

Ashley and Erica - 2 Freshmen new believers I am meeting with to talk about what their new faith means

Freshmen Bible study - it has been hard to see consistent attendance. Please pray for me to meet new girls and for the ones I have met to value coming

Planning for Senegal Mission trip - we are still wading through application and choosing our team. Please pray for wisdom. To learn more about Senegal and how to pray go to: http://www.operationworld.org/sene

Chick-Challenge - Our women's retreat is this Friday, February 18 and 19. We are calling it "Unplugged" and will be discussing the ways we as women find our significance in things other then Christ and how only HE can truly fulfill our deepest longings.

Thank you! Sorry for overloading you. I will try to be better about updating.

Abigail

Changed lives, Change the World

Thank you all for praying for me and for our Encounter Winter Conference. Students in our ministry were processed things/sins/hard times in their lives, determined to go on a summer project this summer (visit www.gosummerproject.com to find out more) and really thought about how to live out the gospel. Thank you for praying for our campus and all the others that joined us.

Here are a few highlights from the week. I will be sending more stories, along with photos in a newsletter soon.

One afternoon I spent a couple hours with a sophomore woman from UK. She confessed her struggle with belief of God’s love for her and hope for the future. Her past experience with her family and others shouted the lie that she was worthless, so much so that she refused to sleep in a bed at the conference because she didn’t feel she deserved to bother the other girls in her room. During our time I took this young women through a prayer journey, a guided experience directing your prayer and pointing you to Christ. Part of the journey included a focus on our identity in Christ. I was able to pray with this woman and rejoice that although her parents had her, God chose her and DELIGHTS in her. By New Year’s Eve my sweet girl had powerful encounter with Christ. During our last meeting she felt God open her eyes to the depth of His love for her. She spent the rest of the evening talking with other staff women on my team and friends from UK who had come with us. Satan had convinced her to commit suicide when she returned, but this last evening broke his hold over her and brought her freedom. Please continue praying for her to experience love, hope and purpose in Christ.

On the last day of the conference the 1000+ students split up all over Greensboro to partner with churches in reaching the community. Some groups participated in a program caring for refugees, others worked in service projects, and many of us went to the worst areas of the city delivering food and building relationships with people in low income housing. It was powerful to drive through neighborhoods where guns and violence reign at night and to see our students praying and delivering food and sharing Christ.

My group had the privilege of meeting a 31 year old women named Monica who has taken it upon herself to protect and care for the children in the neighborhood. She accepted Christ into her life about 3 years ago and felt the Lord convict her about the needs of the area where she was raised. Monica began taking in children who wandered the street at night because their parents were left them to themselves or their home was dangerous. Now she houses about 30 children ages 2-13 every night, helps feed and clothe them, and teaches them about Christ. All on a budget of $260 a month! We were able to bring food, my students gathered money, tell all of them about Jesus, love on the Children, and pray for them. All while the children clung to us and stroked our hair because it was different then their own. Please pray for the protection of Monica and the kids, and for the government to approve a grant that Monica is requesting to help her continue her ministry. Pray for churches in the area to partner with her and to help provide male mentors for the children in the community.

Thanks for Praying for the Senegal breakout! Around 40 students came and showed interest in learning about and going to this country in West Africa. Please pray for my co-leader Justin and I as we head to Dallas January 7-11 for training on how to lead our team during the 6 weeks we will be in Senegal this summer.

If you would like to see what some students did on our day of outreach click http://www.digtriad.com/video/default.aspx#/Local+News/Refugee+Children+Get+Opportunity+To+Ice+Skate/49911607001/49960901001/734481816001

Thanks for your prayers. It was and is evident that God is using them to transform hearts. Hope you new year is starting off well!

Abigail