And yet again.... more traveling

Monday we packed up the rental car and headed out to Colorado for National Staff Conference with Campus Crusade for Christ. 6,000 staff members descend on Colorado State University to hear from leadership, national speakers, to be refreshed, and to gain more perspective on ministry.

On the way out to Colorado, we stopped for a night in the middle of Nebraska. Neither of us had ever been to Nebraska before... but we sure did like their speed limit - 75 mph! Upon entering the town of Ogallala, we decided to stop at their local restaurant. It was called "The Golden Spur". Quite an interesting place and a memorable experience. So, we then proceeded to camp out at this state park in this middle of nowhere town. It was super buggy and the lightening lit up the sky all night. Thank the Lord that it never stormed but was just lightning in the distance. The camp sight was awesome, as it was located on a dam of a 22 mile river.

On top of the dam... to the left of Andrea's head is where we camped!

So, we continued driving on Tuesday and finally made it to our destination of Fort Collins. We have been having a great time here so far! We have heard from nationally known speaker, Tim Keller, and have really enjoyed hearing the national leadership team. It has been refreshing and encouraging... and so fun to see friends! We feel God has really been meeting us and challenging our hearts. Today we had a super encouraging time listening to this guy speak through the 7 days of creation alongside pictures (it doesn't sound neat... but let me tell you it was awesome!). If you want to see a version of the video click here http://vimeo.com/3764850 .

We also had a chance to go hiking, which is one of our favorite things to do together! It was also super fun, because we went with some of our really good friends! Crazy thing... the hike took a while longer than expected and was a little more strenuous than expected. The website lied on some of the details of the hike .... but it was still fun.... We wanted to do an easier hike to prepare for a longer 9 miler we will be doing later in the week.

We thought it was interesting... at the top of the mountain was a pond. The view was great! This is a creature we almost stepped on... could of caused some havoc.. as we were pretty sure it was a rattlesnake (our friends got really close up pictures). It was right on the trail and luckily our friend spotted it. My friend had to explain to me several times where the snake actually was because it was so camouflaged. It is in-between the two roots in the middle of the picture... all curled up!

Hope you are enjoying your summer as much as we are!

What a summer it has been...

So, again... I am super bad on updating our blog... apologies. We have had limited Internet access for the past couple months and little time...but that has all equaled out to one amazing summer!

In the last post I wrote about our many travels... but the main place we have been this summer is in Virginia Beach for a summer missions trip (summer project) with Campus Crusade. We were there for 6 weeks and just got home a couple days ago.

Here are a bunch of pictures.. I will just put some pictures to explain our time there.

5 students from central Illinois also came to Virginia Beach to be spiritually developed and grow in reaching others for Christ. It was super fun to get to know them better and to see their faith grow in the brief 5 weeks we were with them. There were a total of 74 students and 28 staff from all over U.S. The staff left, but the students now take over project and will be there for another 4 weeks.

Joe met with 4 guys weekly and also led them in Bible study. (L to R) Greg from Ohio State, Ryan from MSU, Joe, Adam from U of M, and Billy from Albion. Andrea also met with 4 gals weekly and led them in Bible study. (L to R) Andrea, Amanda from MSU, Leah from Illinois State, Kaitlyn from U of M, and Lindsey from U of Illinois. We really had a great time getting to know these guys and gals and seeing God transform their lives this summer!

We really enjoyed getting to know other staff with CCC. We had an awesome dinner co-op (above) where we cooked one night a week for 9 of us, and then we were cooked for 3 other times throughout the week! We really enjoyed getting to know everyone more and getting good home cooked meals! (Below) Some friends we really enjoyed working and getting to know better this summer.

These two pictures are some of our favorites from the summer. (Above) Joe with Josh... who accepted Christ with Joe on the boardwalk. Joe was able to continue to pursue him throughout the summer and give him a Bible and talk more about what it means to walk with Christ. (Below) Andrea with Lindsey - the other 2 girls accepted Christ right on the beach after talking about spiritual matters!

We had a large battle on the beach representing good vs. evil. We dressed up in red and blue body paint and cardboard armor. We marched on the boardwalk inviting bystanders to come watch the battle.

There is a spiritual battle waging war for our souls. Jesus has prevailed and provided a way for us to get to God. Over 300 people watched the battle with the Gospel being shared. Students and staff then talked with people more about the battle and their spirituality. Hopefully soon the video from the battle will be available on YouTube if you want to see more! (Above) Another fun outreach we had included large ice cream sundaes in one super long gutter.
(Above) We really liked going kayaking for the first time.... It was super fun! We had fun at the 4th of July bash... Joe liked trying to hit the pinata (below).We went out for a nice dinner with the staff team. It was so great, as we ate really near the water. That same night, we went on a dolphin cruise. We saw many dolphins and enjoyed the beautiful sunset. There is so much more to share... but those our some brief highlights! We will again be traveling, as we will be going to Colorado for national staff conference with CCC later this week!