Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Your Grace is Sufficient

Hey all!
It has been another week of high's and low's. God is my constant strength and fortress, otherwise I might not be feeling so great right now, but He really has done so much for me this week, despite a few stressful situations.

All week I had been praying about finances...and God being the good God that he is provided me with a love offering, a forgotten check from my old work, a late check from church, and some extra babysitting cash that helped me to buy groceries today. :) So all in all He pretty much proved Himself faithful. I couldn't believe how gracious He was to me.

We had a great Chi Alpha Alumni night! The band was awesome and LOUD, even for me! haha. Our Friday morning POD once again was a huge blessing despite all of us being extremely tired. And finally our proud Bobcats played our Homecoming game on Saturday. We had fun tailgating and just hanging out with our group.

All week I've been running on empty because as is common in ministry, I was trying to help and minister to people without getting enough of my own ministering in my personal time with God so by the end of the week I was ready for some Ani and Jesus time! So I drove out to some country roads Sunday morning. I joked with my roommate before I left my apartment that if my car broke down I would call her to come get me. So I drove out to Kyle and had some good god time....and then i tried to turn my car on to go home and sure enough...my car didnt start. I laughed/cried for a bit and then got my act together and called Austin to come get me. We called Triple A and it took a good two hours to get them to come tow my car.

I was upset...but not. For some reason, I'm really not stressed about it, especially since Austin is so gracious to me to help take me places and what not. so YEAH Praise God that everything is ok and that things turned out the way they did. It could have been a worse situation. So pray that I can get my starter fixed...thats the problem with my car this week ;)


Please pray for:
-Spiritual strongholds to be broken in the lives of those that God has given me to minister.
-Continued Financial support for both Austin and I.
-Austin and I in preparation for our marriage. Tomorrow is our engagement anniversary!
-A spirit of love and compassion for myself toward these students.

Thank you for all you do!



Ani

Monday, October 13, 2008

Another Week has come and gone...

This past Thursday meeting was amazing. Beforehand, I personally, was already expecting for God to just work and convict where conviction was needed. The teaching was on 4 Characteristics of a Christian. Love. Holiness. Servanthood. and Faithfulness. All of these spoke so well to our students and the next day at our Friday morning Bible Study, we all agreed that these were characteristics that we needed to be reminded of and worked out in our lives.

Our Friday morning POD has been going so well because it is an intimate group that really just allows the Spirit to move and lead us. I really feel like we've been yearning for His wisdom and He's been blessing us with it every week.

Also I have mentioned that we have had a lot of people really fill in the gaps of those who have graduated. Just this week we had a new musician playing with us and he did a great job and we had a new sound guy who also did a great job so this gave me great joy to see that God was putting people in place to pass on the torch.

All things are for His honor and glory.
I will continue to keep updating as much as I can. :)

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

He is Good.

Our Tuesday night Bible Studies have been going so well. I felt the need to write about it because God is just so good and in all things He has been faithful to His word. This whole weekend I really felt God telling my to let go of all of the things that I was still holding on to. I prayed to be freed from alot of the things in my past that I was not proud of and God showed me that HE had already forgiven me...it was me who would not look forward to the future He had for me.

So last night we studied Lot's wife from Genesis 19. What was interesting was that everything that God had been saying to me was sort of shown through this woman who simply could not help but look back. Many of the girls felt the same way. It's so crazy to me that God gives us such an abundant amount of grace and yet we hold ourselves back from moving forward.

In this same way, I pray that we can all see the wonderful futures that He has for us. Continue to pray for us. We really have deep spiritual things going on.

Pray for the Students:
To break free from their past.
To get out of the habits of this world and to conform to what God wants for them.
For comfort for one of my girls whose father just passed away.

Thank you!

Monday, October 6, 2008

Altitude 08!

Hey all!

Where to start....

Well our group has been very excited about one of our annual retreats where we meet up with all of the students in the North Texas District to worship and learn new things together.

For a few weeks now we (the worship team) have been preparing for this retreat in practice and in prayer. Of course just this past week, half of our team got sick. HAHA I can laugh about it now because it seemed like anything the enemy could throw at us he tried.




The whole weekend was incredibly intense. There was real spiritual warfare going on, but people's lives were changed and we could feel freedom in that ballroom.

Worship was great for us too. We gave and gave and gave of our selves every worship set but we also felt so rewarded when we saw people really entering in to worship.

Altogether, it was amazing.

Keep praying:
That spiritual battles would be won.
That those whose lives who have been changed would continue to walk in a holy way.
That confusion would be turned into peace.
Finances :)

There's so much to pray for. So please when you read this...throw a prayer out for Texas State Chi Alpha and for Texas State students!

Blessings!



Ani





Monday, September 29, 2008

Whew!

Another week has come and gone...It is funny to me that I once thought things would slow down toward this time in the semester but there has been SO much going on, it really is incredible. So here are some updates!




Girls Pajamarama/Girly Campout- Sept 19-20th.


Every year we have a sleep over for the girls and a campout for all of the guys, but this year ended up being a campout for both of us. It was a fun time for all. We ate hot dogs and chili, played games...we even had a fashion show! It was great because we had six new girls who really seemed to enjoy themselves and have still continued to come to our Bible Studies and Weekly meetings.





Aside from all of that fun stuff, we also had a group of Chi Alphans go out to Humble, TX to provide relief for families affected by the hurricane. So we were EVERYWHERE that weekend and everything went great for each event, so praise God.



My POD (girls small group) gets better and better every week. We've begun a study on Women of the Bible that is So much fun. The girls seems to really relate well to it. This is the first year I've had over five girls come to Bible Study so my co-pod leader and I are really enjoying this time that we get to have with these precious young women. So please be praying for us every Tuesday at 7pm!

Austin and I get the priviledge of doing video announcements once every month. This week was really fun. Austin came up with most of the ideas and I had to be the actress...it was quite funny.

Thurs Night was another successful night. Every week is great of course, but it seems like we as leadership are being challenged every week to really step up in all areas.

We are being blessed daily!

Continue to pray for:
Each and every student we are coming in contact with.

Blessings,

Ani

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

WOW

Oops, it has been over a week now since I've blogged. It's been a crazy week of changes and once again, God's word to me about being flexible is proving to be a daily part of my life. These past few weeks I kept asking myself "Why am I here?" I was curious as to why God was keeping me here. Within the last week I've seen why God wants me here.


So it looks like I will be co-leading a Bible Study with my friend on Tuesdays now and Fridays mornings some of the girls are getting together for a breakfast/Bible study time so things are really picking up!


We had our Annual Lake Day event up at the Perdanales River. Hehe. It was a great success! Altogether I believe we had 45 Chi Alphans make it up there. Here are some pictures. Unfortunately, I didn't get any of anyone on the river. These were taken at lunch.



These were some sweet Japanese girls that we met when they had their International Student Orientation. We gave them gift bags and inside it had a list of events and they came! They are so great!



There is our dock!



A few of our cooks!

Some new and old faces

Our veterans :)


My handsome Fiance






Our Tuesday night POD (Bible Study) went so well! We had five girls and all of them are "new"
which means they are freshmen or transfers and they are all so excited about learning. We will be studying Women of the Bible, which is something I've never explored before so I believe it will be a good time of learning in my own personal walk too.



Today, went great too. All of the girls returned, except one but we had another new girl so it was the same amount of girls. I just have to keep giving God the glory cause man oh man, I get nervous for no reason and regardless He takes care of all things's so cool cause we've been hanging out with freshmen A LOT. I keep thinking "They like us! They really like us!" haha

Thursdays' meeting was incredible once again. We had a lot of people return from the week before as well as eight new visitors. We heard from the Mexico Mission Trip team and it was so cool to hear the testimonies they had and the videos they made were incredible.

Worship practice had been great too. We have a freshman girl singing with us and it's fun. We're hoping for more talent to come forth.


Our Friday morning Bible study went really well too. There were four of us there and God really moved in our group. I feel priviledged to be a part of this group.

Friday night we had our International Dinner and WOW was it amazing. We had a good group but more than that, I felt like we really connected with the international students. We had friends from Japan, South Korea, Bangladesh, Kenya and a few more. We ate lots of good food too ;)




Somehow I've managed to survive the last two weeks without a car. Thanks to my angels who happened to be my fiance, pastors and friends. But Austin and I went to San Antonio to pick up my car Saturday and had Such an amazing time at church Sunday. I am just so impressed by my youth. They did an amazing job with their drama.

All in all, God has truly been in everything we have done and it's just so overwhelming to see Him move in our group. But of course, in every victory, we have an enemy who is trying to work against us so continue to pray that we would be strengthened and that our hearts and minds would continue to be focused on doing God's will.

In our Friday Bible Study we read a passage Luke 11: 5-13. I had actually read in my quiet time earlier that week and felt like it needed to be shared so I'll go ahead and share here too. I can't help but feel that as Christians sometimes we just assume we will get what we want by simply asking God once and not putting much effort into our request. When I read this scripture, I felt like I had been handling my prayers of petitions in the wrong attitude. Christ says that we must be persistent. That God WANTS to give us the Holy Spirit as our gift and He wants good things for us. However he says "Keep on asking, Keep on looking, Keep on knocking. I was so encouraged to see and understand that even if I wasn't seeing my needs or desires being met, it didn't mean God didn't hear me...it meant that I needed to KEEP praying, requesting, searching. He truly is a good Father who gives good gifts and wants the best for us, His children.

What more do I need?

Blessings,

ani

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Mis Amigos.

This Sunday was interesting...
Austin and I took our two friends Suko and Ryo to church in San Antonio. They are both from Japan and Suko actually went to Mexico with Austin and I this past summer. They had a good time, but unfortunately my car didn't. It had a transmission fluid leak and we got stuck in the middle of Bandera and Hubner Sunday afternoon and as far as I know my car is not fixed yet. However, God is good. Since the car wouldn't move at all, three men/angels helped us move the car out of the intersection and into the parking lot of Whataburger.

It was quite a blow to my Sunday because I depend a lot on my car but Austin and I are managing to make it work with his car.

Tomorrow is our first Chi Alpha meeting of the semester! I'm incredibly excited and I'm praying for a good turn out and for new people to really get plugged in to the group.

Things to pray for:
-A strong level of committment from our members
-An excitement for this coming semester
-For time to supernaturally multiply for these busy college students ;)
-For tomorrow. That the Holy Spirit would join us in all we do.
-Pray for Austin and I, as well, and our fearless leaders.

Friday, August 29, 2008

BBQ sauce! mmm mmm

Well, yesterday was a TON of fun. Austin and I were in charge of the XA Booktable from 1030 am- 2 pm. It takes place in the Quad because there are many students that pass through there on their way to classes. We passed out flyers promoting our BBQ and had many students come up to the table to ask us about our organization and what we had to offer. I was amazed at how many Chi Alphans came to help Austin and I. It was such a blessing to have other students there who aren't on staff but who are simply committed to showing the love of Christ.

I got to talk for a long time to a girl that I met on Monday at an organization walk through. She is such a kind person and I'm already praying that she will get involved. She made it out to the BBQ as well, so that was exciting. Another girl we made a good connection with came to our BBQ and brought two friends!

The preparation for the BBQ went SO well. I couldn't believe how much help we had and how helpful our sound/staging guy was. He has been helping out with this event for the past few years and has always proven to be a kind man, so that was a blessing. However, right as we (the band) were about to go on...RAIN came! haha. It was quite the unforgettable evening. As the worship team was praying, we asked God to save the rain, but God is God and I believe He knew we could handle getting wet.

The whole experience was funny for me because just that morning I was listening to the song "Rain Down" by Delirious and couldn't help but feel like laughing. Many of the people that made it out stuck around so we were able to still talk to students. (well they were sort of stuck with us if they didn't want to get wet :) but we all had such a good time.

The band went on after the rain stopped and there were no complications. We heard testimonies from two of our students and I believe people were truly blessed by the event. So all in all GOD is STILL GOOD, in ALL things! I'm glad everything went so well despite the rain and I feel like the group really proved themselves to be resilient in all circumstances.

To Him be the Glory!

ani

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Why Am I Here?

The past few weeks have been pretty intense. Chi Alpha at Texas State currently has about five people on staff including Austin and myself. Prior to school beginning, we have been getting together to nail down our events and details for our Leadership Retreat, which happened this past weekend.

(Aug 20th-21st)
Last Wednesday and Thursday, we had a great group of Chi Alphans (that's what I call our members :) show up to Jackson Dormitory to move Freshmen into their rooms. We worked from 10 am- 4 pm both days. We had such a fun time getting to know both the parents and the students. We worked so hard that the next day many of us were sore from all of the lifting, but it was worth it to see how gracious the families were to have help.

(Aug 22nd-24th)
Our leadership team consists of 24 students and our meeting went well. This past weekend we also went to a freshmen even called "Sandwich Showdown" where student organizations could set up tables and information about their organization. We had about eight to ten people from our organization talking to students, interacting with other campus ministries, and getting the word out about our upcoming BBQ.

(Aug 26th)
We had an event yesterday called College Survival 101 where we invited new students to ask questions about college. We had a panel of students that offered practical advice on school. We alsotold them the best places to eat in San Marcos and the fun things to do in the area. This was our first time attempting anything like this and it turned out successful. We met eight students who were really excited and interested in becoming a part of Chi Alpha.


In worship news, our worship team is playing our Annual BBQ this Thursday so we have been practicing the past few nights. We're also playing at a church in Seguin for a high school Back to School Concert. This is the part of my ministry that comes easier to me than other parts because I love music and I love the group of worshippers that I have the priviledge of playing with every week, so I have a lot of fun in this area.

So we have a lot going on and I'm pretty sure things won't slow down for another two weeks or so but I am having a blast!

Pray for our BBQ tomorrow. We usually get about 400 students to come and this is where we have met many of our current members, so we're praying for great things to happen tomorrow!

In Christ,

Ani

HISTORY.

So for those of you who don't know...I am graduated from Texas State University and getting married in January of 08. This is an exciting time in my life and in February, Austin and I were both praying about what is was that God was wanting us to do in this transitional time in our lives. I was certain that I was still being called into the ministry as a pastor and/or worship leader, which means that I was heading to seminary but not until Fall 09. It was the same for Austin who has also decided go to seminary with me, but will be focusing in different areas of ministry.

I have been invovled in Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship practically since I stepped foot on the Texas State Campus. This group helped me move in to my dorm and invited me to dinner that night and I automatically clicked with their group and saw the genuineness in their fellowship. Since then, I have been a part of the worship team, attended a missions trip to Mexico (which many of you helped me to go to), attended 5 conferences where we met up with Christians across the Southwest, and I have led a girls Bible study as well. All in all, many would say I really majored in "Chi Alpha". My involvement in this organization was so beneficial and life-giving, I couldn't leave. However, I was not expecting to stay here after I graduated.

Which brings me to why I am still here. Unbeknownst to me, our campus pastor had been praying for many years to have some extra help. So as Austin and I prayed about what we were going to do for this next year, God basically told us to stay in San Marcos and continuing working with this ministry. We were excited but I struggled to believe that I would be able to raise a budget and a team of supporters, however through it all, God IS faithful.

So I'm living in a three bedroom apartment, sharing a room with my old roommate and living as frugally as possible. I am confident that God has kept me in this place with plans of His own in mind because everything I thought I would be doing has fallen through and He is teaching me to be flexible. So the next blog will tell you more about how these first few weeks have gone.

Feel free to:
A) Pray for me!
B) Financially support me! :)
C) Ask me questions about what I am doing here.

Thank you to all who have already supported me.

love you!

In Christ,

ani