Start of the Year - Day 2 "SPLASH..."

If you GPS'ed where my body went today, it would look quite boring (I only went 2 places all day), but if you had a spiritual ECG (EKG) of my heart , it would be all over the place :-)

I had a good sleep last night and got up at 4 am (7 am New Zealand time); I had a good breakfast and a good time with the Lord. Then I caught a taxi to our new office and spent the whole day there. 

Elton with the new stuff!

Elton & Greg were thrilled to see all the stuff that I brought: sunglasses (to give to the students), Bible studies (on Sharing Your Faith, Making Disciples, and Knowing God's Will), New Staff Training notes, Soularium, diaries, a couple photos and a poster for their wall. 

Greg and Elton taking pictures of the new stuff

It was great to sit and watch the staff work - the first weekly meeting is tonight and a lot had to be done.  I watched them call the students to make sure that things were being taken care of - and work together as a team.  They are getting to understand each other better and it's a thrill to watch them work.

Elton, Lillian and Greg enjoying their sun glasses!

In the evening I then went to UPNG campus with Elton, Lillian & Greg for the first Splash meeting of the year (Splash is the name of their weekly meeting - to help students who are being discipled to make a splash on campus and then have a ripple effect over the whole campus and the rest of PNG)

What I am most thrilled at is how the 3 missionaries have taken responsibility and ownership of the ministry.  One of them shared with me that they have been going non-stop since January and they are surprised that they haven't crashed yet.  Please pray that they will keep their focus on Jesus as He lives His life through them (Gal 2:20), and that they will guard their time to make sure they get some rest.

This is what the missionaries and the student leaders have done on their own (besides what I talked about yesterday): 

• They found a new room for Splash - the room they have been using had benches and desks that were bolted to the floor so that you couldn't stand up between them - there was no room to do any activity (or anything fun).  This room is 3-4 times the size and it has no bolted benches (this is rare at UPNG).
• They started a second weekly Splash on Wednesdays for the day students.  In the past we have had day students (commuters) join the movement, but then drop out because they can't make the evening get-togethers.  This will be led by a student leader and will mirror the Monday Splash for a while.
• They started Splash a week early to bring in more first year students.  In the past the first "event" of the year was the Alpha party and Splash would start after this.  This year, many first year students will have had 3 points of contact with a Student Life person before the Alpha party!

Here is a photo of the Splash - led by students (but I had 10 minutes to talk). We had 63 students come, most being first year students.  And I watched as 2 of our student leaders went around group by group and introduced themselves and helped the new students to learn about Student life.  Here is a composite of 2 photos (I couldn't get everyone into one photo).

Thanks for praying!!!!!  

[This is the second time I had to write this as the first draft went missing - thanks for bearing with me]  [Sorry this is so long.  Tomorrow will be short!]