Amanda and the leadership expedi- tion team at Moxie Falls in Maine

Lifelines Table at the
Freshman Picnic 2010
UVM Stats:
·
2475 first year students
·
from 40 states and 14 countries
·
13,500 total students this year, the largest ever
·
304 Freshman have signed up to go on lifelines trips
August 2010
The Adventure Continues...
The Freshman have arrived!
Such an exciting week! The
freshman have arrived and our schedule has taken off! This week we had our
freshman picnic and the next day we had our first
trip with 5 new freshman! We hiked Mt. Mansfeild,
discussed the grand theme of Love and how it affects our
lives. What a start to the new semester! Zach came on our trip
and said that it was the first time he had ever just thought about
what it meant to love, and that he would be coming back for
more!
Prayer Requests;
·
For the incoming freshman!
·
For us as we attempt to lay out a schedule for the
fall. Between our time with the Lord, bible studies,
discipleship, meetings, and trips it will be a hectic
time for us.
·
Would you pray for Amanda! She’s the only fulltime staff
women this year, and thus a lot of jobs have fallen to her.
It’s very difficult at times to set boundaries on our schedule
to allow for recovery time.
Amanda and the leadership expedition team at Moxie Falls in Maine
How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who
bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
-Isaiah 52:7
This fall, Lifelines UVM
tried something new. We
invited some believing
students to return to school
one week early, and to
spend it with us on a leadership expedition, hiking,
backpacking, and rafting!
I (Amanda) was so blessed
to be able to facilitate this
trip with our co-director
Heather. We took four women into the Vermont wilderness for three
days of backpacking and hiking. We then piled in a van, and headed
up to Maine to raft the Kennebec River, which has class 4 rapids.
It was amazing! During our 6 days, we looked at faith, hope, and
love through parables in the Word, as well as through programs in
the outdoors. Kat, one of our student leaders, shared that she was
most affected by the rafting program on love in which Heather and
I repeatedly “fell” out of the raft. The first time we fell, we immediately asked for help getting back in to the raft. Yet, each consecutive
time we fell out, we became increasingly less interested in getting
in the boat and more interested in singing and floating down the
river in class 3 rapids. In fact, on the fourth swim students had to
chase us down, fish us out of the water (as we swam away), and
drag our struggling bodies back into the raft. After the program, we
debriefed about love and students shared what it felt like to have to
save someone who didn’t want saved. Julia, another student, shared
that by the fourth time, she didn’t even throw a rope to us because
she knew we wouldn’t take it. It was incredible to hear how difficult
it is for us to love those that don’t want to be loved. Students drew
a quick parallel to their lives, and how loving and sharing our faith
is so easy when people are right beside our boats and want to be
pulled in. Yet, it’s so difficult when our friends are swimming away
from us, and won’t allow themselves to be loved. It was a powerful
day for all of us as we thought about our friends, those that God has
given us to love, and how sometimes we refuse to throw them the
rope because we don’t think they’ll take it. Students continued to
reference this program in the days that followed and dialogue about
how it affected their thinking!
Our Fall activities:
Whitewater rafting, three women’s bible studies,
Rock Climbing, Men’s fireside study, Canoeing, 24 hr hike, kayaking, Labor Day triathlon, Women’s weekend, Kayaking, Men’s
weekend, corn roast and bonfire, corn maze, and individual weekly
discipleship times
With Lessons on: Love, Perseverance and Patience, Trust, Wisdom and Humility, self control, courage, justice and mercy, peace
and kindness, gratitude and joy , and what it means to be a man.
Since this summer Gabe has gotten certified as a rock climbing
guide and as a white water raft guide! One of our goals at UVM
has been to increase our “hard” skills and in the outdoors to increase our ability to minister to the diverse student body.
Gabe & Amanda
376 College St #1
Burlington,VT 05401
407.538.3398
[email protected]
[email protected]
Photos from the summer; www.flickr.com/photos/theadventure
To give to our ministry: http;//mcgann.give.cc