[pictures always make things better =]

Hello, friends and family!  :) I feel like I have so much to update you on.  Let me give you a little picture update to catch you up on what we've been up to for the past two weeks.  

1. We've been going out 'sharing' on campus.  (Sharing is our short way of saying "sharing the gospel with others" on campus).  Every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday we've been going off in pairs to strike up intentional, spiritual conversations with students on the campus of UC Berkeley.  Before coming here, I had the preconceived notion that it was going to be really hard to broach the topic of Christ with students here just because it's such a liberal school, full of very opinionated people who are very vocal about their passions and what they stand for.  It was quite a surprise to realize that most students are actually pretty open to discussing beliefs in general-- maybe it's because they're used to people voicing what they're passionate about anyway?  :)  Anyway, it's been awesome to come alongside the students on our project as they step out in faith to share with others that God loves them and wants to have a relationship with them.  For many of them it's the first time they've ever talked to others about their faith.  It makes my heart swell to know that they are making sharing their faith a habit during project-- a habit I hope will turn into a lifestyle of letting others in on the joy of loving and living for Christ.  (Pictured above are Chris, Vinnie (also staff), Lauren, and I with *Stacey in the middle, an exchange student from Taiwan who prayed to receive Christ yesterday!)
2. We've also been volunteering at a Salvation Army center every Wednesday.  It's been awesome being able to come alongside another ministry whose purpose is also to reach out and bless others.  We split our team up into groups to help with weeding the garden, sorting food/books,/supplies, wrapping birthday presents for people living at the free shelter, and helping them set up for VBS.  (Pictured to the right is my group wrapping presents for the children at the shelter).
3. We had a FREE BBQ for our neighborhood this past Monday.  As a project we're not only trying to focus on reaching out to students on campus; we're also trying to have a presence in our communities as well.  We made signs, went door-to-door, and stood on the street to offer free food to anyone and everyone.  We had a some neighbors come, some UC Berkeley students come, some homeless people come, and some just plain random people.  People couldn't understand why we wanted to offer free food; it gave us a great opportunity to build relationships and talk about how we wanted to be the hands and feet of Christ this summer, sharing His love in word and in deed.  (Pictured to the left is one of our students inviting people to our BBQ with a handmade sign and cheerful balloon!  :0)
4. We had our grand Launch Day on campus yesterday.  Since we're trying to launch an Epic Movement at UC Berkeley, we have to start with a students who are aligned with the vision of Epic: making sure everyone knows someone who truly follows Christ, so that they have the chance to hear the gospel and know Him personally too.  Therefore, we spent all of yesterday handing out fliers on campus for a FREE BOBA EVENT (which we made ourselves), where Josh Chen (one of our staff) gave a 7-minute presentation of who we are, what we believe, and why we exist as a movement.  His talk got me even more excited about being on staff here and interning again in the fall!  =]  (I love having the opportunity to invest in students and point them to Christ).  We had around 10 students join us yesterday for free boba and to hear Josh's spiel, which was super exciting.  Please pray that we'll be able to gather a small group of missional students who want to see their campus reached for Christ through the Epic Movement!  :)  (Pictured right are some of students on project with a girl [in green] who came to check out our event!)

I have so much more to share, but that's just a glimpse of what I've been up to on project!  :)  Thank you for all your encouraging notes and prayers!