Is this normal?

"Is this normal?"

That's the question I've asked myself a lot quite recently — and surprisingly, it's been about the weather here in Murfreesboro. I guess I've been spoiled living in Mississippi for the past four years. I've been unpleasantly shocked at just how cold it's been, as well as how many times it has snowed or iced over here! In Mississippi, if I woke up to a light dusting of snow (because that's pretty much all Starkville ever gets), it was great — school was canceled, even if work wasn't. Here — no sir. Life goes on, which means school goes on, which means I have to get out of my toasty apartment and go walk on campus.

Most of you are probably laughing at me because Tennessee's cold weather is nothing compared to anywhere up north...and yes, I know that...but still, it's been an adjustment this year!

Three of the nice things about the cold weather here: snowball fights, snowmen, and sledding. Here's some photographic evidence of what the RUF crew has been up to this semester:

Charging up the hill for a snowball fight!

Rob & I with our snowman — Rob's from Florida, so it was his first snowman!

Sledding by Fraternity Row — by the way, that's my new roommate — huge answer to prayer!

More updates (including an e-mail update) to come soon — just wanted to post a few pictures!

October: The illustrated edition!

I realize it's definitely no longer October (it is actually COLD here!), but I thought I'd give a photographic representation of some of what MTSU RUF did last month!

Over our fall break, we went to St. Louis for a missions trip. Here's the illustrated edition of that story. :)

On Friday, we loaded up a 12-passenger van, and there were 12 of us. We got close!

We met with New City Fellowship (PCA) and played with kids (mainly children of African refugees) in a downtown neighborhood all day Saturday!

On Saturday night, we went out for dinner and walked around. These are all the girls on the trip!

Sunday after church, we visited the arch and the St. Louis Zoo! Taylor & I were freaked out by this Black Mamba.

On Monday, we visited with Covenant Theological Seminary, and attended two classes. Here, Rob and I were getting ready to listen to Jerram Barrs! (And yes, he was awesome.)

We also brought back RWF this year — that stands for RUF Wrestling Federation! We had a guys bracket and girls bracket. Participants had to enter with a wrestler name (some examples: "The Lumberjack," "Rumble Bee," "Fashionably Undead," "Dora the Explorer," and "The Italian") and a costume to go with the name. Participants were assigned to a bracket and "wrestled" each other — first, they did Indian leg wrestling, then they proceeded to the arm wrestling table. In the event of a tie (if one student won the Indian leg wrestling, but the other won the arm wrestling), the final event was thumb wrestling. Sounds crazy, but the event was a hit!

Our campus minister Paul was the referee!

Jerrica and Marie preparing to arm wrestle.

Julian and Aaron thumb wrestling for the guys championship!

Rob with our winners! (We had a girls champ, guys champ, and costume/dance off champ.) One of our students made these great wrestling championship belts!

And there you have it — a good part of our October in photos!

October in a nutshell

Note: I don't normally post my monthly e-mail update to my blog, but I haven't been able to access the RUF database in a while, so I decided to copy this to my blog as well. If you want a once a month e-mail update, just let me know! Sorry for no photos — I promise I'll get some posted soon!

It is hard to believe that it’s already November — I can’t believe I’ve been here for three months. It has been a busy fall semester, and we’ve still got a lot of things ahead of us.

Let me give a quick catch up on some of our events: We’ve continued with weekly large group, and average about 75 students each Tuesday night. It has been so encouraging to see the great group of freshman boys that are coming, as well as the group of juniors and seniors who come faithfully every week. We have freshman/new student Bible study on Psalms every week, and we’ve got about 10 coming to that. It’s a great time of discussion and fellowship, and the group loves to go eat wings and BBQ after Bible study! Last week, we went to Paul and Rachel’s house for dinner, and it was great to have everyone hang out and enjoy a home cooked meal.

Over our fall break, we loaded up a 12-passenger van and headed to St. Louis for a missions trip. We really got to know one another (close quarters in a large van tend to do that!), and had a great mix of students. On Saturday, we visited New City Fellowship (PCA) and learned how they’re ministering to their community, which includes African refugees, Middle Eastern families, women trying to get out of prostitution, and others. We spent our Saturday playing soccer, tag, hide and seek, and other playground activities with about 40 kids, many who are African refugees. It was great to see our students bond with the kids, and none of us wanted to leave! We attended church there, and spent the rest of Sunday seeing the sites in St. Louis, including the zoo and the arch. On Monday, we visited Covenant Theological Seminary, where we got a tour of the campus, learned about the various degrees offered there, and got to sit in on two classes of our choice. (I actually got to hear Jerram Barrs teach!) Several of the students on the trip are thinking about seminary, so it was a blessing to see them excited about possibly attending Covenant.

We also had our eighth annual barn dance on October 22, and it turned out great! We had about 100 people attend, and we partnered with Trinity (the local PCA church). We had several students who don’t attend large group or Bible studies show up, so that was also a huge encouragement.

I attended RUF intern training last week in Atlanta, and was pleasantly surprised at how much it meant to be surrounded by a group that knows exactly what you’re trying to do and how you sometimes feel like you’re failing miserably! It was a great time of teaching, encouragement, and refreshment. The RUF staff does a wonderful job of ministering to its campus staff, and it was great to rejoice over how the Lord is working on campuses across the US.

Other interns echoed how I’ve often felt this semester — frustrated. It has been a learning experience (to say the least) to pursue girls (particularly freshman girls) who often times don’t show up when they promise to come, ignore your calls, aren’t interested in campus ministry, or fill their time with other things. I often find myself wondering if I’m not suitable for this job. The truth is that I’m not adequate and nothing I do will bring them to Bible study, large group, or church — that’s the Lord’s job. My job is to love on them and pursue them, even if they don’t come. I’ve been reminded so often this semester that this must be a small taste of how our Heavenly Father pursues us — most of the time, we’re running away as fast as we can, yet He is faithful and doesn’t give up on us. That is what I have been reminded most while doing this job: I have a Heavenly Father who is in charge, loves me despite my failures, and never stops pursing me!

As we close up this semester, we are looking forward to several events, including the RUF Wrestling Tournament (more on that in the next e-mail or blog post!), parents brunch (a time for parents to learn about RUF and consider supporting MTSU), the Thanksgiving service (a large group where students share what they’re thankful for), more Bible studies and large groups, and the Christmas party! Please pray that the Lord will bless these events and continue to bring more students to know and love Him.

I am so thankful for your prayers and support — I could not do this job without each of you. I will be home in Memphis for Thanksgiving, and I look forward to catching up with many of you then!

I'm really not good at titles

You know, blog titles are just like newspaper headlines — I was never very good at them, but they're super important. Ever thought about that? If you're flipping through a magazine or newspaper (or even scrolling through a site online) and the headline doesn't sound interesting, you probably won't read the story. (Actual statistic on that: Eight out of ten people will read the headlines, but only two out of ten read the story — credit goes to copyblogger.) Having said that, please don't judge me for my terrible blog titles...also, please forgive me for not blogging once a week. Apparently, I need a blog accountability partner — any takers? Anyway...

I'm writing this on a Wednesday morning, and I love Wednesday mornings. It's kind of my "recovery day" since we have RUF large group on Tuesday nights. We had a pretty good turnout for large group (especially for it being midterms week), but not a single freshman girl came last night. Any other week, this would have really bothered me — and hey, let's be honest: it still does bother me, but not like it would have in weeks past — but over the past two weeks, the Lord really reminded me that it's not about numbers. In all actuality, it's not even about getting people to come to RUF. It's about building relationships with these girls, loving on them, listening to them, praying for and with them, and helping them get involved in a church. I'd love to see them involved in RUF, but more importantly, I want to see them growing spiritually and loving Jesus with all their heart.

Having said that, I would love for y'all to pray that more freshman girls would join RUF and would attend freshman Bible study. We have a solid group of freshman guys, and I am very thankful for each one of them. I would just love to have more girls to be with and hang out with — if that's what the Lord wants here at MTSU. At the same time, please pray that I wouldn't find my identity in how many girls come to RUF, because again, it's not about numbers.

It has been such a sweet blessing to be here in Murfreesboro. I am so thankful for the RUF staff, the church, and all the students. They are such an encouragement to me. I'm slowly but surely beginning to get the hang of things here, although I still feel like a "glorified freshman" (that's how I describe myself to a lot of students: I've basically started all over at a new school, not knowing anyone, but I do have a college degree).

It is also great to be 35 minutes away from my sister, who's finishing up her senior year at Belmont University in Nashville. I've been able to go visit for a day or so on several weekends, and it's been fun to hang out at her apartment and go to her soccer games. My sweet parents have been so kind to bring me things from Memphis (like all my winter clothes when it got unexpectedly chilly last week!), and Mom is great about helping me stock my apartment. She found this awesome chair for $5 at an estate sale (and Dad took off all the paint splatters on it) — they rock!

This means I now have three kitchen chairs — hooray!

This week, MTSU RUF has freshman Bible study/dinner on Thursday. Paul teaches on one of the Psalms, and it's a great time of discussion and fellowship. After Bible study, we head to Slick Pig, which is exactly what it sounds like: an awesome BBQ and wings joint. While I'm still a Memphis BBQ girl, their wings are INCREDIBLE. It's pretty hilarious to see the RUF crew walk in every week (usually me plus 5 to 10 guys — occasionally, we have a girl or two!) — no telling how many wings we demolish each week.

Me with the Slick Pig mascot

Please be praying for the staff (Paul, Rob, Heather, and myself) as we head to St. Louis on Friday with seven students for a missions trip. We'll be hanging out with refugees, playing with kids, possibly helping with some ESL ministries, visiting Covenant Theological Seminary, and seeing a few of the sites in St. Louis. I'm really excited about it, and I'm so thankful for each person going. Pray that the Lord will give us traveling mercies (it's about 6-7 hours driving!), servants' hearts, kindness towards each other, and unity. I'll be sure to post some pictures soon!

Thank you again for your prayers and support. It means so much to hear from y'all, and I could not do this without each one of you. I am very thankful for each one of you!

MTSU RUF in pictures

To make up for the lack of updates, here's our semester so far...in pictures! More to come soon. :)

Leadership retreat: Nineteen of us (our campus minister, the three interns, and fifteen junior and senior students) enjoyed two days and two nights in Smithville, Tennessee, at a lake house. We got to plan our semester, spent a lot of time in prayer and the Word, and played. :) It was great to get to know the leadership team – they were so friendly and welcoming.

One of the intern duties includes cooking at events (which I’m actually really excited to do!). Courtney was very sweet to help me with these cookies (she was probably making sure that I wasn’t going to eat all of them).

Paul got RUF cups for our ice cream party – the senior guys had fun playing with them.

A couple of our students brought their Eno hammocks. See the blue one? – that’s the one I want to get for my new porch. ;)

We split into teams and played the video camera game. My group had to film a sitcom on the porch – we called it “Sitcommunism” (a made-up sitcom about a family in the 1950s). When our camera died, I filmed the rest on the trusty iPhone 4! It was a lot of fun, but I don’t think any of us will be winning an Academy Award any time soon...

Ice cream party: Rob and I passed out flyers and suckers on campus advertising free ice cream. RUF students told their friends. Rob even told the Walmart ladies when we went to buy ice cream. Hey, people came! :) It was a great time to meet new students, enjoy fellowship, and share information about RUF.

Two of our juniors, Taylor and Courtney, served 35 gallons of ice cream to over 100 students!

We got good use out of our RUF cups – three dishwasher loads later, they’re good as new!

MTSU football: Rob and I ventured into Peck Forest and passed out RUF cups and magnets to tailgaters before the first game. We attended the game with our students – and hey, MTSU almost won!

After wearing maroon and white to football games for four years, it feels strange to be wearing blue…but it won’t take long for me to get used it to it!

Trinity Presbyterian Church: This is where we have our staff meetings, attend church on Sundays and Wednesdays, and even get some occasional study time.

These are my great co-interns, Heather and Rob. They’re so great that when I insisted we take a picture at church so I could include it in my newsletter, they didn’t protest one bit!

Low country boil: We shopped, others cooked, people came. Shrimp + sausage + potatoes + corn + lemonade + cornbread + homemade desserts + cornhole + ladderball + 95 degree heat + fellowship = success!

If you feed them, they will come!

The guys playing cornhole at the shrimp boil.

What else have we done this semester? Large group meetings, small group Bible studies, prayer groups, freshman dinner, freshman and new student Bible study, lots of staff meetings, and RUF lunch! (Sorry, I guess I’ve been a little lazy with my camera.)

What’s left this semester? Film and theology nights, our fall break missions trip to St. Louis, more large groups and small groups and prayer groups, more freshman/new student Bible studies, more RUF lunches, the annual barn dance, service projects, the annual RWF event (I’ll explain that in a later post – it needs a post all to itself), more staff meetings, a Thanksgiving service, the Christmas party, and probably lots of other things! Stay tuned.

Hooray for Murfreesboro!

Exactly one week ago, I moved to Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Thanks to everyone who has prayed for me and supported me - I could not have reached my 85% goal without each one of you!

I have been blessed to move in with a sweet host family from the PCA church, who took me in on very short notice. I moved much earlier than I anticipated, so I didn't have time to find an apartment. I traveled all around the city today and am turning in an application tomorrow - pray that if it's the Lord's will, He'll give me the apartment.

One of my furry roommates snoozing :)

School starts here on August 30, and I am really ready to start meeting freshmen and transfer students! My co-intern Rob took me around campus today, and it got me really excited about being in a new place with lots of new faces.

The view from the lake house's porch - lovely!

Last week, MTSU's RUF had its leadership team retreat at a lake house in Smithville, Tennessee. I had a great time getting to know about 20 of the juniors and seniors who help lead RUF. They were such a blessing to me and were quick to introduce themselves and ask me questions. They made me feel so welcome! MTSU is blessed to have each one of them.

My teammates in our video filming competition: David, Taylor, and Julian

As we prepare to start this semester, please be praying for the following things:
1. Pray that God will give the leadership team and the staff direction this semester in all areas: mercy ministries, large group, small groups, Bible studies, prayer groups, parties, etc. We have a busy semester ahead, so please pray for energy and stamina.
2. Pray that the Lord will work in the lives of each of the staff members: Paul (the campus minister), Heather (a part-time intern & the church administrator), Rob (an intern), and myself. Heather will be focusing on the older girls in RUF, while Rob and I will be working primarily with freshmen and transfer students. Pray that the Lord will give us boldness to approach students about RUF!
3. Pray for the local PCA church, Trinity Presbyterian Church. The church is currently looking for a pastor and undergoing several transitions.
4. Pray for encouragement for Paul and Rachel (my campus minister and his wife) as their youngest son, Jake, faces another severe heart surgery in the near future.
5. Most importantly, pray for conversions! There are thousands of students here (it's the largest university in Tennessee), and each one of them needs the gospel!

Thank you for your support and prayers!

Green light!

By the grace of God, I got a phone call Monday saying I've got the green light to move to campus. Praise the Lord! This means I've hit 85% of my budget and will raise the remaining 15% over the next few months (I'd love to have it raised by December, but we'll see.)

I am so excited about moving and also a little nervous - I leave town Friday (we're moving my sister to Nashville on Saturday), then I'm moving in either Sunday or Monday. It's a totally new place, and I really don't know anyone, but I am excited about meeting new people and beginning work. The MTSU students don't start until August 28, so this gives me a little time to settle in and get adjusted.

Please continue praying that the Lord will prepare me for this year. I am so excited and am so very thankful for everyone who has prayed for and supported me. I love y'all dearly!

Praise God from Whom all blessings flow

I went to Starkville for 24 hours and enjoyed hanging out with my former roommate Annalissa at her new house. It was so encouraging to see her (and other dear friends), even if it was only a short while. This morning, six of us (the six girls staying at the house for that weekend) gathered around and Annalissa took scripture requests and read them out loud. This was mine:
"I lift up my eyes to the hills—
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot slip—
He who watches over you will not slumber;
Indeed, He who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
The LORD watches over you—
the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
The sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.
The LORD will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;
The LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore."
- Psalm 121

I simply love this psalm. Susan Ashton recorded it a few years back (it's worth a listen - it helped me memorize the entire psalm very quickly!). This has been one of the psalms that I turn to over and over again. It is such a comfort and brings such peace to know that our Heavenly Father watches over us and keeps us safe.

The past 24 hours in Starkville were also bittersweet. I went there to celebrate the life of my friend Adam, who died in February. A friend of his threw a film festival in honor of him, and so about 100 or so of us crowded into Old Venice last night. We raised $435 for the hospital that helped Adam so much (he suffered from Crohn's disease), enjoyed looking at some of his photography, and laughed as we watched him on screen with some of his friends (they made a hilarious silent film about a man with no hands). It made me smile to watch him on screen being his goofy self. As the night progressed, I couldn't help but think about how much Adam would have enjoyed being there. As the night wrapped up, I went outside and talked to Adam's mom, where we found ourselves right next to a black Nissan truck — almost just like Adam's (except a little smaller). We both shared the same smile and got a little quiet — it reminded us of Adam. Not a day goes by that I don't think about him in some form or fashion. It was great to see everyone last night, and I know Adam would be happy that we had a good time watching the films, listening to the bands, and enjoying fellowship.

And for a quick rewind: I spent the last week of July in Atlanta for week two of RUF staff training. It was wonderful to see my fellow interns, meet some older interns (the cool second year kids!), and visit with campus ministers. Paul (my new campus minister) preached on Tuesday night at our worship service, and he is GREAT! I am so excited about being under his teaching this year. I loved the fellowship throughout the week, and the teaching and seminars were excellent. What an encouraging week with new, dear friends. I got to wrap it up with a quick trip the lake with some high school friends - also very fun. It was my last chance to hit the lake this summer, so I'm glad it finally happened!

And now back to last week: I got great news on Friday afternoon about my RUF internship — I am $1,003 away from reaching my "move to Murfreesboro" goal of 85%, which means I need $5,774 to be 100% fully funded. Praise the Lord! Thank you to all who have prayed for me and supported me. The Lord has been so gracious and faithful, and all of this has been from Him — not anything that I have done! Please join me in praying that the Lord will continue to provide and will be preparing me to move to Murfreesboro.

An RUF update

Most of you know that I am currently raising support to be an RUF intern at MTSU. While I am definitely nervous, I am really excited about this opportunity and can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for this next year.

My budget for this year (June 2010-May 2011) is $31,804. (By the way, if anyone would like a copy of my actual budget - to see where your donations go - I would be happy to mail or e-mail you one! Just ask!) I have to raise 85% of that ($27,033) before I can move to campus. By the grace of God, I only need $5,473 to move to campus. After I get that, I will only need $4,771 to be completely funded. Praise the Lord!

I am so thankful for everyone who has contributed to my account and has been praying for me. I covet your prayers and ask that you would continue praying and continue supporting me throughout this year. I'll be sending out prayer postcards soon, so if you're on my mailing list, be looking for those. (If you're not on my mailing list, please send me an e-mail at aubra.whitten@ruf.org and I'll be happy to add you!)

A couple of things that I would love for y'all to join me in praying about:
1. I still need to reach 85% support in order to move to campus. I would love to be moved there by the time school starts (which is late August). I also would love to have 100% of my support raised by the end of August so that I can focus on being at MTSU. Pray that the Lord would give me patience, diligence, and willingness.
2. RUF staff training (week two) is next week in Atlanta, Monday through Friday. Pray that God would make me willing and open to what we'll be learning. Pray for encouragement and stamina - it's a great week, but long!
3. Please pray that God will open my heart and help me to be teachable and flexible this year. Pray that I'll really seek Him and be willing to go below the surface with students.
4. Pray for Paul and Rachel (my campus minister and his wife) and their three boys. I am really excited about working with them! Pray for my co-interns Rob and Heather.
5. Most importantly, pray that the gospel will go forth and that there will be conversions at MTSU!

Thank you for your support and prayers - they mean so much! I would love to sit down and talk with any of you before I leave - please call me, shoot me an e-mail, grab me at church - whatever!

Mini review

Scroll down to "April" in this post to see what this photo's all about. (And I'm sorry it's so tiny — Blogger keeps compressing it.)

I shouldn't be updating right now, but I just looked over my blog and realized I haven't posted since January. (YIKES! That's terrible, especially for a journalism student.) It is definitely an indication of how crazy this semester has been for me — I honestly did not anticipate this semester being crazy. I knew I would be busy looking for work and facing graduation, but since I only had four classes, I figured work would be my main time-consumer (and it certainly was, but there were lots of other things...). Here's a quick run-down of my semester, and I promise that more will be coming!

January:
-Started the last semester of my senior year at Mississippi State University with four classes: Elements of Persuasion, Writing for the Media (both of those are upper-level communication courses, which is all I need to graduate), Civil Liberties/Constitutional Law and Classical Mythology (which are two classes to keep me a full-time student). I quickly realize I'm not thrilled about my communication classes, and at least three classes are going to be much harder than I anticipated...so much for an easy last semester.
-Continued as Managing Editor at The Reflector. We had a huge staff changeover in December (our editor in chief resigned, sports and entertainment editors and several senior staff writers graduated). First month wasn't bad at all, once we all got used to new people in the office.
-Prepared to take my second LSAT.
-Turned in my paperwork to be considered for the RUF internship.

February:
-Already feeling a little senioritis...and realizing it's way too early to be feeling that.
-Took my second LSAT, which was much easier than the first LSAT in December. Unfortunately, we had a lot of problems with our proctor (including being shorted on time in one section and being interrupted numerous times). I figured this might affect my score, so I went ahead and filed an irregularity report...which meant that LSAC delayed my score for three extra weeks. Not exactly what I was hoping for since I was already entering the law school game a little late.
-Had my world absolutely ripped from under me when I lost my good friend and coworker Adam. (I plan to devote a whole blog entry to this topic sometime soon, but I need a while to write it so that I do it justice.) Without going into detail, it was an extremely traumatic situation, and I was the one who had to break the news to our newsroom crew. I never want to see the looks that I saw on their faces that day ever again. It was truly one of the darkest days of my life, and just one of those times where no matter how I cried out to the Lord, I didn't know how anything good would come about through this situation. Although I'm still struggling with all of us and still miss Adam terribly, I am thankful for how it brought our newsroom together. I knew I worked with talented, funny, smart people, but when all of this happened, it really bonded us all together and we started to get past the surface with each other. I have the utmost respect for our crew and I'm glad we were all in it together.

March:
-Got my LSAT score back and went up five points, despite the crazy testing circumstances! Finished off my law school applications to UT Knoxville, Ole Miss and University of Memphis.
-Went before the RUF South committee to be interviewed for an RUF intern position. I passed, and waited anxiously for my assignment...
-Had a GREAT roadtrip across my homestate (by myself!) during spring break. Those of you who know me even just a little bit know that I'm terrible with directions. Mom gave me a Garmin unit for Christmas, and that little thing has empowered me! Love it. I won't be scared of getting lost anymore. I visited my sister and Belmont RUF in Nashville for a day, drove to Chattanooga to see dear friends from church (got to see Bryan College and then spent the night at Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia), drove to Knoxville to visit the law school and hang out with friends from church and high school for two days.
-Started dating a boy...and yep, that's all I'm telling you for right now. :)
-Heard back from RUF — my internship assignment is MTSU! I don't think I could have been more excited. I wanted to go back to my home state and be close to Nashville, but I never dreamed they would actually place me there.

April:
-School is really in full swing and crazy. Oh boy.
-We had TWO apartment fires in a span of about two weeks, including one at my complex! My building wasn't affected (although it still smells like smoke), but several of my friends lost everything they owned. I just so happened to be on my way to church when I saw a cloud of smoke — like I told another newspaper editor, "I turned right back around, put my Bible down and grabbed my camera." You can read my fire story here and see the Facebook album of fire photos here. What a crazy day. I am so thankful that the Lord spared every life in those two buildings that day!
-I finished my job as Managing Editor at The Reflector. It's been a good four years there, but I am ready for a break from the newsroom. I've been in and out helping the new staff, and I've stayed on as a writer and spot photographer, but no more eidtor position. :)
-I've started raising support for my RUF internship! Be expecting to see a lot more posts about that very soon.
-School's killing me. I'm having a hard time focusing (two papers, one presentation, some reading, four exams and one honors thesis project away from graduating) — I graduate in 9 days! Please pray for perseverance.