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.

Whoops

A couple of nights ago, I sat down to write a blog update and e-mail update to everyone — I've done a terrible job of keeping everyone updated! I wrote for about an hour, then saved it in Microsoft Word since I don't have Internet at my new apartment yet (yep, I got the apartment!). Over the past few days, I've been several places, hoping to upload the blog post and send out the e-mail update, but I've had some Internet issues. I finally decided to make the trek out to Panera this afternoon to send the e-mail update and the blog post.

But alas, I goofed. I wrote all the updates three nights ago on my old PowerBook (because Word didn't work on my new MacBook Pro). I spent last night getting Word to work properly on the MacBook. Forgetting that I wrote everything on my old computer, I loaded up the nice and shiny MacBook, all excited about using it at Panera with fast Internet and a FINALLY functioning Word...lo and behold, my files aren't there.

Sigh. The Lord has funny ways of keeping me humble. :) As I just told my mom over the phone, this morning I put together my bookcase (this is the second or third one I've put together) and COMPLETELY goofed it up...maybe if I'm brave, I'll post a photo so y'all can laugh!

I was going to sit here and try to recall everything I've wrote three nights ago, but I've decided against that — probably not a wise use of my time. I'll go find wireless at the church or somewhere else tomorrow, so be looking for a real post with real information within the next few days! :) Oh, and if you want added to my e-mail list, please drop me an e-mail (aubra.whitten@ruf.org) or tell me via the blog.