The First Frosty Morning

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! It's 6:30 am and my alarm sounds. I turn it off and realize I fell asleep with my lamp on. Dang, I absolutely hate wasting energy. I groggily reach over to pull the chain switching my lamp into "off" mode, only to hear a most unpleasant "crunch." What the heck? My less-than-a-year old pair of glasses is now in pieces underneath me. CRAP! I roll out of bed in my half-alert morning stupor, rush to get ready and go out to my car to find the windows frosted over. The first frost, I thought. I don't think I'm ready for this. Most fortunately NeedToBreathe's latest CD was popped into the Taurus' compact disc player so I decided to cool off (literally) from being upset about the wasted energy, broken glasses and icy car and be consoled by the sweet sounds now filling my cold car as I waited for it to defrost.

And then I found five dollars.

I just thought I'd share that absolutely pointless story with you for two reasons. First and foremost, for your pity and a potential "Oh no!" which I especially crave. Second, I promised I'd make known, especially for those of you living in warmer areas of the country, when Fargo received it's first frost. Hopefully the events of the first snowfall prove to be as entertaining as this lovely Thursday morning. For those of you who don't understand the "and then I found five dollars" reference, oftentimes when telling a story the teller (or perhaps someone in the audience, depending on how courteous they are) will realize just how pointless the story was for anybody but the teller, and throw in that line to "make the story better" even though it really doesn't. It's basically just a way of saying, "Wow, what a pointless story."

Procession with Jesus through campus

The last few weeks have been quite a blur and even included visiting my wonderful family and a few friends back home in wonderful Wisconsin! I will say that the drive from the Twin Cities to Madison is especially beautiful at this time of year and the red, orange and gold trees made for a seemingly quick drive back. A highlight of the month however, is probably the Eucharistic procession that the NDSU Newman Center did on October 7, the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. We consecrated the entire NDSU campus and all of its past, present and future students, faculty and staff to Jesus through Mary as we processed with the Blessed Sacrament with about 90 students and community members around campus. It was quite the experience.

My discipleship chain!

This past weekend certainly earns a high ranking on my scale as well. On Friday night we had our first Monthly Mountain, a.k.a. student missionary night. We split up into each of our discipleship chains, went out to eat--ours went to a super fun place called the Drunken Noodle... don't worry, it's a good, clean time and no alcoholic drinking was engaged in on this evening! After getting our fill we stumbled back to the Newman Center to hear one of the hands-down best talks on prayer I've ever heard (and I certainly haven't heard 'em all, but I've heard quite a few so far in my day!) given by one of NDSU's peer ministers, Thomas.

Something that the missionaries have noticed since day one of the school year is that our student leaders are not praying as they ought, or at all. To be a Bible study leader and be a person who brings Christ to the people in their studies, classes, apartments, dorm rooms, etc, it is so important that they come and spend time with Him, especially since there is exposition of the Blessed Sacrament (Eucharistic Adoration) all day on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. To be in discipleship, which all of these student leaders are, it is expected that they pray for at least 20 minutes each day. In all reality, that's nothin', and a few of the busiest students spend over an hour in the chapel some days. Plus, I can give a personal testimony to beginning every day with a Holy Hour and still working two jobs, taking five classes, leading a Bible Study, having time for friends and roommates, and doing a myriad of other things that filled my time at the UW the past few years. So, after Thomas spoke, give my testimony I did and hold back a bit of harsh criticism I did not. I will admit, I've heard from a few of the students that this was exactly the "kick in the pants" that they needed. We've already seen more students in the chapel at any given hour of the day and I'm so excited to see the fruits that will occur on the campus, in Bible studies and in discipleships.

This weekend I'm headed to "the good life" to visit my bestie in Omaha! Pray for safe travels and I'll update you all soon!

In Him,
Kelsey Marie