Life is good.

When trying to come up with a post title for this entry, the only thing that came to mind is, "Wow, I'm really happy with the way things are going, life is good." And then that "Life is good" logo came to mind and an obvious Google images search resulted. There are some pretty good images that capture life being good, but I think this guy is my favorite. Big cheesy grin, strummin' the gee-tar, and even has Jesus sandals with a quirky little hat, pretty likeable! Which is funny, because I myself do not possess any of these qualities: I do not play the guitar, have Birkenstock sandals nor, believe it or not, wear quirky little hats, but I enjoy people that do.

Kristen (left), and Jodi (right) with Samantha and I (middle).
Sam and I were both discipled by the same missionary, Gina,
but at different schools and different times! 

The last few weeks have been quite a whirlwind and it always amazes me the potential topics I can include in a blog post after a few weeks...which I suppose is actually a pretty surmountable amount of time for how long-winded I am.  For those of you who received my February newsletter you may have noticed how much I am loooving my job as a missionary. The girls I personally work with, and even those that I've been able to get to know around campus, are growing so much and becoming more and more desirous to share their love for Jesus Christ with their peers.

Whitney, the Lady Bison leading pitcher

Here's an update (although I've never really given you a whole lot of information) on some of the girls in my discipleship chain, although I cannot even begin to describe the love I have in my heart for each of them.

Whitney Johnson, one of the women I disciple, officially started her softball season (and is rocking the HOUSE) and has been on the road Wednesdays-Sundays, but in the few times we've actually been able to meet up her growth in love for Scripture and the Lord have been evident. Kristen Vetter, a senior (and recent star of my newsletter), is currently student teaching and just applied for and accepted a position in FOCUS! We're all very excited for her. Jodi Barth, a senior that graduated in December, will be joining her! We recently went down to St. Paul for an interview weekend and it was fun to spend time getting to know them better, along with the other applicants who are just as excited about the mission. Plus, it was a bonus to reunite with a few of my friends from Madison--both missionaries and applicants--and share some laughs as well as the joys of missionary life.

Jamie bringing the heat, from
the NDSU athletics website

Katie Birkel is still doing rehab from her torn ACL and Jamie Van Kirk, a freshman and the starting point guard on the women's basketball team also recently said yes to discipleship and just tore her ACL this week! Apparently injuries are rampant on the Lady Bison basketball team, losing two of their starting players to ACL tears in just one season. Keep them in your prayers!

Josie Breen and her long red hair signed up for the Fargo Half Marathon in May and encouraged me to join her. It became one of my Lenten resolutions and training so far has been nothing short of F-U-N! I used to run pretty consistently and after I stopped I never really started again and I forgot how much I love it! So we've been running and working out together and it's a total blast.

Josie and I at our finest.

These are the other young women I'm privileged to work and grow with: Victoria Hammond, a first year pharmacy student who recently started discipling Megan, a sophomore, Ginnie Hausladen, a fourth year architect student that just said yes to discipleship and Rachel Freed, a sophomore engineering student who loves working at the rock wall at the NDSU Wellness center and just started discipling Kristen, a freshman.

 If you can't tell, things are going really well for me and my crew here at NDSU. Jenne, Tim and Lucas have equally as many exciting stories, and probably more, and I haven't even begun to scratch the surface of the many blessings I've experienced and received this semester alone as a missionary. 

And the last bit of exciting news from my end is that in only nine short days I will be flying to Rome for a pilgrimage with a group called Young Disciples! The trip was advertised way back in the Fall but I knew I'd be leading a mission trip over Spring break and that I wouldn't be able to go. For those of you who haven't yet heard there was minimal (as in two people actually signed up) interest in the trip so we had to cancel it, and in the process lost a couple hundred dollars in materials, t-shirts, and other fees we had to pay. After having a randomly scheduled dinner with Rachel and her cousin, Msgr. Goering, we found out that it was still possible to sign up and go, so it looks like rather than coming back to Wisco for a week I'll be flying to Italy instead. Not a bad tradeoff. 

I will be praying especially for each of you on our pilgrimage and if I can take any prayer requests with me please send me an email at kkaufman@focusonline.org and I'll add them to my list. 

Many blessings and keep fighting the good fight, in whatever capacity that may be! 
Kelsey