First Week in Chapel Hill

Hello! I hope you are doing very, VERY well!
I am loving life these days. Living in NC has been very different, hard, yet a sweet time of life.

God is gentle and gracious in showing me Himself here.

Our house is wonderful! Last minute the home we expected fell through; however, we are now renting a home even closer to campus! We moved in on Monday and have been getting adjusted (i.e. I am attempting to hang things in my room and it is all crooked). I was SO blessed to have dear friends lend me their furniture so I did not have to buy any, I am quite the fan of not buying things with this new budget I am on!

Here are some of the things that happened this week...
1. We are allowed to go on campus! This is a big deal. When you start an organization particularly a ministry at a new school there is some red tape to get through. You are not allowed to simply walk on campus and start meeting students. You have to be approved by the Student Activities office and sometimes this can take many months. We are thankful that UNC is glad to have us here. In the next couple weeks we will get i.d. cards that will allow us to go to the dining hall and the gym, two places students go to a lot. The boys on our team are anxious to get out on the basketball court and start meeting guys that way.
2. On Sunday we went to the Church of the Good Shepherd. The first girl I went up to to talk to was from Naperville! She went to Waubonsie high school and lives near my parents. She is a freshman here at UNC and just pledged the sorority ADPi. We are having lunch tomorrow!
3. Our staff meetings have been wonderful. This morning we listened to a talk by pastor Tim Keller. It was about how the gospel is intended to consume our lives with love and worship for Jesus. He spoke about how the Bible is not about us and what we should do, it is not a self-help manual. Rather it is all about Jesus. Everything in the Bible points to Jesus, from Genesis to Revelation it is the story of His redeeming sacrifice. Sometimes we tend to hear teachings and decide we want to do things and attempt to change our selves. But apart from Christ, we can do no good thing. It is His grace and mercy alone that saves us! Talking about the gospel reminds me what I want to share with students. I do not want to teach them that they need to live a better life in order to walk with God but rather to receive the forgiveness and joy that Jesus extends.
4. We are spending a lot of time helping each other move in and not get lost so much! I get lost everywhere I go and still haven't found the grocery store which is a sad story for my roommates because I live off of their cereal (and the chocolate cake our friends brought us). Thankfully, our staff team lives within a mile of each other. Three married couples live in an apartment complex up the road and our studly single men live in a home down the road.
5. Last night Kellie, Megan, and I went into the dorms together to meet some girls. I was terrified. The dorms here are enormous and there are so many of them. It is hard not to be overwhelmed. Before we went I prayed that God would remind me that every one of the thousands of freshman in the dorms was created by Him and He loves each one of them and desires each of them to know Himself. We went and hung out in our friend Hannah's room. I am learning to dodge people's questions about why I am hanging out in the dorms if I have already graduated! I wear my back-pack everywhere and try to look like I am 18.