Great Song

These days I am listening to Sara Groves, these are the lyrics to a wonderful song by her that I often listen to before going on campus!

Lord I have a heavy burden of all I've seen and know
It's more than I can handle
But your word is burning like a fire shut up in my bones
and I cannot let it go

And when I'm weary and overwrought
with so many battles left unfought

I think of Paul and Silas in the prison yard
I hear their song of freedom rising to the stars
And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them

Lord it's all that I can't carry and cannot leave behind
but your word has compelled me
when I think of all who've gone before me and lived the faithful life

And when I'm weary and overwrought
with so many battles left unfought

I think of Paul and Silas in the prison yard
I hear their song of freedom rising to the stars

I see the shepherd Moses in the Pharaoh's court
I hear his call of freedom for the people of the Lord

And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them
And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them

I see the long quiet walk along the Underground Railroad
I see the slave awakening to the value of her soul

I see the young missionary and the end of the spear
I see his family returning with no trace of fear

I see the long hard shadows of Calcutta nights
I see the sisters standing by the lepers side

I see the young girl huddled on the brothel floor
I see the man with a passion come and kicking down the door

I see the man of sorrows and his long troubled road
I see the world on his shoulders and my easy load

And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them
And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them

November Update!

Hello! Greetings from Chapel Hill :) Fall here is so beautiful

I am thankful to have internet today, our house is in and out...
Things are going good here! Sadly I have pneumonia so it is slowing down my energy and efforts on campus but God is teaching me a lot. Since I can't always do all the things I've wanted to the last week, I am forced to pray more and that has been a blessing
Here are some of the things going on!

-We are continuing to meet, meet, meet girls. I have gone by myself more and knock on doors in the dorms. When girls answer, I just tell them that I'm trying to get to know people in their building. We will talk for a while about where we're from, I ask them about their courses, their time so far at UNC, then I go on my way! I will go back a few days later and seek a deeper conversation. Then I will ask the girl if she'd want to get coffee or dinner in the cafeteria sometime. My hope is to build many friendships through which I can tell people about Jesus.

-At this point in the semester, many of these girls I have seen and connected with repeatedly are starting to be interested in what I'm about. Why I live my life the way I do and the reason for the joy that I have. Please pray that I will be bold and listen to the Holy Spirit's guidance in having these life changing conversations with women.

-Through prayer, I can tell that some of the girls I have met so far are very important to God. I can tell that He wants them to be part of His kingdom and that He wants them to influence other men and women at UNC. I love meeting so many amazing women and having a burden for their lives! So many of them are lost and looking for a reason and purpose by which to live their lives.

-We do not invite students to come to a weekly meeting and rarely ask them to be in a Bible Study. We do have two Bible studies running, one for a group of guys and one for a group of girls, but ideally we will continue meeting lots and lots of people and then start Bible Studies next semester. Why do we do this? Because we want to stay on their turf. We want these students to know that we're committed to their lives not just trying to recruit them to come to something.

-But... we do have a conference coming up! Hopefully after spending lots of time with these students, they'll be willing to come with us to a conference in Atlanta over New Years to see what we're all about. At that conference they'll get a big picture of how Campus Outreach works, the awesome community that we have, see thousands of students connected to CO across NC, SC, and Georgia, and hear the Gospel! I am pumped up. Please join me in prayer that many students from UNC will come to the conference and be changed by the love of Jesus :)

Thanks for reading this update! I love you! I am so thankful for your partnership and would love to hear from you: allyireneholm@gmail.com
Blessings and joy to you, Ally