On Sunday, April 1 our college ACG (Adult Community Group) did something different. Instead of having our regular Bible study we decided to hand out bag lunches throughout downtown Minneapolis. We had each member of our group sign up to bring a couple items, then we got right to work after the service. We were able to put together 38 bag lunches. We then split in to three groups and headed in different directions throughout the city. We used this as an opportunity to first, meet an immediate need as well as offer to pray for these individuals and invite them to our Easter service at First Baptist.
We were all a little nervous at first. This seemed to be “out of the comfort zone” for many of the members in our group. However, after about an hour we all met back at the church to talk about how it went. Everyone had awesome stories to share. We were even able to brainstorm about how to make it better the next time we do this event.
It was amazing to see people go from being so nervous to already planning ahead to the next opportunity to serve the city in this way!

We were able to fly home at the end of February for Caleb’s (Ethan’s brother) wedding. The next day we had a wonderful party to reveal the gender of our baby. It was so special to be surrounded by so many friends and family as we found out that we are expecting a little boy in just a few short months! At the very end of the party we cut into the gorgeous cake that Jessica (Ethan’s sister) made for us and that is where it was revealed!

We have been continuing our way through the book of Acts this semester. Only this time, we are holding the Bible study on the St. Paul campus. This campus has a completely different feel to it. It is smaller and much more toned down. It is a nice relaxing atmosphere to hold our Bible study there.
We meet every Monday at 11am in the Student Center. Most weeks there has been four of us at this study. After we were finishing our study the very first week, we were approached by a student named Caleb. Caleb is a transfer student and stated that he would be interested in joining us. However, we have not seen Caleb again since that first day. Please pray that we would see him again and that he could join us for this study!

The first trimester was a little rough for me. I felt rather sick and was very tired all the time. However, now we are 21 weeks in and I am feeling much better!
On Monday, February 6th we had our first ultrasound. It was amazing to see the baby for the first time. The ultrasound technician was able to identify the gender, but we chose not to have her tell us. Instead, we had her write the gender in a card that we then mailed to Ethan’s sister in New York. We will be heading home in a couple weeks, where we will then have both of our families present when we find out the gender. Ethan’s sister is baking a cake. The middle will either be blue or pink. When we cut in to the cake the color and gender will be revealed! We are very excited to be surrounded by our families when we find out this news. But, I can’t pretend that the wait isn’t killing me!

This year for the Super bowl, we hosted 15 students at our house for a party.  Nights like these have no spiritual or biblical ‘agenda’. During social events like this it really  enables us to get to know the students on a more personal level.  It also gives the students an opportunity to see who we are outside of “Bible studies” and let’s them get to know us better as well.  This relational aspect is very important to the style of evangelism that we use in our lives and ministry.
Our original plan was to celebrate in the same fashion that we used to with our Campus Ambassadors group back in Brockport, NY. However, it was impossible to plan for a game of touch football in the snow, when we had no snow! The first week of February, in Minnesota and there is no snow!? It was unbelievable.
Among the students that attended we had people cheering for the Patriots, some for the Giants and some that were just there for the food. We even had one student that correctly predicted the outcome and the final score of the game! When the game was over, some students went home, others stayed and played video games. Overall it was a wonderful night.

On January 21, we hosted our semester kickoff ‘Ethnic Food Night’.  Friends from our church were kind enough to open their home for this event. They hosted 22 College students.  Each student brought a dish to pass that represented his or her culture, background or in some cases, just their favorite foods.  We had a very wide variety of cultural foods. Some of the dishes we had were African, Ethiopian,  British, Scandinavian, American etc. We ate our meal together and then just hung out for hours playing games and swimming.  This social event was a huge hit.  Ten of the students that attended had never been to a Campus Ambassadors event before! They were eager to learn more about the ministry and why would hosted an event like this.