Half Way there in this Winter Wonderland

Well December for the most part was laid-back. The team was in Alaska until December 10 and then we flew to the south, a.k.a. the lower 48, for Christmas. It was nice to be able to go home for Christmas. My time at home was busy. The first few days back I spent with my brother and his wife in Billings. I then went to Bozeman where I meet with friends and went to a wedding. I made it back to Buffalo on the 17 and hung out with some friends and my parents for a few days before going to Powell and Greybull WY to visit my grandparents. I was back in Buffalo on the 24 and then left for Billings on the 26 so that I could fly to Portland on the 27 for Campus Crusade’s Winter Conference. I feel tried just thinking about all that travel, but it was a nice to see family and be home for a little while.

Winter Conference is something that Crusades has every year. It starts December 28 and goes until January 1. The conference is a time for students to come and hear from great speakers, be trained in sharing their faith, and bring in the New Year worshiping God. At Winter Conference, we have a day of out reach where we sent the students out into the town to share the gospel with people. This year we handed out socks to the homeless, cleaned people’s yards, built homes with Habitat, helped the Salvation Army clean their building, and many other services. The idea behind this day was to serve the city of Portland while teaching the students to share their faith as they worked side by side with people who do not believe in Christ. During this day of out reach, I went around taking pictures of people, which was fun and hard. The reason it was hard was because I had to find the students who wherespread out over the city of Portland and take pictures of them while not looking like I was stocking them.

My other job was security. It was my job to make sure that students knew where to go to get to the conference building and that they were safe during the seven minute walk. Taking pictures was fun but it was also draining. Working security was not the most fun. I had to stand out side for a half hour before the meetings started and wait out side a half hour after the meeting started. A few of the nights, it was really windy and cold. But hey, I survived and no one got attacked.

We had two new schools represented at Winter Conference this year. These two schools have never had a student go. University of Alaska Southeast in Juneau (UAS) and Alaska Pacific University (APU) each had one student go. Ben, from APU, and Macey, from UAS, both had a great time at conference. They are really on fire to go back and use what they have learned. On the last day of conference we asked students to make a commitment to be an ambassador for Christ. As a sign of this commitment, students filled out cards, signed them, and walked to the front to put their cards in clay jars. Macey has committed to launching Campus Crusade for Christ at UAS. Finding this out was a great encouragement to me because UAS in one my campuses.

In sadder news, we have lost another teammate. Being the only girl on the team Amy has decided that it would be too hard to stay here in Alaska. Amy’s time with Crusade however is not over. She will be going to the lovely state of Montana to work with Crusade. The Montana team operates the same way as we do. The only difference is that Montana works with more native students and native colleges than we do up here in Alaska. It was great to work with Amy and I had fun getting to know her. I wish her the best with her team in this on going battle against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Ministry this month was mostly training and raising support for those of us who did not raise enough support this summer. Thanks to God and him using all of you,

I have all the support I need. I finished a book I was reading before Christmas, Faith is not a Feeling, and I read The Master Plan of Evangelism, which our whole team read. I would recommend reading both books as they provided some good insight.

Faith is not a Feeling, is a book on how we need to take God at his word. When we go through hard times we can either get mad at God and blame him for what we think is bad, or we can take God at his word, which tells us that he has our best intentions at heart and wants the best for us. This will help us to stay positive and keep our eyes on God which where they should be.

The Master Plan of Evangelism, is a book that looks at Jesus and how he chose to reach the world. The book has eight chapters that talk about Jesus and how he chose the 12, why he poured his life into them, and why he sent them out. The book goes on to talk about how as Christians we have gone away for this format which is evident in how slow the gospel in spreading across the world. I think that there is some truth behind that. I mean if Jesus started his battle against Satan with 12 men, whom he laid out the foundation of proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ, then who am I to think I have a better way. Even if I pour into only two guys and they each pour into two more that is six people in a relatively short time.

I would like to thank everyone of you for supporting me, not just financial, but also in prayer. Without your prayers, I would not be able to keep battling with Satan day in and day out. During my time up here, we have had five students indicate that they have accepted Jesus as their Lord. Again thank you for all that you do.

Things you gu ys can be praying about are: ~ That God would bless Ben and Macey in reaching their Campuses ~ For God to continue to soften the soil of students hearts ~ Wisdom for us as men to reach the ladies at the different colleges ~ Continue to pray for God to raise up more leaders in Alaska

May God shine his blessings on you,

Wesley Bennett

2 Samuel 22:33

The conference MC’s and some staff having fun.

A student seeking God in prayer.

Some bodies of mine showing their brotherly love.

A Weekend of killing….brain cells

Alaska had a cold spell the first weekend in January so to help pass the time during this cold spell Scott and I played Time Splitters Future Perfect. I had some credit at Game Stop so I bought the game for about $10. Scott and I have definitely put the game to use. We can play the game and follow the story line either one or two players, or you can go into the arcade mode and just battle. Scott and I found that it is a lot of fun to play as a team against the computer. Our favorite characters to be are these two little monkeys that are dressed up like a Ninja, Scott, and Robo Cop, me. These characters are so fast that they are hard to control at times. This helps us when we use mines, oh ya its time to lock and load. Who wants some?