The school year is coming to a close. It has been an incredible spring quarter and year. One of my favorite things about spring quarter was having the opportunity to lead a freshman girl on the tennis team to Jesus and watch her embrace Him wholeheartedly. I am convinced of the Lord's power when he reveals Himself to students who have not grown up with a Christian background whatsoever, and then they just get it so quickly. Within a few weeks, she had me in tears (of joy and praise) because of the wisdom that was coming out of her mouth, how hungry she was to read Scripture, and the things the Lord was convicting her of and showing to her. For example, I led her to Christ on a Friday, and by Monday she had already read John, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 1 John, and half of the book I gave her. And that was even during a busy time for her! Within a week she was saying things to me like, "I want to surrender everything in my life to Him because He is so beautiful and good." Or "I have so much joy and purpose for the first time in my life and I am so thankful to have found the greatest truth and reality." Or "I see how wretched my heart is and how much I long to be more like Jesus." Seeing even one student come to know Jesus keeps the fuel in my heart burning for a long time, and we were blessed to see quite a few students come to know Christ for the first time this year!



Students are now venturing off to do incredible and inspiring things for the summer (camp counselors, public health initiatives and/or research in various countries, internships with an incredible local fair trade company, mission trips in Rwanda, India, Honduras, China, and many other incredible things). Many students are also sticking around Stanford, which we are really excited about. Summer is always a great time to bond with a smaller crew, go deeper in our walks with God, and have FUN since no one is quite as busy. Counter to what some might think, we really feel like summer is prime time for pouring into students' lives, building momentum for the movement, renewing our vision for the coming year, and seeking God for what He would have us focus more of our time and energies on. Our first summer working with Kingdom First, Cross Training was born, which has turned into one of the most integral aspects of our ministry to students. Last summer we took 15 of our core group of students to South Africa for five weeks, which hugely impacted all of us and the rest of our group this year! We are looking forward to what God is going to do this summer!!

To kick the summer off, we are taking about 17 students on a 7 day BACKPACKING TRIP in the high Sierras in one week from now. It is going to be challenging, bonding, breathtakingly beautiful, and FUN!! About 20 of our students just hiked half dome in Yosemite as a "warm up". If any of you have ever done half dome, you know it is really hard (16 miles round trip and 4800 ft elevation gain). But try doing it all through the night, starting at midnight, getting to the top around 4:30am, and then hiking down an hour later and driving home. Craziness:) Gotta love their energy and passion.

Please pray for a safe trip and that God would minister to us and let us commune with Him and one another in His BEAUTIFUL creation!