really quick...

Hey guys!

It's been a little while since we last updated. Hopefully you guys will understand...the last week has been crazy. I don't have much time but I thought I would try to leave something on here. We're currently spending a few hours at my Uncle James' house and just kind of relaxing and then we'll have to be back on campus for a meeting.

We haven't really had the internet available to us at SIU Carbondale so it has been kind of challenging to find any time to really sit down and write out everything that has gone on. Hopefully this will give some idea of how stuff is going.

Extremely quick recap:

Pennsylvania was good. Definitely a lot of deception and spiritual warfare that went on that week with a variety of stuff, but God wasn't phased and definitely has been bringing us through it all. I cannot express how important your prayers have been to John and I, especially the last few weeks. I have found so much of my strength in knowing that we have the support of more than a few members of the Body of Christ. God used the last few weeks' ups and downs to really teach me a lot about His grace and the importance of community in my life. Clearly, He's still teaching me (and I think He always will be changing and restoring us), but the last few weeks definitely felt like they were "crash courses" if you will.

So we're in Carbondale now and the first week was good. By far the biggest conference we've had this summer. Around 1800 people came. There has been a lot of walking and a lot of sweating this last week. The temperature was scorching up until the storms that came through on Friday.

On an extremely high note, we met THREE (not one, not two, but THREE...) campus ministers last week at SIU. It was so encouraging to find other people who were not only aware of our message, but were passionate and involved in the ministry. I can't remember their names right now but if you ask me in two weeks, hopefully I can look them up. All the campus ministers were there with their church's high school youth group, just helping out with the day to day stuff. Having them around really was encouraging.

So yeah, keeping this short, the CIY staff is good, the interns are fun, and the Bible College reps are pretty awesome as well. We are surrounded by a great group of people and we're looking forward to another week here at Carbondale. Once again thank you so much for your prayer support.

On a side note, kind of looking ahead---We're leaving for Oregon Friday morning. We've prayed that His will would be done for this summer and we are confident that Oregon is where we are called to be a week from today. We would ask for prayer as we hope to reach students in a very unchurched region of the States. Myrtle got new tires and an oil change a couple days ago and will be looked at by a mechanic who is apparently a Lasley family friend. Praise God for continuing to provide random awesome people in our lives!

That's all I've got for now. We'll try to update before we leave for Oregon if at all possible.
love you guys. thanks so much for participating in this ministry with us!

-dave

p.s. the weekend has been awesome. 4 people from UIS came to visit and we had a blast. Thanks guys! We were definitely reminded of the amazing community we have at UIS. cya in a few weeks!!

wow...crazy

Hey guys!
So wow. First off, I (and by "I," I mean "David"...although i think John would say the same thing...) want to apologize for not updating sooner. It actually wasn't our fault. We spent last week at Brandon Spring Campground with Covenant Presbytery(mr. spellcheck...er...bradjward could you help me with spelling???!?!?) Senior High Camp. no internet or phone reception could be found.

So yeah, sorry about that. I'll try to make up for it now by doing a recap from my perspective of the rest of Michigan, our week with Matt and Heather (-Trammel+Wallace = married!!!), and what we're up to this week.


So Michigan...wow...

Michigan was crazy. It was crazy because there were so many things, good and bad, jam packed into one week (although i suppose that has happened every week). For me, Michigan was a huge week. John and I were blessed with an amazing team around us. The Bible College reps were very awesome to work with and the director, Jason French, really did a great job of keeping stuff organized for the week. John was sick for the majority of the week (along with just about everyone else except me), so the team definitely had to fight to be on top of their game. Everyone handled it pretty well, especially John, who had a lot of stuff on his plate. Praise God for putting such an encouraging guy in my life!

So about Michigan being huge for me. There was this guy named Les there---

He's the guy in the black Levi-Strauss shirt with no interest in smiling for the camera :).

Les is a Professor who teaches New Testament and Greek at Florida Christian College. He was the morning speaker for both the Savannah conference and the one in Adrian. This meant that we got to spend two full weeks with him. The second week, especially, I got to spend some great time with him. What was so huge for me was the fact that Les' faith story was similar to my own. Being raised in the church, there was no dramatic conversion, but rather slow change over a long period of time. Hearing about his walk was a breath of fresh air for me, learning about the struggles of those with "Christian" upbringings. Among a bunch of other things, he talked about how pride can really plague those of us raised in the church and prevent us from seeing how broken we really are. This really hit me hard in Michigan. We had several long conversations and generally had a really good time talking. I'm still chewing on all the lessons learned. I guess i'm just re-thinking how deep the Father's love must be for us that He would love even those of us who know the good news and would prefer to so many times ignore it and live for the approval of man. Thankfully I think I journaled 20000 pages that week. I can't honestly describe to you guys how important the time with this man was for me. I'm definitely seeing a need for spiritual mentors in my life--people willing to step up and lead those younger in their faith. John and I have been talking about how we don't see very many guys who will take on that role. The Body definitely needs more of them I think! Praise God for this example of a spiritual mentor--a man who is passionate about loving God and willing to invest in people like myself!

Clearly, as can be seen from the picture, we didn't just talk. Les, John and I became pretty good friends by the end of the second week together and had several late night runs for junk food. The Spotted Cow was probably the best spot in Adrian. Ice cream was incredible and they had lots of nachos (for anyone who knows me well, this was definitely a huge bonus :) ).

Also in Adrian was the Aaron Pelsue Band. They led worship all week and did a great job with it. I was way excited about the Aaron Pelsue Band because Aaron has a similar range as mine (haven't found many worship leaders with a lower voice like mine). Hearing him lead worship and use his gifts (even though they weren't normal) was really encouraging for me.


So that was Adrian as briefly as I could manage.


Brandon Springs---





So Matt and Heather were there :)


Matt actually was the nightly speaker for the week. He did a great job. He talked about the two greatest commandments that Jesus gave in Matthew 22:34-39. Loving God and loving people. Such a huge message for me that I'm constantly going back to thanks to all the time I've been able to spend with matt. Matt and Heather's heart for God encourages and challenges me.

It was great to spend a week with those two. John and I were kept busy most of the week. We led small groups, mentor groups, nightly worship and special committees--- John co-led the missions committee with an awesome guy named Mitch and I co-led the choir with Heather and an amazing lady named Carol.

So the campsite was beautiful. It was right on a lake with an absolutely beautiful view from the deck of the cafeteria.

So i'd love to spend a couple minutes on two amazing people we spent time with this week. One of them was a mutual friend of mine and John and the other was in my small group.

1.) R.B.



This guy was so encouraging last week. He was the dean of the camp, and an amazing leader for both the staff and students alike. R.B. led the "energizers" every morning, which were basically a half hour's worth of songs and dancing. R.B. would literally yell and jump every morning in ways i never thought possible. His heart for kids was incredible and his desire to unify both the students and the staff was very awesome for John and myself. Praise God for male leaders who love God and pour themselves out into the ministry to which they've been called!

2. Adam Jones


Guy on the far left. Adam was a huge encouragement to me last week. It was amazing to see God working in and through such a young guy. It blows my mind that there are actual people seeking God in high school. High school is such a hard time and I can't imagine what it would really be like to try and put God first during those years. Adam showed a love for God that pumped me up last week. Thank God that He is working in even some of the darkest places!


So that was a brief look at Brandon Springs. There's so much more but it would take me all night...


So Aunt Adell and Uncle Dennis...we've stayed with them for three weekends now. Praise God for surprising us with amazing unexpected blessings (such as amazing Christian people). We got in from Brandon Springs Friday night and chilled out and were excited to realize that Saturday would be our first full day off when we didn't have any responsibilities at all. We took full advantage of it by going to the mall, the music store, the ice cream store (yum), and the movie theatre where we saw Pirates of the Carribean 2. When we got back we chilled out and read. It was an amazing sabbath---a Super Summer Sabbath Saturday as John called it.

So two days ago we were at the Land in between the Lakes in Kentucky/Tennessee, yesterday we were in Columbus, Ohio, today we're right outside of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Praise God for safe travel and an amazing weekend.

wow...crazy. We're both really excited about this week at Messiah College in Grantham, PA. A lot of teams that we've seen at different camps are all kind of grouped together at this one. Can't wait to see what happens.

i think that's it for now...simply because I need some sleep. have an awesome day! Thank you so much for your prayer and your support. I cannot say how important you guys are to us!

love you guys

-dave