What a summer!

We hope your summer has gone well! We spent our summer with 120 students in Jacksonville, Florida! We had a great time teaching them to be strong in the Word and consistent in prayer, while they learned to encourage one another and to explain the gospel and their faith to non-believers. To learn more about what God did this summer, check out our newsletter below!

Your fellow servants of Christ,
Jonathan and Lindsay Hill

Final Goodbyes

Well, our time in Maryville has come to a close. We have had such an amazing experience over these past couple years. The final Mission: Maryville newsletter is in the works and should be mailed shortly. We said goodbye to our many friends from Maryville last week, though some of them will be joining us this summer.

So what's next for us? Just because we are done in Maryville doesn't mean we are finished with the Navigators! We have fallen in love with the Navigators vision and calling, and we are so glad to know now that we will be staying with the Navigators in the Fall, just in a new location. We will be working with the Navigators at the University of Minnesota. The plan is to both work full-time with the Navigators while Jonathan takes a couple classes in preparation for graduate school.

This summer we will be in Jacksonville, Florida, for the Navigators' Summer Training Program (STP). We are so excited for the opportunity to serve students there. We are taking over a hundred students from the Heartland region to Jacksonville, where they will work full-time for various local companies and receive training and fellowship designed to help them grow in their personal walk with Christ and their ability to communicate the Gospel to others. During the summer, students will learn to share their testimony, share the Gospel using a single verse (Romans 6:23), study the Bible in more depth, and much more. They will gain experience in all of these as they relationally minister to fellow workers at their jobs, as well as conducting weekly beach evangelism. We are taking twenty-five students from Northwest Missouri State to Jacksonville this summer. This team will bond and grow like never before, and they will return to campus in the Fall better prepared and better motivated to share the Good News and raise up disciples of Jesus.

Spring Break!

I am writing this update from Glen Eyrie, the Navigators headquarters in Colorado Springs. We are on spring break with a team of students serving the staff here at the Glen. We have all enjoyed the trip so far. The atmosphere has been healthy, and the students seem to be having a great time of fellowship with one another and with staff.

We left on Friday with 8 students and 5 staff (Brendan, Brian and Jamie Hopp, and us) for a town somewhere near Kearney, Nebraska where we stayed at Maranatha Bible camp.
On Saturday, we drove toward Denver and spent the afternoon at Estes Park, a beautiful town near the mountains. Brendan took a few students hiking, while the rest of us looked at the shops in town.
After church on Sunday, we spent a few hours at the 16th street mall in downtown Denver. That evening we got to meet a few of the Navigators staff working with the b2g ministry in Denver. (B2g is the Navs 20s ministry. It was the b2g ministry in Minneapolis that first got me involved with the Navs.)
We spent most of Monday at Providence House, a half-way house in Denver which operates a two-year program designed to get people on their feet and out of poverty and addiction. We enjoyed helping in a small way by painting a few rooms for them. We shared dinner with the residents, an eye-opening experience for many of us. That night we drove to the Glen.
We spent most of today working. The men raked and the women cleaned rooms.

That was a lot of logistics. What is really exciting is that we have 5 students here who are not really connected to any Christian fellowship on campus. This shared experience may be a turning point for these students by connecting them with a community that is passionate about knowing and loving God and spreading the good news of Jesus. Along the way, they are getting to hear the Gospel, learn truth from the Bible, and observe older believers who are maybe just a step ahead of them in life and their walk with God.

Prayer

I heard a neat story today about a guy whose major prayer request was always that he would fall more in love with Jesus, so I'm adding that to my prayer requests.

Please pray that Lindsay and I fall more in love with Jesus tomorrow.
Please pray for God's hand on the rest of the trip.
Please pray for safety in travel on Thursday, since there is a chance it will snow here.

Pictures

Here are some pictures from Providence House...

Joshua team, retreats, and more!

Joshua team

We are almost half way through Joshua team this year. Joshua team (or J-team) is a program we run each Spring intended to reinforce the fundamentals of the Christian walk and to begin to give students a vision for living as laborers for God. There are 35 students in J-team this year. Every year, we find that the students who experience J-team grow immensely, and much of our leadership team is taken from J-team "graduates."

J-team class of '09 (with staff)

Linking Lives/Mighty Man Retreats

Last weekend, we hosted our 2nd annual Men's and Women's Retreats. Once again, they proved to be a phenomenal success! We had almost 40 men and over 40 women attending. Our visiting speakers were Jared and Amy Wass, friends of the Paytons who are currently laboring at the University of Minnesota with another campus ministry.

The men had a testosterone-filled weekend playing tackle football, being challenged by Jared, building campfires, watching manly movies, and playing cards. God really used the weekend to break down the "toughness" barrier that men put on to protect themselves, and Jon had some great conversations with students who were impacted by the weekend.

Among other things, Jon walked away from Mighty Man with a black eye and some facial hair

The women, in comparison, had a very friendly weekend, but dealt with some very serious issues of womanhood and being a woman of God. They played a ton of games, and bunch of new friendships were formed. Lindsay got to lead a workshop on growing in relationship with God, and she also managed all of the food and decorations (and did a great job!).

Some of the girls discussing what they just heard from Amy Wass

More

By God's blessing, this has been a great year for the ministry here. We have almost doubled in size from last year in every respect. But more importantly, we have a strong team of student leaders who are being relationally trained, and who are training others, to walk closely with Christ.

D-groups continue as usual. This semester we are studying the book of Genesis. Jon took Kolby to St. Joseph to purchase a nice Bible for him. Nick Thompson is the newest member of Jon's D-group.

We are leaving tomorrow morning to visit family in Minnesota. The first of the next generation of Hills has just arrived, little Joshua Christopher Hill, and we are very excited to meet him.

Prayer

I would like to ask for prayer for Jordan. I met Jordan last year, shared the Gospel with him, and Jordan verbalized a commitment to follow Christ. I followed up with Jordan for the remainder of that semester, but this past school year, Jordan has been in Colorado. I just heard from Jordan for the first time in a few months and he's not doing well. It sounds like he has given up on his faith and has fallen into a bad crowd. Please pray that God would reveal himself to Jordan and show him the emptiness of his lifestyle. I am not giving up on Jordan. The Devil tries to discourage us, but our God is stronger. -- Jon

Wrapping up the semester

Right now the students at Northwest are just starting their finals week, and Jon and I are in beautiful Colorado at the Navigator's headquarters for some training. We will be heading back to Minnesota on the 13th for about a month.

We played a game of Jeopardy at our last Freshman Connection on Tuesday. The questions were based mostly on the study that we have been doing throughout the semester. Jon led from the front, and the students had a lot of fun.

For our last Nav Night we had a Christmas party at a church in Maryville. Jenna (another Edge Corps staff) and I had been planning this for a while. We started out with a homemade soup and cinnamon roll dinner. Then we had some Christmas worship led by Nathan and Jamie (both Edge staff). After worship we had a white elephant gift exchange and then the students could decorate gingerbread men, make Christmas cards, decorate Christmas ornaments, or just hang out and talk. I think that the students and staff all enjoyed themselves. It was a good time of fellowship and fun.


Some of my D-Group girls and Juli (top right) before the Christmas party


Zach opening his white elephant gift


Decorating gingerbread men


Tabitha and Juli with their finished ornaments

While Jon was checking the oil and tire pressure in the car before our drive to Colorado, he met a new friend! A kitten (probably about 5-6 months old) ran up to him and started purring and rubbing against his leg. He came and got me and we brought her inside for a little bit. I fed her some cat food and we played with her. She was very affectionate and purred the whole time she was with us. Eventually we had to let her back outside. It was fun to have a cat, even if it was just for a little bit.

Playing with Miley

Thanks so much for all your love, prayers, and support this semester. We couldn't do this without you! We hope to see you all while we are in Minnesota. We wish you all a merry Christmas!