9.20.06 Hello Dear Friends and Family!! …It’s hard to believe that I have been in the Windy City for over a month now! It seems like only yesterday that I was hurriedly stuffing the last few items on my “College Packing List” into our minivan for the long ride up to Chicago. However, in some ways I feel as though I have been here in Chicago for much longer than a month. While missing you all, I have gotten very well adjusted to college life here at Moody Bible Institute and am loving every minute of it! There have been a few rough spots but they have come and gone as a normal part of every day life. I wanted to send you all an update as to how things are going here. In the months and (Lord willing) years ahead, I hope to keep you as involved and aware of what is going on in my life as much as possible throughout this important time. I covet your prayers and support – I have been so incredibly blessed already! – and I want to do what I can to bless you in return by letting you know how your involvement is impacting my life as well as others’ lives through me here. This semester I am enrolled in six classes: College Writing, Spiritual Life and Community, The Church and Its Doctrines, Introduction to Ministry, Old Testament Survey, and Principles of Lifetime Fitness (a.k.a. PE class). All my classes are going well, but I am enjoying “The Church and Its Doctrines” and “Spiritual Life and Community” the most. The homework and tests have not been bad at all, although I have had a LOT of reading!! I am currently taking a once-a-week-for-three-weeks speed reading course, however, so hopefully that will help to improve my reading skills so that I do not get buried in books! Every Thursday afternoon I have what is called my “PCM”, or Practical Christian Ministry. I leave around 2:30pm and take the “L” to a small Christian prep school out in the suburbs where I tutor/mentor 7th graders for about 2 hours. I have only gone one week so far, but I am committed for the rest of this school year (2006-2007) so I will have ample opportunity to get involved and hopefully make an impact in the teens’ lives. The first week went well, although school had just started and the teens did not have much homework. We spent most the time playing games, talking, and getting to know each other. It was good… and I have a feeling that I am going to learn just as much (if not more) from the teens this year as they learn from me! Life outside of classes includes chapels (Tuesdays-Thursdays), social time on and off campus, and ofcourse eating in the cafeteria! Our chapels so far have been great, with challenging speakers and awesome times of corporate worship. Social times include anything and everything from visiting coffee shops and walking around the city to playing “Ultimate Frisbee” on the beach or playing cards in Moody’s plaza. A few days ago I learned how to play racquetball and LOVED it… I have plans to play again tonight with a friend of mine after dinner. And speaking of dinner… I’ve found that all the horror stories about campus cafeteria food are mostly untrue… at least in my opinion here at Moody. One just has to be creative! Already many of us have learned the secret arts of making rice crispies bars and banana splits and many other exotic creations out of ordinary foods. It has been exciting to say the least! Most importantly, I have grown so much spiritually already here at Moody. I am learning so much, and in the process realizing just how much I do NOT know. It has been incredible to be in a place with an atmosphere that encourages and challenges me to pursue God. There is a huge emphasis on campus to not be lax in our relationship with God but to make it our number one priority, and to not allow all the knowledge we are accruing to simply be facts in our head, but instead a way to fall more and more in love with Christ and begin to understand the magnitude of Who He is and His saving work and power. One of the biggest challenges I have faced so far is the fact that I do not yet have a place where I “belong”. While my campus is my home, I long to branch out and get involved in other things outside of campus. I have been looking for a good church and have finally found one or two that I am feeling good about. My hope is that I will be able to get connected there with some “non-Moodys”. I have also been praying that God would give me a burden for the lost and hurting in the city of Chicago, and while God has been working in me and I have a greater passion for the people, I have not found a good avenue for reaching them yet. This has incredibly frustrated me, but I am learning that there is “a time for everything” and that God sees the big picture, while I only see today. I need to continue learning to wait on Him and pour myself into what I have been given now so that when He leads elsewhere I will be prepared. How much easier said then done! To conclude this letter I’d like include a few praises and prayer requests: × Praises: o I have adjusted well and know that this is exactly where I need to be. o God has proven faithful in my times of need with various struggles, and has given me several incredible friends on campus that encourage and challenge me. o My classes are going well and I am learning so much! × Prayer Requests: o Health – I have been very healthy so far, but my roommate has caught a cold recently and I am doing the best I can to fight it off! o My search for a church – that God would grant me wisdom in which church to call my home, and once I have found one that I would be wise about how much and where to be involved. o That God would continue to “light a fire under me” so that I will not become passive about reaching others for Him and ministering. o That my spiritual life would continue to grow, and that I would remember that my most important priority is to glorify God in all that I do and get to know and love Him more each and every day. In Christ, Amy Smith | 