November Newsletter
With finals and Thanksgiving, November was over in a blink. Yes, finals – we are one of the few institutions still on quarters, so we finish before Turkey Day and now have a huge break till January 3rd! I will be taking only one course next quarter and stepping up my AIA hours, which will lead to some exciting changes! So on to the news….
November meant Thanksmas Dinner for AIA! This was the second annual Thanksmas and it was a huge success. Last year, they had about 100 athletes (both Christian and non-Christian) come. This year we planned for 250 and hit the mark! Teams from across the athletics department were represented from soccer to wrestling to rowing to cheerleading to football and even ROTC! Local supporters and church congregations donated all the table decorations and food: turkey, cider, stuffing, yams, green bean casserole, rolls, and pie galore! To start, one of our own Action Group Leaders gave his testimony and a softball girl blessed us with her gorgeous voice singing some classic Christmas carols. We had two special, awesome, and engaging speakers talk about their sports and God connection and what Thanksmas (meaning Christ giving – the two missing words) is all about. On the response cards, we had seven students mark they had made a life changing decision and over 50 students marked being interested in learning more about AIA! Woo hoo! The Lord’s blessing was definitely on the event and a great way to end the quarter. We are excited to get in touch with the interested students come winter! Please pray for our connection and meetings and for these students to get plugged in and hopefully begin attending our weekly Wednesday group.
After Thanksmas, we had finals and then all the AXD girls left and returned home for the holidays leaving me with a huge mansion all to myself. I’m enjoying the quiet time and am catching up on ministry things. AIA Intern, Kloos, and Action Group member, Lindsey Hamilton (a diver), both took me up on my offer and “moved in” with me for the break. It’s nice to have them around and we have also opened the house up for a weekly Bible study to those in town and as a fun place to just hang out and maybe have some God conversations.
For Thanksgiving, Lindsey accompanied me to Chicago, where Kloos met us, and we stayed with one of my best friend’s and her husband, Becky and Matt Anderson. Lindsey and I had a good drive up (besides the one patch of black ice) and I got to know her story a bit more and hopefully encourage her in her walk. It was a great trip to draw closer together through the Lord and see the creation of Chicago. We especially enjoyed the Saturday morning Zumba class Becky took us to. The Anderson’s blew our socks off with their hospitality – they are great people for God and I am blessed to have them in my life. The Lord has been gifting me abundantly with love and friends and I pray he is doing the same for you at the beginning of this holiday season. Snow and December are here!
Peace and blessings,
Tori
“The only thing that counts is faith expressing
itself through love.” Galatians 5:6
This is the Thanksmas Dinner line. But, it's only ONE side of the room! That's how many students we had - over 200!
This is Lee Renfro. He was our MCee for the evening, but it also the full-time staff male intern for OU this year. He and his new wife will be joining Campus Crusade staff next year! What an awesome leader for the Lord and fabulous snow driver as well.
Here is Lindsey Hamilton (an OU diver and Action Team member - that's the AIA student leadership team) and I in Chicago in front of a Christmas tree we found on a random evening excursion to a Swedish bakery in a northern chicago suburb. We along with Kloos visited one of my best friend's Becky and her husband Matt in Chicago for Thanksgiving. It was an awesome trip.
