A Semester Update

Our first semester as directors was exciting and full of surprises. We both have learned so much about ourselves and about leadership. It has taught us that it is so important to have a solid support system and an understanding of being dependent on seeing the Lord move. From the bottom of our heart we first and foremost say thank you for partnering with us in this adventure. The Lord is doing so much in us and at Wesley because of the way you love us and him. He is working through you. 


Wesley

 This has been another successful semester with the Wesley Foundation. The Lord has done some really incredible things in the lives of the students, leaders, and interns that we serve. The staff works really hard each week to create an environment for the students at UGA to commune with the Lord. This semester has brought about it's challenges and it's victories. Overall, we've seen the Lord move in some mighty ways and feel been blessed to be apart of it all. 

The last series this semester was Tearing Down Strongholds. We watched the Lord move in powerful ways to free students from struggles like fear, anxiety, and depression. Students and staff members were greatly impacted by how the Lord moved in their lives during this season. We were even able to watch one of our women's interns be set free from living under condemnation. Without a doubt, the Lord has been at work! We are truly blessed to be apart of this community and partner with the Lord in his activity.

The Internship Program

the Leaf Cube that we built for "It's Fall Y'all".

After a very exciting game of bingo, the winners got to go into "The Cube" to search for a $100 bill! 

 It's hard to believe that it has already been one semester with these wonderful interns. We absolutely love the interns that have been entrusted to us. They bless our lives and the lives of our students.
Wesley has four core values that we as a director staff desire to instill in our body. They are community, intimacy, fun, and mission. This semester we've seen community and intimacy in our discipleships with interns, ministry area events, and leadership gatherings. Some of the ways that we have incorporated fun and community is through a theme month titled "It's Fall Y'all" that included several events for the interns. We also held our annual Chili Cook Off event that is put on by the Leadership Staff that Aaron co-leads with Lindsey Allgood. This year we are really pushing local missions with the staff. One of the slogans for our staff this year is "Go Local". Our heart is to not only see the lives of the students on UGA's campus changed, but also for the city of Athens to be transformed. Also, the Wesley Staff hosted our annual Fundraising Dinner in September. The Lord was very gracious this year through the servant hearts of the interns who waited tables and the generosity of the ones that came and gave. 


Small Groups

Our yard..ready for the Women's Small Group Event!

small group photo booth!

 It has been encouraging to see how well Men's and Women's Small Groups have taken off. In August, we started off with the Small Group Kick Off event where the small group leaders were revealed to their students who signed up for small groups. Throughout the semester, we have had monthly small group leader gatherings where we invest Wesley's four core values into each of the leaders with the vision that they would then pour out to their students. Some of the things that we've done for them are a dinner, trivia game night, and prayer and worship evenings. In October, the Women's ministry had an outdoor small group event at our home in the backyard. It was a festive event with christmas lights, s'mores, cider, and games. Later that week, Men's ministry came together for steaks, football, and frisbee. 

A testimony from our small groups this year is that a foreign exchange student from Asia joined a women's group to learn more about American culture. She says that in Asia, they learn that Christianity is such a huge part of American culture, so she started coming to Wesley and joined a small group to get to know more of our culture! She came into our home for the women's event in October for the Small Group Event.  She was so excited to be in our home because it is an "American" home (that she would see on tv) and we were blessed to have her. She's continued to come to Wesley and we've been praying that she has a radical encounter with the Lord. It's really neat to see how the Lord is bringing the nations into Wesley, even as we are sending many out. 

The latest event that Women's Ministry has put on is the annual women's conference, Restored. This event was amazing. Melissa Tanner, Tom Tanner's wife, came from Kennesaw, GA and spoke to our body of ladies about how the Lord has impacted and transformed her life. Tom Tanner was the director of Wesley before Bob. It was a blessing to have someone come and speak who spent so many years praying into this generation of students long before any of them stepped foot on UGA's campus. The theme for this year's conference was "Transformation." The Lord did just that through showing us how he is faithful to pursue, reconcile, and deliver. 

a breakout session

Aaron and Leah 


In addition to us finishing our first semester as directors, we are also nearing the end of our first year in our new home. It's hard to think that it's been a whole year since we moved out of our apartment. During that time, we have discovered many of the joys that owning a home can bring. We have even been able to open up one of our spare bedrooms to one of our interns, Heather. With Leah's vision and Aaron's help in execution, our house has been painted, decorated, and furnished to become a place of community and love for many. 

For Thanksgiving, Aaron's family took us on a cruise! It was awesome. We were so blessed by the time we were able to spend with his family relaxing seaside. On the way home, we stopped in another part of Florida for Leah's best friend's sister's wedding. We were able to see so many friends that we so dearly love and don't often get to spend time with. It was a great break full of love and joy. 

At Katrina's sister's wedding: Kyle, Aaron, me, Kathryn and Katrina...so good to finally see them again! 

We apologize for the lack of posting we have done this semester. As we have taken on more responsibility in our place at Wesley, it was more challenging to find time to update. In the upcoming months, we are going to commit ourselves to updating the blog more often so that you can keep up with our lives. We would not be able to do what we do without your love and support. We honor you and your involvement in our ministry. Thank you so much. We love you!