Dog Sitting!

Hello, friends!

So, if you know anything about me, you know that I'm a pretty competitive guy, which means that I'm looking for competition wherever I can find it. One of the ways that manifests itself is that I love to make little challenges or side bets in conversation. Usually, it doesn't come to anything but sometimes it backfires spectacularly.

A few years back, Megan and I were talking and she mentioned that she wanted a dog at some point. This is no secret as she grew up with dogs and she's always made it known that she wanted a dog. It's probably a conversation that we'd had before and would have again. But for some reason, my competitive nature kicked in and I decided that I'd offer a challenge. 

"We'll get a dog as soon as we also get a tortoise." 

The gamble was simple. There's no way that Megan would want a tortoise (even though tortoises are the best) so she'd say "no" and then we'd be good to go until the next time it came up in conversation. 

But then came the blockbuster... 

"Deal." 

I guess we're getting a dog then! =0). 

Seriously though, I have no problem getting a dog (plus I'm getting a tortoise now!). Megan and the kids are convinced that I don't like dogs but that's not actually true. The only reason they think I don't like dogs is because I don't like dogs as much as THEY like dogs. But dogs are cool with me. 

We got a little bit of a taste of what it'll be like to have a dog in the house this past week. My in-laws are on a cruise right now and left their chocolate lab with us. Gracie has been to our house lots of times before but never for this long and never without Jean and Dave also there, so we knew this was going to be a new experience for all of us. 

Honestly, it was perfectly fine. I was a little worried that the novelty of caring for a dog would wear off on the kids but it's the end of the week and they're still clamoring for turns feeding Gracie, giving her a bone, and cleaning up her poop in the yard. Gracie is a pretty chill dog too, which helps. She's been spending most of the day just chilling at the house and she goes to bed early. Gracie and I have even gotten some bonding time early in the morning when I feed her before everyone else is up. Overall, it's been a perfectly fine experience. 

The current timeline is that we'll get a dog (and tortoise!) sometime in the next 18 months or so. We wanted to wait until JoJo was in the kindergarten range and big enough to help with the dog care. We know it'll need to be a hypoallergenic dog since we're pretty sure JoJo (and maybe Ezra too) have allergies. But, we're making our way in that direction. And I'm cool with that... so long as we get that tortoise too. 

Have an excellent day! 

~Adam 

Justice Program!

Hello, friends! 

One of the most transformative experiences of my college career was doing City Lights during my Freshman Year. City Lights was a week long Spring Break service project. InterVarsity students from all over the country gathered in St. Louis to worship together, do service in the city, and learn about God's heart for the City. It was at City Lights that I made some of my dearest friends and my view for what it meant to follow Jesus expanded beyond personal piety. 

I can't remember how many City Lights I attended as a student and as a staff. What I do remember is that I saw a countless number of students have the same experience that I had in 2004 and that the trip was worth it every time. 

Eventually, due to staff turnover and a few other things, we stopped doing City Lights over Spring Break. It was a bummer to see it go but a decision that made sense. Since then, there have been a few attempts to revive a project similar to City Lights in our Region. The latest, and the one I'm currently really excited about is the Des Moines Justice Program (DSMJP). 

March 15-17, students from all over the Region will gather in Des Moines to partner with one another, local churches and non-profits, and God to do some community service but also learn about God's heart for Justice in a broken world. DSMJP was a huge success last year and we're looking towards another great weekend. 

What excites me the most is that our family is going to be participating this year! DSMPJ falls during our Spring Break week, so we'll be loading up the kids and driving the 2 hours to Des Moines to join with other IV staff and students in DSMJP. We're also looking to bring a group of students from Bellevue too, which will be tons of fun. It'll be just like old times! 

Putting on a a weekend like this certainly isn't cheap and we're trying to keep costs as low as possible for students, which is why I'm asking for your help. Between now and March 1, any donation made towards the DSMPJ will be matched up to $5000. That means we can raise $10k for the program in just 2 weeks! If you're in a position to give, would you consider making a donation? Any amount is greatly appreciated. 

Have an excellent day! 

~Adam 

Online Bible Study!

Hello, friends! 

Well, we may have accidentally started an online bible study here in Nebraska... Oops! =0). Here's the story. 

A few weeks ago, one of the students who led the bible study at UNL asked me if there was any online bible study available for he and his girlfriend to attend. I put out a few feelers and found that while InterVarsity has a national online bible study, the timing didn't work for him. So, I put the question out to our Nebraska IV Leaders text chain (#NEIVFTW) and the response was overwhelming: I'd love to be a part of something like that! 

So, we decided to go for it! 

We've had 2 bible studies so far and they've been so good! I invited some of the college aged students from our church and two of them have shown up so far, which is also fun since I feel like I get to do work but also be connected to church. 

Friends, I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed leading student bible studies. When I was staff of ACF at Mizzou, a big chunk of my life was spent leading bible studies with and for students. After I moved up to Team Leader and Associate Area Director, I still got to do some of it but it was a little bit less. When we moved to Omaha in 2018, my opportunities pretty well dried up. I was coaching students in how to lead bible studies but my schedule didn't allow me to actually be there and see them in action much. Even the past 2 years, as I've been involved with Bellevue, it's been on coaching our student leaders on leading and not actually participating in the bible studies. It's so much fun reconnecting with students, getting into the Word, and seeing folk discover the Bible in a whole new way. 

Would you please pray for our new online bible study? Pray that students would continue to be blessed by the the study. Pray that students would invite their friends to take part in the goodness. Pray that an 8pm bible study on Thursday nights doesn't make me too cranky on Friday mornings. =0). 

Have an excellent day!

~Adam 

New Hiring Season!

Hello, friends! 

First of all, Happy Black History Month to you! #BlackLivesMatter

Right now, we're in an exciting season of ministry; it's hiring season! This is the part of the year when we have the most applicants apply to join staff with InterVarsity, either as full-time staff, part-time, interns, or official volunteers. It's an exciting time as we get to review applications, read letters of recommendation, and interview candidates with the hopes of growing our team. 

So far, I've read about a half-dozen applications and have sat in on 2 interviews. What's exciting about this crop of staff candidates is that it's different than anything I've seen in quite some time. We have a few "traditional" hires (students who were involved with InterVarsity and students and will be graduating in May), but we also have a staff couple, an international student, and a folk coming from different missions organizations. This is also the most number of applicants that we've had in a few years. 

On the one hand, it's exciting to meet folk who feel like they have a calling on their lives to spend this next season of life in college ministry. At one point, a long time ago, I was in their shoes. I was excited for what's next but still apprehensive about the unknown. I wanted to nail the interview and also make sure I was making the "right" decision for my life. 

But on the other hand, I'm also aware that this is just the beginning of the process. Once the offer is extended and (hopefully) accepted, the real work begins, particularly in the area of Ministry Partnership Development. We need to get these staff resourced as quickly as possible, which means that these next few weeks are going to be pretty busy for me. I'm looking forward to the work and I absolutely believe that God will show himself to be Jehovah Jireh, the God who provides. 

So, friends, would you pray with me for our hiring process? Would you pray that we as a staff team would hear clearly from the LORD on potential job offers? Would you pray for our staff candidates, that God would show them their worth apart from their vocation? Would you pray in advance for the MPD process for all those who accept offers, knowing that the work is hard but God is good? 

Have an excellent day!

~Adam  

So much useless snow...

Hello, friends! 

Growing up in Southern California, I didn't have a ton of experience with snow. Every now and then, we'd take a family trip up to the mountains and I think I went mountain camping with the scouts once or twice, but other than that, I didn't see snow a lot, which was fine by me. I remember the first time I saw legit snowfall my first year of college. It was a sight to behold for sure. 

Since then, I've seen a TON more snow. As someone who loves to bike, these months can be pretty tough living out here in the Midwest. One of the things I've learned about the differences between living in Nebraska vs. Missouri is that once the snow falls here, it stays for a while. Mind you, I actually like this better than the constantly icy roads that I saw in Missouri but either way, I'm not biking anywhere anytime soon. 

There are two things that have made living with all this snow tolerable. The first is snow tires. We live at the top of a hill and that first winter, it was a STRUGGLE getting up to our house. We were worried we were going to need to get new cars with all-wheel drive, but a friend of mine suggested snow tires instead and that did the trick. Every winter, we swap out our regular tires for snow tires and in the spring, we swap them back. 

While snow tires have made the snow manageable, but there's one thing that has made snow somewhat enjoyable... 

Igloos

One of my new favorite winter hobbies is building igloos for the kids. I basically pile up all the snow from our driveway and and yard, carve out a space for sitting, and if we've got the time, and the snow, I'll put a toboggan run on the top of the igloo for extra fun. The kids like it and it's pretty great seeing my handywork being enjoyed by the family. 

A few weeks ago, we got a DUMP of snow. It was multiple days with multiple inches of snow, totaling somewhere between 8-12 inches of snow. It was enough snow for the kids to stay home from school for a few days and SHOULD have been more than enough for an awesome igloo.

Here's the problem. Normally, I'd love to spend a few hours outside, piling, carving, and shaping the snow into some really great igloos and toboggan runs. However, this year, to go along with the massive amounts of snow, it's also been ridiculously cold. We're talking multiple days under 0 degrees. It's not safe to be more outside for too long in those conditions, so I just had to look outside my window longingly at what could have been... 

Weather reports for the next few days show that the weather is going to get into the 40's and may even hit 50 next week, which will melt most of this beautiful igloo material, meaning all this snow may have been for not. Instead of getting a sweet igloo out of the situation, all I may get is a sore back from shoveling... 

Snow is back to being the worst.

Have an excellent day! 

~Adam

Depth and Intimacy...

Hello, friends!

First of all, thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes! I'm really happy to be 39. God was good to me at 38 and I expect more of the same for this year. 

I'm not really one who celebrates my birthdays much but one of the traditions that I've adopted over the years is having a word or phrase for that year. Since my birthday is so close to the beginning of the yeah, I usually give myself until the my birthday to pick a word or phrase. It's sort of like my New Year's resolution of sorts. Usually, I start thinking about my word for the year in November or December but I'm definitely glad that I waited until my birthday to "lock it in." 

The original plan for this year was for this year's word to be, "Be Prepared." Not only is it the Scout Motto but it also reflected how I wanted the year to go. I found that in 2023, I was doing a LOT of stuff. Between family, work obligations, coaching soccer, leading scouts, and training for triathlons, I was doing all the things but it didn't feel like I was doing them well. The idea of "Be Prepared" was that I wanted to actually prepare for the work ahead of me, not just do it the best I could and hope that it was good enough. That inevitably would have led to me cutting back in some places so I could do fewer things well, which I was OK with. 

However, things changed at Staff Conference. The final afternoon of Staff Conference, there was a time of "impartation." We were asked to ask God what He wanted to impart to us, then have someone pray that blessing over us. While I was listening, I heard the words "depth and intimacy." Those were words I wasn't expecting but words that I gladly had prayed over me. 

As I've reflected on those words from Staff Conference, I think they work really well with my original idea but change it slightly. I still want to do more than just doing the tasks set in front of me. However, instead of focusing on doing the things better, I think that "depth and intimacy" is an invitation to define what that "better" is. What does it mean for me to not just do a task but seek a real connection with whatever task is put in front of me. 

One example that I've been using has been bedtime. The kids always want us to stay in their rooms for a few minutes while they go to sleep. Because I'm trying to be a "good dad," I'll stay in there for a few minutes but I'm not necessarily present. I'm usually playing a game on my phone and waiting for the time to pass so I can get out of the room while still doing my duty. Lately, with this emphasis on depth and intimacy, I've been trying to not just stay in the room but really be there, using the few minutes we have as an opportunity to connect with the kids at the end of the day. It hasn't been perfect (sometimes the kids just need to go to bed!) but it has been good. 

So, here's to a year of depth and intimacy. I'm hoping that this year brings not just lots of stuff being done, but lots of connection with people and Jesus in a real way. 

Have an excellent day! 

~Adam 

Staff Conference 2024!

Hello, friends!

First of all, Happy New Year! May 2024 beat 2023 in every possible way for you and yours.

As your reading this, the snow is continuing to fall here in Omaha. We got about 6 inches earlier in the week and are expecting about that much today. This means that for the kids, they begin their semester with 3 snow days in the first week.

However, cold and snow bound is not how Megan and I started the year. Nope! We got to start our 2024 in shorts and sunshine.

Every 3 years, InterVarsity gathers so of its staff from across the country for our National Staff Conference. Because of COVID, last year's conference was pushed to this year, meaning for 5 days, Megan and I, along with roughly 1400 of our coworkers, were in Orlando, Florida, connecting with God and one another.

To be honest, I've lost count of how many Staff Conferences attended. Apparently, we missed SC20 because Jonah was born but I'm pretty sure I remember being there. However, is possible that I'm thinking of a different conference and they're all just running together. =0).

Regardless of whether this was my 5th or 6th conference, it was still so good to be there and God really showed up. Here are a few highlights:

- ISM Pre-Conference! SC24 started on the 2nd but Megan and I came in a day early so she could attend a pre-conference for international student ministry staff. Even though she's not explicitly ISM anymore, she still wanted to connect to old friends and I got to tag along. It was tons of fun hanging out with them as they celebrated together on the night of the First but it was also great that I had the day to myself on the Second while they were in meetings but SC24 hadn't officially started yet.

- Seeing old friends! One of the best things about being at Staff Conference is that you get to see old staff colleagues you haven't seen in a while. I help host an event for Asian American staff who have been on staff for 10-18 years and it was so good to see my friends. Our current staff team also played a game where we tried to get photos with people who used to be on staff with us in the Central Region. That was a ton of fun too. Even if it was just for 30 seconds, reconnecting with other staff in person was an absolute joy.

- Miraculous Healing! I woke up Wednesday morning with a pretty bad migraine. I get them a lot less than I used to get them but they still crop up every now and again. It's usually from dehydration, a change of weather, or some combination of the two. I skipped the first morning session to sleep but wanted to get down to the second morning session. I'm glad I did. The theme of the season was praying for the next generation. One area where we were called to pray was for healing. As we were praying in small groups, I felt the invitation to ask for my own healing. As my colleagues prayed for me, I was immediately healed. It was pretty great.

- An Impartation! Thursday's afternoon session included a time for us as staff to receive a word from God and to be prayed over by other staff. First of all, it was so cool to see Megan pray for other staff as one of the designated prayer ministry folk. The other thing that was so great was hearing a word from God. I really believe God wants me to pursue more depth and intimacy in my life, but just doing the right things but seeking depth and intimacy with God in the midst of right actions. 

- Travel! Y'all, do you know know how easy it is to travel without kids?! We sat in an exit row for one of our fights. I got to take a nap! I didn't have to share my rye chips with Jonah when they passed out the snack bags on Southwest because he can't eat the Cheeze-its! It... Was... Glorious... =0).

Special shout out to my in-laws who held down the fort with the kiddos here in Omaha so Megan and I could attend. They're the real all-stars of the trip. It was a great time and I'm excited for what God will do in IV and through IV between now and SC27.

Have an excellent day!

~Adam

Rich Villodas, our speaker

Connecting with Asian American staff

IV president, Tom Lin!