Apple picking is one of the most fun and festive fall things to do. The Pursuit met at Lynd's Farm in Westerville to pick apples this past Sunday. The plan was to handout warm apple crisp ala mode and hot apple cider to students at a dorm. Who would have guessed that OSU students have a sweet tooth?



A few of the male leaders (no names will be dropped) were not excited about our idea of picking apples. It happened to be a cold, rather rainy day on Sunday and they didn't see any fun in trapsing through a sea of applesause and mud. Apparently some of them also thought it was a "girly" thing to do. By the time the actual picking was all said and done, the guys were hanging out of the trees picking apples and nailing a few of us standing on the ground.



It was a sweet (no pun intended) time of bonding and outreach as we prepared and handed out the delectable dessert. We found that students really just want good conversation, one-on-one attention, and most of all a full belly. Whether students were watching T.V. in the common area or walking through with a stack of books, they were overjoyed to have someone offer them a piece of dessert and a smile. Taking time to prepare the food at the dorm was a tangible way to show the students that we really do care....



A few high points of the day:

• Not having any knives or peelers to peel and cut 42 cups of apples except dinner knives from the cafeteria (Aaron Rex made a run to the store to get supplies).
• Aaron, Drew, and Lance trying to throw an apple on the roof of a 12 story dorm. They were closer to hitting their own heads....
• Christen singing "Rubby Ducky" broadway style to Ella at the top of her lungs on the chair in the middle of the dorm common area. Ella didn't crack a smile. Babies, go figure.

Continue to pray for the relationships we are making with student!

Amy

talk about living life together?!

we are going to be able to write a book on this one... probably a comic book.

we're settling in here at the big house (is that what they call prisons?) i think we need another name. for those who don't know... the Shock family and the Heilshorn family (and Aaron Rex) have rented a house together here in C-bus. It is a nice size 5 bedroom and is working well for all of us so far...

the Shock kids love having Bailey around all day and I'm pretty sure she feels the same...
you should see her eyes light up when any of them walk into the room!



we have had visitors pretty much non-stop. again, like in Ft. Fun we have an open-door policy and seem to all be on 'the more the merrier kick'.

we are all praying about what God wants for the college ministry at Cornerstone.
for now we are giving students from OSU rides to church on Sunday mornings...
we have also started a Tues. night small group (like in the Fort).

there are 8 of us adults --- Billy, Amy, Christian, Christen, Aaron, Stephanie, Kev and me
and we have been picking up a few college kids also.

dinner, worship, prayer and a lesson.



for now it is so nice to be in a living room, but we aren't sure how it will look once we start adding to our number. pray that God will give us direction on this.

tomorrow night we are heading down to campus to just walk around and get a feel for how we can serve down there on a Fri. or Sat. night... what we would like to do is set up to serve hot chocolate or coffee somewhere.

we'll keep you posted....

-Karen