Wholy

Last weekend was the annual Spring Retreat. This was my second year going, and it was great! The retreat was held at Camp Cody in Freedom, NH. Unlike previous years, the weather was amazing. (Last year there was still snow on the ground, and it was very muddy.) I almost enjoyed camping this time!

The theme this year was "Wholy Devoted." The weekend was focused on pursuing holiness and rejecting the world. Our speaker was Curtis Cook from Cambridge, MA. There were four main sessions throughout the weekend, as well as a short devotion on singleness and a time for discussion after. The main session titles were "Ransomed to be Holy," "Grace for fighting worldliness," "The weak but tempting weapon of legalism," and "Transformed in the midst of the world." The sessions were very humbling and encouraging as I meditated on the holiness of God and His

grace for us to pursue holiness as well. Students were encouraged to think about how to apply what they learned at the retreat to their lives on campus. It's easy to be involved in your own schedule, and not take the time to reach out to other students on campus. Curtis challenged students to view their campus as their mission field and to look for opportunities to share the gospel.

Spring Semester

This semester Kim and I will be at Johnson & Wales University and Rhode Island College. At Johnson & Wales, we are leading a small group Bible study on Monday nights reading through Daniel and continuing through the minor prophets. This is very similar to our 'Coffee & Scripture' time on Friday mornings. It is great to see how excited students are to gather together to read God's Word!

Since we are just starting out at Rhode Island College, we will be spending most of our time trying to meet students. Our goal for the semester is to go through Christianity Explored with students on campus. This study goes through the Gospel of Mark and is very beneficial to Christians who want to share their faith and for non-believers to learn about who Jesus is.

On February 25th through March 3rd, I will be going on a mission trip to Los Angeles with students from JWU to serve CrossView Church. We will be serving meals at a homeless shelter, hosting a meal for people in the community, going to the University of Southern California to share the gospel with students on campus, leading a Bible study at USC, and hosting a dinner for international students. I am very excited for the opportunity to go and serve in LA during this time. I pray that the students on this trip will return to Johnson & Wales with an intentional mindset and seek out opportunities to spread the gospel on campus.

Recently, the North American Mission Board did a 'Missionary Focus' featuring Travis Rymer. They made two videos about ministry in Providence. One is about the local church, and the other about college ministry. You can check them out here...http://www.namb.net/birthplace-of-baptists.aspx

Furthermore, I have recently started selling bracelets to raise my last $600 of support! I am selling them for $15, and will send them anywhere in the U.S. :) Here are a few of them, but I have more than just these three options. If you are interested in buying one, please contact me via Facebook or email me at hannah.jo.rossmeissl@gmail.com.