Saturday, August 16th

Some of you have been asking about Kara, so I thought I'd post the letter she just sent to her supporters. If you'd like to receive her updates directly, drop her a line at kara.kynast@gmail.com

"Well, it's been almost 3 weeks and school is about to start for our students. It's been a long road to get here, but overall has been extremely rewarding.
The first few days were really tough. The five staff members have been pushing us to know what to expect- on the first day they had students make a huge mess for us to clean up. With 14 of us interning, it didn't take long- but it was so overwhelming to come downstairs on the first day and be calculating how long it would take individually... it was neat to see how working together made it a lot more manageable.
We've cleaned and painted the house (I got to pick the paint colors!!) and planned and presented small group bible studies and large group bible studies, learned how the ministry runs and operates, had team building exercises (such as being woken up at 5am to hike Stone Mountain together :S), went camping for two nights and shared testimonies, went on an intern retreat- and then last weekend we planned and held a retreat for our individual leadership groups.

There were 53 of the 108 sophomores at the "Branch Bark" retreat (Branch Barks are the sophomores that have signed contracts to be in the servant leadership group of CCF)... and they are so amazing! They are about to run this ministry that I love, and I can't wait. They are enthusiastic and encouraging, talented and loving. There are some students that have clearly been much more "popular" than others all their lives, and yet they reach out to the more awkward students. I was beaming the whole time, thanking God for the freshmen interns last year for collecting such a group that reflected the love of Jesus to each other, even as they are all still figuring out what they believe.
We had all of the Branch Barks tell us what they wanted from this year after a long time of reflection on Saturday night. We heard students say they wanted to figure out what they believed over and over again. I'm going to need your prayers constantly this year as they seem like they are getting ready to ask the hard hitting questions that will define their walk with God. It scares me and excites me at the same time.
I'm no speaker, and so I know it was God that helped me lead Saturday night. I know He'll be there to help me in the small accountability groups with the girls that right now are 'take it or leave it' towards Christianity. I feel so blessed to be able to be used this year, but so nervous and unprepared for the potential heartbreak of not getting through.
So thank you all again for supporting me and for keeping up with this ministry. I love you all!!" -Kara