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Please pray for Christian Union's ministry at Dartmouth.

The past few weeks have been packed with events to welcome in the freshmen class of 2021. Our upperclassmen “freshmen gatherers” have done a fantastic job inviting and bringing freshmen (’21s) to our events and encouraging them to get involved in a Bible course. We are pleased with the number of '21s who are looking for Christian community and desire to be in a Bible course. We hit the ground running with Bible courses this week, jumping right into Philippians for our quick 8-week term. 

We are wrapping up another sophomore summer and have enjoyed getting to focus on just the ’19’s class for these past few months.

There are a few highlights from the summer, including a 4th of July picnic, which turned out to be a beautiful day for grilling out and playing volleyball, a welcome break from studying for the students. We also led a weekly book discussion on the book You Are What You Love, The Spiritual Power of Habit, by James K. A. Smith, which turned out to be a wonderful tool to discuss spiritual disciplines and how to train our hearts to love the right things.

Dear Prayer Partners,

It’s hard to believe we’re already in week 7 of the term, with only 3 more weeks to go. The time has flown by quickly, but much has happened to make this term a very memorable one. There have been some ups and downs within the ministry as well as at Dartmouth. Please join us in praying for these requests:

Dear prayer partners,

We are well on our way into winter term and started off strong with our winter conference at Singing Hills Retreat Center. We were so pleased with the number of students who came, especially since we had so many freshmen (‘20s) and seniors (‘17s). As hoped, it was a restful time for the students, of hearing the word, spending time together in prayer, and connecting with new people in the ministry.

Dear Prayer Partners,

As you may well know, Hanover is extremely quiet this time of year, since the vast majority of students are home for their longest break of the year. It has been a good time for us as staff to begin thinking and preparing for a new term with returning students, many of whom we have not seen in months due to off-terms, as well as new Bible Courses.

Dear Friends,

Reflecting on the winter term that is coming to a close, we truly have much to be thankful for. Our Thanksgiving dinner last weekend was a huge success, bringing in over 130 students, including several who have not been involved in Christian Union. Since then, we have had a few inquiries on how to get involved in a Bible Course for the winter. The freshmen (‘20s) did a fantastic job leading the event. They worked hard on the fall decorations and the program for the night, which consisted of music, worship songs, 2 testimonies and some delicious food. There was even entertainment during the meal, provided by one ’20 who is extremely talented at card tricks. Overall, it was a wonderful night of fellowship and thanksgiving. We so appreciate your prayers for this event!

Hello Prayer Partners,

This has been a pretty big month for the Christian Union faculty here in Hanover.  The Albanese family welcomed a new beautiful baby girl named Hazel Rebecca Albanese.  She arrived on September 25th at 3:22am and is doing very well.  In addition to this, Ministry Fellow, Kristen Ottaviano, was engaged to be married to Dominic Sylvester on September 30th!  Also, Chase and I are happy to announce that we are expecting our own little bundle of joy in April!  Exciting times for our team here and we would cherish your prayers for all the wonderful gifts and changes to life that are happening.

Hello from Dartmouth,

Fall term is off and running and it’s difficult to believe we’re already three weeks into the term with seven more to go. Thank you for all your prayers for the new freshmen (‘20s) who have come in and for our upperclassmen who have labored tirelessly in welcoming them and putting on events in order to meet them and introduce them to Christian Union at Dartmouth. Please join us in prayer for the following requests:

Hello from Dartmouth,

We are wrapping up our sophomore summer with the ‘18s and it has flown by quickly! We spent several weeks walking through a book study with them over Counterfeit Gods by Timothy Keller, which proved to be not only impactful for the students, but for us as staff as well. It proved to be the perfect read, given the phase of life the students are in with all the pressure they feel to perform and to put their value and worth in their grades or a job or a spouse. We were thankful for the conversations that led to a greater hope and thanksgiving for Christ who frees us from bondage to the things that do not satisfy that we might worship the only One who can truly fulfill us.