Stanford Begins

Greetings from Stanford. As November has hit, the seemingly endless California summer has moved on to fall. It actually reminds me a whole lot of the weather back home this time year. As my first quarter here reaches its halfway point (I know that sounds ridiculous to all of you who have been in school since August), it blows my mind all that has happened in such a short time. Stanford truly is a great place for me, and it is a testament to God's sovereignty how much I have come to feel at home here. I will try to give you a run-down on what has happened so far so that you can have an idea of what life is like out on the west coast and can also know how to be praying for me.

My experience here began with an amazing orientation. From when I first began carrying all the stuff in from the car, I began to feel at home here. Stanford is an incredibly people-friendly college, and the entire first week was just making the freshman feel at home and settle on campus. I live in a dorm of some 86 freshman and 7 staff called Cedro, and I love the place--it is small enough to be incredibly tight knit but also large enough to never get tired of the people. My favorite times have been all the crazy escapades with my dormmates--fountain hopping, broomball, ultimate, late night jamming, trips to San Francisco and the Pacific, and tons of late night conversations.

On the academic side, I'm taking three classes this quarter: a chem, a math, and an English class. In case you're wondering, yes, it is fairly hard, and yes, I do work a good bit. My chemistry class is quite challenging but excellent--it is for students who did well on the AP test and basically looks at all the really interesting crazy stuff about Chemistry that you've never heard of before. The concepts are really tough because I haven't encountered any of them before, but it is really cool when they finally click. The professors are high-level chemists who are really interested in getting to know us (both have taken me and other students out to lunch already this quarter) and they have a refreshing philosophy for the class: their goal is not for us to get the good grades but for us to really grasp the material and become excited about chemistry. I am really enjoying this take on the class.

God began answering prayer requests as soon as I got here. He set me up with a great roommate named Dan and within just days of being here he gave me a strong Christian community. I found valuable mentors in David Jones, the new RUF pastor on campus, and Adam, a sophomore whom I had gotten in touch with last April. As the weeks have progressed, I have discovered more and more Christians in the dorm. College is a pretty unique experience in that since everyone comes in without knowing anyone, deep relationships form extremely quickly. Already I have people whom I can pray with and share my heart with, and yet I've only known these people a month and a half. I expected it to be a lot harder to live against the grain out here, but it has been surprisingly easy, and even fun. God has used it to spark some interesting and encouraging conversations with people about beliefs.

I realize this is a very general overview of large span of time--my hope is that I can write more often giving more details about what is happening here, but I won't make any guarantees. Please know that I am doing very well and have gotten to see God work in some amazing ways, and I deeply appreciate all the prayers so far. Here are some areas you can continue to pray for me in: 1) that God will strengthen me with power through his Spirit (taken from Eph. 3:16)--my own strength is insufficient to make myself desire God and live well and love others well--pray that I will rest in God's strength and that he will renew the joy and power of my salvation for me 2) pray that God will make hearts ready for the gospel and then give me the power to share it 3) pray that I will give up my own patterns, desires, and sources of fulfillment--that who I am will be derived from the knowledge that I am God's son. 4) that God will move on Stanford's campus and that he will show me what part he wants me to play.

I thank you again for your prayers. I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible over Thanksgiving and Christmas and catching up in more depth.