Intervarsity

Having some fun after Current on Wednesday:

Courtney told me I looked like a cancer patient, which wasn't very nice

Please look at Courtney's face in the doorway

I feel like I mention a lot about intervarsity in my posts, but have never really explained what it is or what it really means to me. I was thinking about this on Wednesday as I was sitting in Current (the weekly meeting) and thought I'd write a blog post on it.

I started going to intervarsity spring semester of my freshman year. Amanda, Courtney, and I had done a little "church shopping" and then Amanda someone looked up Christian organizations on campus and found IV. She asked us to go with her and we said yes and have been going every week since.

It started where we would sit in the back and watch what was going on and maybe talk to a couple other people that we had met and eventually we all got really involved in it. It's crazy to think that this was 4 years ago and that it's almost over now.

As we continued to go to events and meet more people we really started connected to people. I feel like Courtney really connected first and found a small group of friends within IV that became her family. She started going to church with them and really discovered her faith and who God is. It was awesome to be a witness to this during our sophomore year. I was able to really watch her faith grow, especially during this time in her life. Courtney then began leading small groups and doing other activities within IV and has really made an impact on a lot of lives.

Amanda eventually got more involved with IV, I can't exactly remember when, but I think it was more of our junior year after she went to China. (It may have been a little before that too, I can't really remember) and she's done amazing things by helping lead small groups, organizing tons of events, and helping shape the vision of intervarsity at Drake. She also does a great job with getting to know the new people that come and really making everyone feel welcome and like they are wanted at Current.

Through all of this I watched and also made some connections through IV. I knew a lot of the people my sophomore year since I was rooming with Courtney and hanging out with her most of the time. When I went to Ethiopia before my junior year I also got to know the people from IV that went on the trip a lot better and I felt really connected to those people.

My junior year I started living in the DG house and really started to feel connections there. I still went to IV weekly, but started to not know as many people and really felt torn between the IV world and the DG world. Beth Ann started a Bible study in the house at the end of my sophomore year and myself and Anna continued it my junior year. This is where I formed some great friendships with Michelle and Sarah along with many others. By the end of junior year there was some overlap between my DG and IV worlds, but still not a ton. Events still seemed to happen on the same days and I was forced to chose one group over the other.

Then this year things have started to change. The seeds that were planted earlier in my college career through Beth Ann and I'm sure many others have started to grow. The DG Bible study has expanded and now more DGs are coming with me to Current on Wednesdays. There have been a couple weeks where there have been 2 rows full of DGs. It has been amazing for me to see how God has connected two of the biggest parts of my college career and drawn people closer to him.

I think that one of the greatest things about IV is the emphasis on showing who Jesus is to those around you. To meeting where they are. There are tons of different people in IV who are in tons of other organizations and sports, etc. IV encourages those people to go to the places where they have influence and show people who God is. I feel very blessed that God has used me in some small way to further his kingdom and bring my sorority sisters closer to Him. My hope as my last semester as a collegiate member of DG is that more lives will be transformed and more of my sisters will begin to understand who God is and why he is so important in their lives. Even if nothing changes while they are in college they will at least know that there is a group of their sisters who will always be there for them.