Day 1

Today was our first real day of "Extreme Hunger-Extreme Hope". Yesterday we spent 3 hours drilling holes and putting close to 2600 forks into the frozen ground in attempts to make a fork graveyard that represents how many people die every day of hunger (the actual stat. is 26,000...but that would be a lot of forks). Even though we weren't aiming to have conversations with people, several students stopped and asked us questions on what we were doing as they were going to class. We even had the Pitt News (student paper) come and take pictures and interview some staff and students about our events. The picture above is today's front page of the paper. We didn't get an article like we were hoping, but a lot of people have made comments on the picture and have noticed the forks in the ground. Marshall, one of the students, had a great idea to sell the forks for a dollar a piece and raise money for World Vision. In only 2 hours we raised over $80, which is an amazing feet when battling the frigged air and a fairly apathetic campus.

As I said before, today was our first day of proxe stations. We have 3 stations placed around the campus which all aim to reveal the facts of global hunger, as well as share with others that God cares about the world and what He is doing to battle the injustice that is here, which then leads to gospel presentations. The booth I was at was originally outside. We stood there for about 45 min. and after only talking to 1 person, our fingers so numb they hurt, and our station nearly blowing over from the wind, we decided to move it. The problem was all of the space on campus must be previously reserved. We decided to just take the proxe into the basement of the Catherdral of Learning by the Cafe.

In all honesty we expected to be kicked out within 10 minutes, since we weren't even allowed to reserve space in the Cathedral in the 1st place. However God allowed us to have favor from the officials of the Cathedral and we were able to stay there for the entire 3 hours! One offical made a comment to another saying he was sure we needed a permit to be there, but then did nothing about it. Many others, as well as professors, told us that they were glad we were doing it, and that this campus needs more things like this. Looking back at the day, it's amazing to see how God protected us (from officials, as well as the weather), and gave us favor. And that was just the begining...

It just so happened that we set our booth up where classes for internationals who were learning english as a 2nd language were being held. Many of the professors sent their students to our booth to practice their english. Most of the people I talked to today were either from India, or Africa, and had never heard the Gospel of Jesus before I shared with them. It was so great to talk to them (internationals are much more responsive than Americans...hmmmm...a sign of our growing anti-social habits filled with Ipods and Cell phones???). I actually had a girl from India, named Ami, tell me that she had never thought about God and hunger being connected, and that God cared. She said she had a new view point, and that she also never realized that God wanted a relationship with her. I asked her what was keeping her from accepting Jesus. She couldn't really give an answer, but didn't want to pray then, but she thanked me for sharing with her and giving her a new view point and helping her to see how much God loved her, which was enouraging.

All together we were able to share the gospel with about 25 students, 23 asking for followup. Please continue to pray for us this week, and for the students we will encounter. Also pray for the safety of staff who will be driving/flying in from all over to help us with the event. Our main speaker for tomorrow night's hunger meal is flying in from NY, which if the weather has its way, he may not make it, so please pray that he will safetly be able to join us.