Campus Crusade, vision for the world

While the majority of Denver Christmas Conference's participants arrive from one of the six states that comprise Campus Crusade’s Great Plains International Region, several have homes thousands of miles away. The passion of Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, to “come help change the world” certainly remains central to the work of this region, which partners with Mexico, Chile, Africa, Ireland, Spain, Serbia, Russia, and two locations in East Asia to see those areas reached with the gospel. Throughout the week, staff sought to share that vision with students by inviting the students to minister abroad. Speakers from around the world described how God was using Campus Crusade in their countries and urged students to consider joining their teams to target unreached people groups. Other opportunities for students included spending a semester in Thailand doing tsunami relief, participating in an international summer project, and working as an overseas intern.

Denver Christmas Conference Jan 2-7

As Robin was in Orlando in 70 degree weather, I was at the Denver Christmas Conference in downtown Denver. This year’s speakers challenged over 1,200 staff and students from nine states to shed our fears, reminding us that we “have not received a spirit of slavery, leading to fear”; rather, through Christ we can approach life with full confidence and boldness. Live fearlessly, the speakers urged us. Love fearlessly. Share Christ with others without fear. Such fearlessness characterizes the believer who has discovered the power and freedom of knowing Christ as Savior. Whether attending training seminars, reaching out to others during the Day of Faith, or worshiping God in song, students began to practice a spirit of fearlessness.

Multi Media Training in Orlando, Florida (Jan 2-18)

This is on the set of our student shoot. We are getting all the lighting ready and setting up the scene. I am in the chair playing the part of Peter Dough. It was a fun role, in which i did not have a single line in the script. It was a great fun experience working with people from all over the world.

Orlando Training, learning how to do lighting

Here we are getting a lesson on lighting. lighting is one of the best ways to turn average footage into great footage. In the picture they are setting up a simple 3 point lighting. The one in front has a soft box, this is used to defuse the light to make it softer on the image, the one in the back can be call a back light or rim light, this is used to give a nice highlight on the shoulders and back of head. we also learned how to used reflector to add light in certain areas, and gels to change the color temperatures of the light. sun light is a much high temperature which is a more of a blue color, and normal florescences are a cooler temperature which are more orange. So once you get your light set up we also learned how to white balance the camera to get the right white setting based on the type of light we are using.
This was one of my favorite lessons and i learned so much.

Annual Pierogi Cookoff

Each New Year's Eve my family gets together and makes home made pierogis! I always look forward to this family tradition. This year, since we were leaving on the 31st to fly back to Colorado, we got together to make them on Friday the 29th. My aunt, uncle and cousin came over to help make a few hundred delicious pierogis made with potatoe and cheese, sauerkraut, and sauerkraut and potatoe fillings! Let me tell you, after eating home made pierogis, the store bought ones are never the same. At first I made the dough and then Robin came to the rescue. This was Robin's first year making the dough and my mom and aunt who have been doing this for years said that his last batch of dough was the best that they have ever had! While Robin made the dough, my mom, aunt and I filled them, David had the arduous job of boiling them and frying them to perfection! We made a great team!































Origins

Pierogi are of virtually untraceable Central or Eastern European origin; claims have been staked by the Poles,Romanians, Russians, Lithuanians, Ukrainians, Slovaks and Rusyns. Similarity to dumplings found in the Far East such as Chinese potstickers fuels speculation, well-founded or not, that the Mongols and Tatars brought the recipe to the West.

Ingredients
Pierogi are semi-circular dumplings of unleavened dough, stuffed with sauerkraut, cheese, mashed potatoes, cabbage, onion, meat, or any combination thereof, or with a fruit filling.

Christmas with the Cransons

We were able to spend Christmas eve with Robin's family. His mom, four brothers and our two sister-in-laws. We were all walking out to the river where we took the picture you see below of the sunset!




This is Robin and me on the frozen river.. Can you believe how amazing the mountains are behind us!



A Breath taking sunset in Alamosa after the big snow storms that swept through Colorado.






We went on walks and spent time enjoying the amazing stillness of the snow in Alamosa. A picture of the house where Robin grew up! The snow covered trees frame it so exquisitely.







We all brought our talents to Christmas... Robin played the guitar while Holly played the piano, Robin, my sister-in-law, and I played the clarinet... while others sang and played the drums. What a way to celebrate Christmas. I can't say that we were on key and sounded good but we loved playing together!