High school Team-- practices so far...

Another year of ministry has begun and I can say with joy and excitement that The Lord has something big in store. The first week of practice with the high school team gave us a chance as leaders to begin to see more of the team and their abilities that were written onto the application, put into action. Jacee and myself have begun teaching dances three of which we nearly have completed. It's exciting to see the drive that these students have. During warm ups, even though most are sweaty, red in the face, and getting sore in places they never new they had muscle, all push hard to make it to the end. The same perseverance is evident throughout the teaching of choreography as well. Those who may not pick up on the choreography right away do not give up but instead, ask for assistance. This past week two individuals even came to me asking for extra help which I was able to provide. When completed, both students left with satisfaction knowing their choreography looked much better than before. Being a new leader has has opened my eyes to many different aspects of leadership that I had never though about before. Meetings for one are exhausting. I have loved being on the other side of the tryout process as well. Last year I was on the high school team and this year I'm leading it. This has opened the opportunity to connect on a more personal level, being able to relate with the high school issues that many of the team members may bring forward. All in all I'm excited for what God has for the year. I have been reminded already that His plan should not be questioned because it is the Divine one. Love and blessing on you all! Love, your brother in Christ Matt

RU High School Team of 2012-2013!

So, the beginning...it has been a wonderful ride since choosing our high school team! I am the high school director and i work with the spectacular Matt as my male co-leader! We both truly love out job, and Matt is growing as a leader so much, this only being his first year in leadership. We find that everyone on the team this year is pretty quiet, but they are beginning to loosen up a bit as we go on i think. I'm really happy with how things are going so far. We are blessed with a team that has a good balance of dance ability (even though everyone is at very different levels), and positive' attitude. I think the fun will come out eventually, its just getting everyone more comfortable with their RU "Family" for the year. We just started sharing our testimonies, so that will help a lot i think. All in all, its been a wonderful experience so far! I personally am super stoked to see what God is gonna do this year in and through this wonderful team, and what sort of opportunities He is going to give us to speak into people's lives! Pray for us and our team members that we grow, are given opportunities to share our hope, and unity for the team as a unit :) Thanks for your prayers and support!!! -Jacee

High School Team of 2012/2013!

After (another) 2 crazy nights of tryouts last week, our high school leaders spent several hours reading applications and praying about who should be on the high school team this year! For those of you who don't know, the RU high school team is made up of students from grades 9-12 of Caronport High School. We chose our team of 9 lovely people and had a retreat this last weekend-backyard camping :). We are very excited for what this year holds for the high school team! Be praying that we are able to grow together, individually with Christ, and have opportunities to share our message of hope with as many people as possible! Thanks for all your support! RU

First week of College Practices...

I don't write blogs very often but for those of you out there reading, please know that I'm giving it my all :) The first week of practices on RU has gone surprisingly smooth for the college teams. I almost forgot to mention- my name is Clinton and I'm one of the College Team Leaders. For those of you who don't know we have a team of returning RU members this year (referred to as our Red Team) and a brand new team of college students with various backgrounds in dance but have never been on RU before (Blue Team). Because of the increase in college teams, myself and the other leaders (I think), did not really how the first week of practices would go as far as practice times, new team dynamics, new choreography, etc. Fortunately it has been amazing!!! Without any warning I was asked to teach our Red Team choreography from our current show and I was really blessed to be able to do that and has been really a positive experience. At the same time I feel that the unity on the Blue Team between the new members has been awesome as well and there is a lot of affirmation and love spread between both Red and Blue Team. It is clear to me that the Lord is already bringing us together which is also a huge blessing in a ministry like this. The Blue Team is also catching onto their choreography crazy fast!.......a lot faster than I did last year I think.. Thank you guys so much for your prayers and support of this ministry! Please continue praying for all of us, that the Lord would be at the centre of this ministry and we would seek first His Kingdom. Blessings, Clint College Team leader

College Team Retreat Reflection

Wow! I can't believe it was only a week and a half ago that our teams got together over one crazy weekend (Sept 7-9) to meet their future brothers and sisters for the RU year. The games we played and prayers we prayed were far beyond what was required of the minor weekend schedule. I was so impressed with the work God was already doing in uniting the team members. We played silly games like 'mennonite dancing' and 'freeze' and laughed our heads off at the characters that were coming out from each unique person. There was some sweet time of reflection on what God might be revealing to us about the year to come and so many encouraging words were being echoed from member to member as we shared our thoughts. I think the thing I was most impressed with was the fact that no one was sitting on the side lines left out or disconnected, everyone just meshed so well and I'm so excited to see how God will strengthen us all as this year progresses! Keep us in your prayers :) Peace be with you all! Amanda College Team leader

College Teams of 2012/2013!

The College Teams were picked after 2 crazy nights of tryouts and lots of prayer from the college team leaders! And yes, I said teamS! We had 2 amazing teams-one of alumni (8 people), and another of all new-to-RU people (10 people)! We've had a week and a half of practices already and everyone is doing amazingly, growing together as teams, and learning choreo faster than expected! Thanks for all your prayers! RU