Flannel, Canada, and Christmas!

Well it is already that wonderful time of year where we celebrate the birth of Christ.  It has come so quickly and I cannot believe the fall semester is over. 

We recently had our InterVarsity Christmas Party. Here is a picture of all of our students (it was a flannel party!):

The end of the school year has been great! We have gotten to spend a lot of time just hanging out with students.  Last Wednesday, we took the train to Salt Lake City with a group of 6 students; we went to a tea house, went shopping, had pizza, and came back to Ogden for free pie at Village Inn.  We have also had the opportunity to have some students over to our house for dinner and games. 

Other good news is that two couples in our fellowship recently were engaged.  Please keep Shane and Corrin and Aaron and Shalie in your prayers as they get ready to take this next big step in their lives. 

Speaking of big steps, Justin and I are in the midst of deciding where we would like to go next year.  We have officially decided to go on staff with InterVarsity and just finished our staff applications this morning.  We have three options and although God seems to be calling us to one in particular, we will be visiting all three options in January and will know our final destination by the end of January.  Keep us in your prayers as we listen for God's direction!

This Christmas we will be heading up to Denver with a couple brief stops in Grand Junction. If you are in the Denver area, we will be having a little get together so be sure to check your facebook within the next week for more information!

Lastly, a bit of fun for you - one of our students, nicknamed Otto, has started his own youtube show called Brien O Canada.  It is pretty humorous and we would like for you to check it out and get to know him a little better. Here is a link: http://www.youtube.com/user/brienocanada?feature=g-all

Be looking for our next blog and newsletter as we have many exciting adventures coming up in January.  We are looking forward to sharing our goals for 2012 with you!

Moving Mountains

Exactly 12 days ago a flight from New York arrived at the Salt Lake City Airport.  It was a Wednesday.

That flight is the testimony of one man whose story will affect the lives of those he encounters. Revelation 12:11 states that the Church overcomes Satan "by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony."

The Prodigal Son is 23 years old.  He grew up leading a seemingly Christian life; his father was devout; he was baptized.  But religion is not faith.  And he strayed.  He strayed all the way to New York City, far from anywhere he called home.  Satan dragged him down, feeding him lies about himself and lies about God.  He came to a place of addiction, poverty, and, best of all, desperation. 

Meanwhile, the Prodigal Son's aunt, a true sister in Christ, became moved to visit New York City.  While she was there she decided to call her nephew, who she knew lived there. Surprisingly, he welcomed her.

The Holy Spirit moved in a mighty way that overcame the powers of darkness holding him down. He decided to quit his job, leave his friends, and come back to Ogden, UT with his aunt. The day after he returned, his cousin brought him to InterVarsity.  That night, Justin and I had the pleasure of meeting the Prodigal Son and of hearing his story.  We now have the pleasure of watching him seek after God and become the man God has intended him to be. 

God still moves in mighty ways friends.  He still does miracles.  He still moves mountains.

The Enemy is Real but God is Victorious

Family and friends,

I wish to write to you about the wonderful moving of the Holy Spirit at Trilogy -- and I promise to do that soon, but right now Justin and I could both really use your prayers.

On Thursday afternoon, the day before Trilogy, Justin, Rahel (another Intern), and I, were driving home from the car dealership where Rahel had bought a new car.  Just minutes from home, we hit a car at 50mph.  I was taken to the hospital in an ambulance - both Justin and Rahel came out with minor bruising. I have a broken sternum and lots of bruising.  Recovery time is 6-8 weeks.

We could use your prayers as we move through this rough patch.  It is funny how hard day to day life can become when things change.  Pray that God would give us strength to continue to do ministry through this season.

God has blessed us with a Christian lawyer who attends our church working on our case so luckily we are not too worried about all of that.

I promise to write soon about Trilogy - and yes, we did still go (although I stayed in the room most of the time and was drugged). We refuse to give Satan a foothold in the name of Jesus.

-Samantha Tappan

Watching Daddy Work

Hello!!!

This week Justin and I gave our very first large group talk (to over 100 students!) on diversity in the Church.  I (Samantha here) loved it! I never thought I would enjoy preaching so much.  I loved having the opportunity to have God speak through me and I cannot wait until I have another opportunity to do that! 

This weekend we are taking our students to Trilogy, which is our fall conference in Idaho.  Please, please pray for our students!!! Pray that God would use this opportunity to transform their lives.  Pray specifically for students who are non-Christians that the Holy Spirit would soften and speak to their hearts this weekend.  We are really looking forward to seeing our Father at work!

Also, we are having a fun halloween/fall activity for our Bible Studies on Monday. Justin and I are taking the students Trick-or-Canning.  Instead of trick or treating, we will be going around to houses and asking for canned goods to donate to a local food drive.  Afterwards, we will have a time of fellowship at our house with lots of yummy treats!

I so look forward to updating you on the happenings of fall conference, this month's bible studies, and our fun activities in our next newsletter!!

Adventures in Ogden

Hey there! We've had some awesome adventures in Ogden recently, particularly on the Weber campus :D We had a movie night in University Village for the students, and we played the movie Thor. This was a great gathering event, and we met many new people who were thirsting for something more.

Bible studies are in full swing now, and we are all facing struggles as well as blessings right now. Please pray for the students coming to our Bible studies to be open to learning and hearing from God about particulars in their lives, pray for community to be built within the Bible study groups, and pray for Samantha and I as we try to lead students towards Jesus in this messy business called life!

"Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ....Pray that (we) may proclaim it clearly, as (we) should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone." Paul, Colossians 4:2-6

With Love,

Justin

A Picture of the Weber State InterVarsity Leader's Team

Hi friends!

Today was the last day of our proxe station.  About 300 students participated in our outreach event this week and about half of those students filled out interest cards and gave us their phone number.  Praise God!!

I also wanted to show you this picture of our student leaders.  These students are Bible Study Leaders, Worship Team Leaders, and Large Group Team Leaders.  Without them this week would not have been possible and we are excited to see how God continues to use them throughout the year. 

I am also posting a picture of Justin and his Bible study co-leader (Hannah) and me and my co-leader (Sam).

Love always, Samantha

EPIC-ness :D

Hey Gang! This week has been an awesome success thus far! We have had a proxe station on campus the past two days (a tent that uses a provocative theme to engage students into conversations, where we hopefully share the Gospel of Jesus with them!) So far we have gotten interest cards from over 130 people, and have shared the Gospel with many more who chose not to become involved. Praise Jesus for so much fruit here!

Samantha and I have also had our first Bible Study party/gathering events this week, and both of those went really well. Samantha and her partner, Sam (a girl as well :D) had 3 foreign exchange chinese students come, as well as a korean girl and two white students from the dorm building! They made school spirit shirts and had a blast. Please pray for the hearts of these foreign exchange students to be open to studying the Bible this year!

Hannah, my co-leader and I had 8 students come to our Build-A-Float and board game night tonight, and we had a great time meeting the students and inviting them to our Bible study on Monday nights. So far we have had about 15 students commit to coming to it, so please pray that they will follow up on their commitment!

Thats all for tonight guys, praise God for all the amazing things He is doing here!

Peace out,

Justin

Chicken Taunt!!!

To all out there, reading this blog, hello!


Time for some fun news! School is about to start! We went to the regional staff conference in Colorado Springs last week, and had a great time learning from other "messengers" from campuses across the Rocky Mountain Region (Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas and Arizona). We learned a lot more about the vision for the schools in Utah, and we found out that currently, InterVarsity is only reaching .01% of the students in the Utah Valley (area around Salt Lake City). There is a lot of room to grow! Please pray that many of the students we invite to InterVarsity events and Bible studies choose to come. Lives are changed for the better when they interact with God through His word, and that's one of the many things we want to see happen this year!

We also went to an Ogden Raptors baseball game last night! It was fun to be with friends, and the tickets were free, but the baseball was, well, not what we expected. But they had this hilarious chicken "taunt" they would play every once in a while. It was similar to the "CHARGE" tune, but with the sound of a chicken squawking! Very funny..... :)

Please let us know how you all are doing! Comment on this post and leave a little story about your summer, or ways that we can also be praying for you!

With Love,

Justin Tappan

July Update

Greetings!

We are moving to Utah tomorrow! (See below for our new address!) The summer months have gone by quickly and it is already time for us to begin our next adventure.  We have been blessed with an apartment across the street from Weber State University and many friends have volunteered to help us move in. 

We are continuing to grow our support team and we are so thankful for God’s faithfulness to us in this area.  We currently have 75% of our budget raised, with hopes of reaching 100% before the school year begins in mid-August.  This has been a huge blessing to us, as we are in the midst of transition and it is one less thing with which to be concerned. 

Our Stories

This past month we attended a ten day training trip with InterVarsity called the Intern Trek.  In addition to receiving practical instruction, we had incredible encounters with the Holy Spirit wherever we went.  By engaging in conversations at the University of New Mexico campus about what people thirst for in life, our group was able to share the message of Jesus 150 times with students, faculty, and visitors.  Twelve of those who heard the message chose to follow Jesus!  Even in times of rest the work of the Holy Spirit was evident among our group.  For example, during a lunch stop at Safeway on our way to Flagstaff, a Native American man named Stanley chose to follow Jesus because of a conversation with some of the InterVarsity team.  We also saw powerful prayer during many occasions throughout the trip.

Prayer Needs

We are both so thankful for the financial and spiritual support that all of you have been providing to us this summer. We want to give you a few things that are on our hearts to pray for this month. We still have a few more long drives ahead of us, so prayer for safe travel is very important. Please pray for continued blessing financially for us as we start our new life together. We would also love prayers for boldness as we meet new students and begin Bible studies and other forms of ministry on the campus. Justin would also appreciate prayer in understanding God’s character and purpose for the campus. Samantha would appreciate prayer in understanding God’s vision for discipleship and prayer on campus. For many years, InterVarsity staff in our region have been praying that God would pour out rain on a seemingly barren land – that the Holy Spirit would soften hearts that have previously been unwilling to accept the Gospel; please continue with us in this prayer. 

The Next Step

After moving to Utah and unpacking, we will be headed back out to Colorado for a regional staff conference.  Following this conference, we will be meeting the student leaders on campus and finally starting our ministry at Weber State.  The beginning of the school year is an incredibly important and busy time for us as we will be inviting students to join InterVarsity, starting new Bible Studies, and reaching out to new freshmen.  Our God is so wonderful, and has shown this to be true all summer. We are so excited to finally get to tell those on the campus just how great He is!

In His Hands,

Justin and Samantha Tappan

http://jsmessengers.blogspot.com

New Address: 4000 Brinker Ave., Apt. #1, Ogden, UT 84403

Key Verses

Psalm 40:1-3 – I waited patiently for the Lord; He turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord.

Isaiah 43:18-19 – Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.  See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.

Luke 10:2 – He [Jesus] told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field.”

Counting Our Blessings

 ~Samantha~

We are so excited to share some wonderful news with you! Firstly, we are now married! Justin planned a surprise honeymoon for us to Lake Tahoe.  The mountains and the beach were absolutely amazing.  Neither of us has been on a vacation in quite a while and it was a much needed time of rest before a crazy summer.

Secondly, we are pleased to announce that we officially have our first apartment in Ogden, Utah!!! God has been so faithful to us.  We were only able to look at apartments in Ogden for one morning, but God answered our prayers and provided a place for us in that short time.  Not only did He provide for us, but the apartment was within our budget and is across the street from Weber State University!

View of mountains from Ogden

We also were able to tour the campus with Mac, the campus staff worker we will be teaming up with for this year.  It is the most beautiful campus; we were lucky enough to be touring at sunset.  The mountains are right up against the town, unlike Colorado, where there are foothills.  

Our visit has made us so excited to meet the students and start building relationships that will be used for God’s glory.  So what’s next? We will be going on a road trip to do some training July 10-18^th.  Please be praying that this will be a fruitful trip and that we will build community with our team.  We will be moving to Utah permanently immediately following this trip :D

May Update

Justin~

School is finished....I am in the process of moving....Samantha and I are getting married in 9 days....OH MY! What a busy month ahead! I am super excited for everything that is going to happen, from getting married, to moving to Utah! Our team is in the process of finding housing in the Ogden area, as well as continuing raising up our support teams, you guys, who are sending each of us to the Weber State campus. We are so thankful for all of you!

Samantha and I are busy finishing up the final details for our wedding, which is approaching fast. Actually, I should probably be working on the slideshow right now rather than jabbering on about this summer's schedule :D We have a few more details to work out, but for the most part we are ready to go for the wedding! After that we have the honeymoon, and then the intern trek, which I am very eager to go on. We will be meeting all of the other InterVarsity interns in Albaquerque, NM, and we will be going through some training, doing some campus ministry, and roadtripping to Flagstaff, AZ over the course of a week. This is going to be such a great time getting to know our compatriots who are going to Weber with us!

After that, we will be actually moving to Ogden! We will hopefully already have a place rented out, and we can move our stuff in immediately.

Well, that's a short synopsis of what our summer is going to look like! We will start posting updates about our ministry on campus around August/September, so be on the lookout for those!

In His Hands,

Justin and Samantha

Leaving a Legacy...

~Justin~
I am in a very contemplative mood tonight. Having just attended my last Large Group weekly meeting at the Mines campus, I am realizing that things that I thought would never end, actually are ending. I never really thought about how I would eventually have to move on from this amazing community of friends that we have here. I feel like we are so tightly woven, that if I try to extricate myself, it'll hurt me! But it has to be so.

If we never were to move on, we would never glean new experiences out of life! It is important for me to realize that while I have had an incredible time here in this fellowship of Jesus followers, and while I will always be welcome there, it is time to let those friends of mine who have not moved on have their turn. Its time for me to quietly step out of the way and give them room to grow and to lead in God's Kingdom.

In some very strange ways, I feel very close to Bilbo Baggins right now. He had some amazing adventures, but eventually he had to pass the ring on to Frodo, so that he could have his own adventures. (While I have no idea how I am intertwining this reflective moment with a LOTR reference, I am rather pleased with myself :D ) But in seriousness, I and the other graduating seniors are leaving behind a legacy. This legacy is larger than any individual person or name. It is a legacy of community. A legacy of following Jesus well. A legacy of loving one another, as Jesus loves us. That's the legacy we are leaving behind. I believe that God calls us to leave behind these legacies wherever we go, wherever we take the Gospel.

Messengers to Utah

As you may know, we are getting ready to enter into a very exciting time of life.  Our June wedding is approaching quickly and we are thrilled to celebrate with family and friends.  God has been doing amazing things in our lives this past year and we are looking forward to seeing what He has for us in the future.  This really feels somewhat like the closing of one chapter of our lives, and the start of a brand new one! This is both exciting and scary, but we know that God will provide for our needs wherever we go.

Both of us have been heavily involved in InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at the Colorado School of Mines.  InterVarsity is an interdenominational Christian group on college and university campuses that aims to transform the lives of students and faculty, renew campuses, and develop world changers.  This past year both of us have seen what the Gospel can do in the lives of college students and we feel that God is calling us to continue in this pursuit of His kingdom.  Through InterVarsity, we have the opportunity to participate in missionary work at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah.  We will have the chance to be part of a team dedicated to discipleship and evangelism, both of which have been crucial aspects of our experience with InterVarsity thus far. 

InterVarsity is the only Christian ministry on a primarily Mormon campus. Because of this, there is a tremendous need for Christians who are willing to go where others are not to bring the Gospel! We want to answer that need, and go where God is sending us. As we go to Weber State to act as God's Messengers, we need a team of individuals who will pray for and support us. We want to invite you to partner with us as we pursue God’s Kingdom! This blog will be a compilation of journal entries, recording our thoughts on what is happening, and also a place where prayer requests can be presented to our team. We are so excited for the plans that God has for us and for you as we collaborate to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to Weber State University!

-Justin Tappan and Samantha Scoggins