today. tomorrow. and yesterday.

The "hit a kid // save a kid" tournament was a blast. Thanks so much for all of the people that came out to play some dodgball it was a great event and i know i had fun so i hope you did to! We had a team from Appalachian State University, the "average yos" come over for the tournament they placed third winning some free desserts, funny thing they were from a local restaurant, oops... The first picture is of anna, kelly, and ben they were the sign holders to let people know exactly where the event was, not sure how productive they were but who knew sign holding could be so distracting? Im just messing: but really.The second picture is during the tournament, and the third is of the 2011 L4L dodge ball champions along with ref doug. They won an assortment of prizes, trophies, t-shirts, moes bucks, and a few other gift cards. Good job champs!

  As for now. Things keep moving. They never really stopped but thats the beauty of it; theres always stuff to be done. Alison, Doug and I are still meeting on a regular basis to talk about the plans for this summer's africa team and all of the logistics behind it. Im totally pumped to have Doug on board hes a totally rad guy with a servant heart who is going to do a great job serving the Lord this summer wherever he ends up and whatever he ends up doing in africa: along with Alison, who is also ballin. Lets just say the africa team is stacked. We have had many people show interest in going to africa this summer but the Lord has just closed so many doors but opened the right doors for both Doug and Alison to go so im pumped about his will for them.

What about me? ben? Well last summer we spent the entire summer over in kenya and uganda which was a blast, and dont worry our fire for the Lord and determination to serve him is in no way lost. But this summer the Lord has changed my plans many times so now it looks as if i will be going to summer school at NC State in an attempt to graduate on time, along with some really exciting media revamping i will be doing for L4L here stateside! As for ben hes looking to pick up an internship this summer but will also be helping with the planning process for next year!
Thanks for reading the blog let me know if you have any questions of if you want to go to africa im sure we could make something work out!
_av
 L4L
Co-Founder

Hit a Kid// Save a Kid

Our dodgeball tournament to raise money for Abby Tracy's childrens home is tomorrow.  We still have a million details to work out, but its all coming together nicely.  God gets all the glory for this one, because this event has fallen apart numerous times and we've been very close to canceling it.  We'll try to update the blog with some pictures after the event.  Check out the website to learn more about it.  http://dodgeball.loveforthesakeoflove.com.

Spring Break

I'm currently sitting in the Charlotte airport waiting to board my next flight to Denver, Colorado.  I'm going to be there learning some super important slope-side evangelism techniques we can incorporate into L4L.  Or maybe I'm just going to spend the last part of my spring break skiing with my family in Breckenridge.  Either way, I've been so thankful for my spring break.  I have had the chance to be part of Sacrificial Spring Break the past couple of days, which is an in-town mission trip hosted by Vintage 21 for about 100 college students in the area. (http://sacrificialspringbreak.wordpress.com/)  I have met some incredible people and have had so much fun serving with the Habitat for Humanity team.  I forgot how much I enjoy doing construction work!  I've loved seeing how many people right here in Raleigh are passionate about serving and spreading the Gospel and are willing to give up their precious week of rest to be part of SSB.  It really has been reassuring that God has placed L4L here for a reason.
Andrew and I and others on the L4L team have been working really hard to get everything together for the dodgeball tournament.  (http://dodgeball.loveforthesakeoflove.com).  We need people to sign up as soon as possible so we have a good idea of how many people will be there.  Please be praying that this event goes well and come out to support us!!

-Alison
Co-Founder

Future and Present

Hey everyone!

So this week is spring break for everyone at NC State and this is the week that I am sending out my support letters for this summer's Africa Trip. I have worked very hard in preparing these support letters and am almost done sending them out. I would like to ask for you to pray with me during this financial support process. God is going to do great things this summer and is going to send the people whom he feels is right to go, therefore I have no doubt in my mind that any struggles will happen with raising support, but if you wouldn't mind praying and praising God with me for this opportunity to be a part of L4L's 2011 Africa Trip then that would be awesome! I can't wait to see what God provides for this summer. I am enjoying this journey so much already, and its only the beginning.


I also want to tell everyone about the dodgeball tournament coming up this March. On March 19th L4L will be hosting a dodgeball tournament at NCSU's gym from 4-7 pm. It's $10.00 to sign up, and all the money will be going towards Abby Tracy's childrens home in Africa. This is such a great cause! You dont have to be a student either. If you're an adult who wants to throw some balls at some college students, come on out! All are welcome. We look forward to seeing everyone on March 19th and having TONS of fun playing dodgeball

Doug Wegman
(active member)

Recap

For no real reason, I just reread all of our past posts on this blog.  If you have a little free time, I would encourage you to go back and do the same.  It's really cool seeing how much we've changed, and in some ways how things are exactly the same, and how God has worked through us and our ministry since we've started.  For me, each one of those blog posts is attached to many memories.  I'm so thankful to have the chance to be part of such a great ministry.  It hasn't been easy and I now understand why there aren't too many college students starting non-profits, but all of the all-nighters, arguments, and obstacles we have failed to overcome have been worth it and have ultimately led us to humility, which I know is exactly where God wants us.
While looking at the blog, I also realized that we used to do a much better job of updating everyone on what we've been doing.  So I'll try to sum up the past few months for you.  We worked non-stop through November as we started sorting through applications for our summer mission trip to Africa and as we planned the Help Portrait event in Raleigh.  Help Portrait was a huge success and was one of the greatest things I've ever been part of.  I really think a little bit of Raleigh was changed by the event.  December was filled exams, a little bit of rest, lots of travel over the holidays, finally submitting our 501(c)3, and lots of change.  Andrew switched from majoring in Engineering to Communications and I was forced to leave UNC because of overcrowding for a semester and take a couple of classes as a Communications major at NCSU.  It was a pretty drastic change, but Andrew and I were both excited about what we thought would be an easier workload for both of us and the fact that living so close to each other would mean even greater things for L4L.
Then January came and our idealized plan started to fall apart.  Andrew became busier than ever, I found myself involved with way too many new projects and was hardly ever on campus, and the adjustment for both of us was challenging.  We've been able to work through most of it and although it wasn't a fun process, I think our communication has gotten a lot better because of it.  We're back on track and are doing just as well as we were before.  Maybe even better.
We're now working on a charity dodgeball tournament at NCSU thats just 15 days away.  The money raised will go towards Abby Tracy's children's home in Uganda.  I'm so excited for this event and it has so much potential, but we're really trusting in God to help us pull this one off.  We need all the support we can get!  If you want to come play or if you want to help sponsor the event, go to http://dodgeball.loveforthesakeoflove.com
We just found out that we didn't make it on to the next round of the eGames, making our involvement with this entrepreneurship competition short lived.  It's discouraging, but I'm hoping we can grow from it.  It frustrates me that we're expected to explain everything there is to know about L4L in under two minutes, but I guess this is something we'll have to learn to do in the business world.
In the past couple of days I've realized that I'll probably be able to go to Africa with our team for part of the summer.  My initial reaction was "Really God?  I just accepted the fact that I was going to be stateside and was starting to get excited about the work being done here in Raleigh", but I'm also really excited (and slightly terrified) about the potential to go back to Africa and would love to get to be there with my team.
We'll really try to do a better job of updating this blog.  Thanks for accepting our brokenness and following what God has been doing through us.

-Alison
Co-founder