Text Box: Ten Things I Miss Most About Wesley

By Sarah Oden [recent grad]

 

  1. Asia’s “broken” cookies, made for new contacts, but broken for old students.
  2. Daniel supposedly getting more coffee, but really using his caffeine addiction as an excuse to chat with students in the pit.
  3. Text Box: Students in “the pit”The candy in Diana’s office.
  4. Keeping up with people’s lives through announcements and prayer requests at Vespers.
  5. Fun, spontaneous, profound conversations in the library.
  6. Naps on the couches in the pit, only to find someone else already piled under the pillows, snoring.
  7. Hugging the Asians.
  8. Getting homework help from the more “experienced” students that have taken the class before.
  9. Free tea and coffee to fuel addictions.
  10.  The warm welcome of a pillow to the face, or simply a “Hey!!” from the friends already hanging out in the building as I walk in the back door.

 

 

Missions & Outreach in Norman and Beyond…

 

Matthew 25:40, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”

    The 2006-2007 school year was an active year for missions and outreach.  Our student leadership came to a consensus that they wanted the Wesley Foundation to put more emphasis on missions both locally and globally.  Almost every mission project and outreach event that we participated in was student led.

     Realizing that the campus is our parish, we know it’s important to have a missional presence at OU.  Our students had a regular presence on campus hosting days of service, which included random acts of kindness from

passing out cookies, giving away cold lemonade, serving hot dogs on the South Oval, and providing hot chocolate on cold mornings. 

They were also involved with the campus wide Big Event and Relay for Life.

Text Box: 8240 slices of pizza were served in 2006     Outside of campus, the students were also very involved in the local community.  They were once again active with monthly visits to the Tecumseh juvenile prison facility as well as the local nursing home.  They participated in numerous full-day mission projects serving Feed the Children, Second Chance, Habitat for Humanity, and the OKC Food Bank.  Additionally, each cell group participated in a mission project within the metro area. 

     Once again we sent a mission team to work with the Methodist Church of La Ceibita, Honduras.  15 students spent months preparing and raising money to spend their Spring Break in the rural town of La Ceibita.  They led a vacation Bible school each day with the children of the community, led worship in the local church, and helped build a roof on the local community center.

     Finally, our students did a tremendous job raising money and awareness for such causes as the Oklahoma Boys Ranch, the H2O project, Invisible Children, Save Darfur, American Cancer Society, the Methodist Church of Honduras, and Skyline Urban Ministry.  Overall, OU Wesley students spent more than 6000 hours in missions during the 2006-2007 school year.  They did an amazing job of representing OU, God, the Wesley Foundation, and the United Methodist Church to the community and world around them.