My Time at True North
Mark is a student at the University of Minnesota. He participates in True North Ministries – a WELS Campus Ministry in the Twin Cities area.
I look around my almost vacant room and realize I am almost completely done with my college career. My furniture, clothes, and kitchen supplies are slowly moving out. All I have left, my very last task to complete at the University of Minnesota, is to walk the graduation stage for my parents. This moment I never thought would come, it seems unreal. During finals week, midterms, or the night before a paper deadline my diploma seemed light years away. However, when I look back at college and all that God has done in my life I cannot help but feel nostalgic and realize my parents were right. College was actually much shorter than I thought it would be. Just when I was getting used to it, it finished. The amount I matured as a person is more than I ever imagined. I like to think that if the past me meet the future me, I would be very excited to grow up (mostly because I can grow a decent beard now).
Anyway, after some light reminiscing, I started thinking about what is coming next in my life. In a couple of months I will be moving to China to
serve with Friends of China. After that, I do not know. The best part of not knowing is that I am finally comfortable with not knowing. It occasionally makes me anxious but the possibilities are endless much like God’s love for his people including me.
True North and the people I have met there have been the greatest blessing in my life. My relationship with the Lord has grown beyond what I thought it could be, but I know I still have much learning to do. True North is a church for area college students and young adults. This means everyone is struggling with approximately the same issues I am. This has been a great help to my faith. It allows me to talk about the issues bothering me such as professors, classes, and deciding what I want to study with people of the same values and faith I have. This is an experience I have come to appreciate more than I would have expected. The friends I have developed because of these conversations will hopefully be with me the rest of my life and will at least affect me for that long.
The experiences I have had at True North will leave a lasting imprint on my life as well. I had the experience of going to Bible studies that not only applied to my life but changed my view of the world. I had the chance to prepare and give a sermon at True North. I was able to present to high school seniors who were in the same place I was only a couple of years ago and expressed why God should be important in their lives, especially after high school. I was able to help with outreach on campus by handing out flyers, participating in a Valentine’s Day Blood Drive, talking to hundreds of people during the Jesus Challenge, or just wearing a shirt with Jesus written on it. God works through us in many ways and I have never felt it as readily as I did at True North. God prepared me to have a genuine conversation about my faith with someone that is not a Christian while at True North, to share the hope I have. My time at True North has helped me realize that God is the one in control, always. I have grown so much as a Christian because of these and many more experiences God has blessed me with at True North.
When a couple of my friends and I were presenting at the local Lutheran high school, I was thinking back to my days when I was in the same shoes as these students hearing about why church after high school is important. At that time, I did not take the presenter seriously. I treated and thought about church like it was an item on my To-Do list. I did it Sunday morning and checked it off for the week. Only a couple years later would the Lord show me differently. I would learn how important church and Christian friends are to help get through the obstacles and challenges of life. They would remind me where I should put my trust by their encouragement as well as their attitudes and actions. My non-Christian friends could not offer the same encouragement or hope but can only offer the fleeting comfort of this world found in the bottom of a bottle or heedless complaining.
The Lord has poured out so many blessings on me through True North and I could spend years talking about them. However, the most important blessing that has been given to me, and everyone else, is his Son. Jesus’s crucifixion and resurrection give me the hope I need to get through the struggles college contained and that my future might hold. My time at True North has helped me realize this truth and I pray future college students will be as blessed through True North and other campus ministries as I have been.
With confidence I, and you, can move forward in life knowing God is with us at all turns. As Jeremiah 29:11 says “’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”

The main purpose of the weeklong workshop is to select three people to be full-time Mother Tongue Translators (MTTs) for the Nsenga project. In addition, the workshop will offer attendees instruction in the basic philosophy and practice of Bible translation, a chance to meet members of the NBTP Committee and the Bible Society of Zambia, and an idea about the day-to-day running of a Bible translation project.
Jenny comes almost every week with her son Juan who is a bright, energetic first grade student. Jenny is good at helping me remember the names of foods and customs from Ecuador where I studied abroad in college and where she calls home. She claims there isn’t a single good Ecuadorian restaurant in all of Queens.

