The Link

Abe is here

2009-05-12T21:36:00.002-06:00

Just wanted to send out a quick update and some pictures. We are all doing very well, and Rocky and I are enjoying the new addition to our family. Abram (Abe) Roscoe Conly arrived yesterday afternoon at 2:10pm. Despite being a mere 5 lbs. 15 ozs and 19 inches at birth, he did not suffer any distress during labor and came out beautiful and healthy. The induction seems like it was a great decision. Abe is already making up for lost time by eating well. He is a cutie and very strong. He has already rolled over on his own several times and can lift up his head when on his stomach. The pediatrician said often times little babies are "scrappers;" that seems to be the case with our Abe. Thanks for all the care and love for our family. We have appreciated all your prayers.

If you want to see more of the little guy go over here . http://gallery.me.com/conly#100046

-Rocky, Sunee, Adelaide, and Abe

April 2009 prayer letter

2009-04-23T13:41:00.005-06:00

Reaching Students Through Film
As you know, our team’s primary focus is making short films. These ﬁlms are designed to be used by students, staff and churches to help start conversations that lead to deeper discussions and ultimately, the Gospel. While our team focuses primarily on creating the films and making the tools, we know that without a way to distribute them, they will not be effective. This is where our partnership with the Global Short Film Network comes in. Over the last year GSFN has seen some great successes in reaching out to students using the tools we helped to create. I received a report from GSFN and wanted to share some of the stories with you.

One story comes from Kenya. Robert is a university student in Nairobi. He attended our short ﬁlm seminar at CM2007 in Korea and was given our DVD. He went back to school and hosted a short ﬁlm festival, where he led twelve freshmen to Christ using the DVD.

In Kansas City, Kirk and Sarah Springer hosted a mini-ﬁlm festival on a campus there. Six students showed up to watch the ﬁlms and three of them trusted Christ. Two of them are now in follow- up Bible Studies.

Over the past two months, we had one hundred staff from around the USA participate in a test program using the ﬁlms. The response has been overwhelmingly positive. We’ve found that twice as many students prefer using short ﬁlms to traditional methods of sharing their faith, and 70-80% of students who are asked to watch a ﬁlm on an iPod continue on to a signiﬁcant spiritual conversation compared to 40-50% with a survey. As I read the report from GSFN I was so encouraged to see that what we are doing is really working. I hope you are encouraged as well!

Change in Ministry
As I briefly mentioned in our last letter, I (Rocky) have been looking into starting a new ministry within Campus Crusade. I want to continue to make films that lead to spiritual change and are used by people around the world, but as I do that I’d like to reach out to those in the local film industry here in Austin. I am working hard to get better at what I do, as well as do ministry that makes sense for how I have been gifted. One of the things that I always wish I could do a better job of is building relationships with the people we work with on films.

It seems the filmmaking world can be very lonely and tough on people, and there aren’t too many Christians involved. I want to be able to get to know the actors, directors and other people on the set. Making a film together bonds people together pretty fast. Unfortunately so many times I have to move on to other projects and tasks within Simplebulldog to really get to be a part of these people’s lives. What I would like to do is focus on the role of director of photography in hopes that I not only bring my skills to the next level but that I’d get to spend more time with people I have the opportunity to work with. Right now I’m not sure how the details of this change will affect me, but I know I have felt lead to do something along these lines. I would greatly appreciate your prayers as I and my co worker Richard move forward in this endeavor. I am thankful to get the opportunity to minister to people in the entertainment business, a group of people that many say is the most unreached industry.

Family Update

Adelaide at her second birthday party.

It is absolutely insane to think my due date is less than one month away now. I can’t imagine what the transition is going to be like, but I’m nervously looking forward to it all the same. Our little boy is looking healthy though he seems to be measuring a bit on the small side. As he enters the world, please pray for our transition to a family of four. Pray for good health all around and a safe delivery.

Adelaide is still her quirky self. She makes us laugh a ton though the past few months have probably been the most trying since she was born. Reaching the two year old mark brought along more attitude, defiance, and stubbornness. It’s been interesting to be reminded through her that we are all indeed born sinful and separated from God. In my mind I’ve known that but now it’s really registering how desperately I need Him and Adelaide needs Him. When she is having a hard time it’s not uncommon to hear her say, “Mom, pray for my attitude.” Not a bad way to deal with the issue :). As you think of us in prayer, you can pray Adelaide will be a good big sister. I think she’s already understanding alot for her age, and she loves other babies a ton. When she sees babies now she says, “I have a baby brother too!” Pray we’ll be good parents to her and understanding of her feelings even if she can’t express them.

Prayer Requests
Pray as we need to raise about $1500 monthly to make up for lost support and to prepare for the arrival of our new family member. Since the baby is due May 19, we won’t be going on a summer project; instead, we’ll be trying to reach our support needs/ goals.

Rocky and his coworker Richard are beginning a new ministry here in Austin. They will continue to work with Campus Crusade for Christ and make short films but will also be more involved with the film industry here, building relationships with people and hoping for opportunities to share Christ with them. You can pray that everything will come together during this transition. They are still working through some of the nitty gritty details.

just a test

2009-04-21T09:16:00.003-06:00

Is anyone out there following this blog? I have not updated it for a while so if you do check here, sorry I have been very lazy in updating it.

Please leave a comment if you read this blog and would like to see me "get with it" and update this thing more often.

short film festival and ministry update

2008-08-10T14:27:00.003-06:00

Please join us for an evening of hanging out, catching up, and taking part in a short film festival. We’ll show some of Rocky’s team’s films, along with others, and talk about how they are used around the world. There will be popcorn and drinks for all. Hope you can make it.

If you think you’re gonna be there, let us know. If you haven’t decided yet and want to come last minute, please feel free to come.

Gone Sweet Gone

2008-07-17T14:02:00.002-06:00

Right now I am writing from my parents' kitchen table. This morning we were in Breaux Bridge and had some great etouffee. Last night we were visiting a friend in Lafayette. For a little over a week we have been visiting family and friends. And although we have been having a great time we are already sick of living out of our car. We have stayed at 4 different houses and still have lots of traveling to do.

So you know, I'm not complaining; we are having a lot of fun. It is great to see our families and many friends. We also got to talk to Judson Baptist Church about what we have been doing over the summer. It was good to see folks there. So many people at Judson have supported us since we went on our first summer projects with Campus Crusade.

We will be here in Walker for a few more days then we are headed to Ruston, LA where we went to college. We are looking forward to seeing people there. It has been quite a while and nobody there has meet Adelaide.

Thanks for your prayers as we travel and encourage the body and thank/update all who help us do ministry here.

Color Correction

2008-07-04T06:38:00.004-06:00

On the set of "haircut" from the catwalk. It's always funny to see how fake the a movie set really looks compared with how it looks in the film.
On the lot.
Inside the hair and makeup trailer.
One of the camera crew seting up the camera, they were working with the red camera, after we worked with it in Austin we are all pretty smitten by it.

I am in LA right now, actually about to leave, for color correction on the films we shot in April. For those of you who don't know what color correction is it might sound like we made some sort of color mistake. Truth is everything you see on TV and in The movies goes through color correction. It is the process that basically makes a good looking film look great. The cool thing about this is that we are getting to work with Universal Pictures on this process. Through some connections we are color correcting in the same place the hollywood blockbusters you see are done. Unfortunately after coming out all this way there were technical problems that made it impossible to actually do what we came to do. That means we will have to come back later to do this.

Luckily there were also some films being shot by a Global Short Film Network, who we work with within Campus Crusade, that we were able to watch being made. We also were able to meet some people who will will be working with for equipment and such on future projects. The films were being shot at a studio where they film lots of big movies and TV shows. It was kinda cool to see things going on for these productions. Lets make a deal, fast and the furious 3, and Valkyire were a few of the projects also happening there. Tom Cruise was out the day before we got there, Sunee was jealous that I had even a chance to see him. Pretty cool experiences even if I did not get to do what I came for.

Ayutthaya

2008-06-15T10:00:00.001-06:00

Thailand's largest reclining Buddha.

Ayutthaya is the former capitol of Siam and is a place I'd been wanting to visit since we lived here. I recently learned that it's also a UNESCO World Heritage Centre; I think that's a fancy title for "cool place." The only time I'd been before was during Songkran (Thai water wars-- the best holiday ever) so I didn't see alot of the sites. So yesterday we spent the day with our friends Ped, Tik, and Hymn and explored Ayutthaya.

The day started out with lunch at a riverside restaurant. It was delicious. Here's some interesting "traffic" I saw while we ate.

a motorcycle ferry crossing to the other side.

a lady selling homemade beverages off her boat.

a tiny boat pulling three huge barges.

not traffic, but Tik, Hymn, and Ped eating lunch.

After lunch we were driving to one of the temples, and we started seeing elephants on the side of the road. Hymn flipped out she was so excited so we decided to go ride elephants first. You can do some cool stuff for $6 in Thailand.

Here we are riding an elephant. Adelaide loved it. I don't know if she really knew we were on an elephant but she definitely liked being up so high.

Adelaide feeding the elephants after our ride. I think she's got a healthy fear of elephants now instead of the scream-at-the-top-of-your-lungs type of fear.

No, this guy isn't being swallowed by the elephant. He did this willingly. The elephant carried him around like that.

Rocky and I at Wat Chaiwattanarm.

I don't know how many idols surrounded this temple. There was one every 5 feet or so. As I was walking around here I felt so heartbroken for Thais that have been so blinded to think that an idol is actually worthy of worship. This idol is proof of how powerless they are.

This temple like Wat Arun also had a crazy steep staircase. I didn't brave this one since I had climbed Wat Arun. I left his one to Rocky.

The most famous spot in Wat Mahathat is this image that's been engulfed by this amazing tree. Thais worship this image, but once again I got all spiritual and thought about how even God's creation is more powerful than an image carved by man.

One last shot of Wat Mahathat.

I leave you with Psalm 115:

115:1 Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory,
for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!

2 Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
3 Our God is in the heavens;
he does all that he pleases.

4 Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.
5 They have mouths, but do not speak;
eyes, but do not see.
6 They have ears, but do not hear;
noses, but do not smell.
7 They have hands, but do not feel;
feet, but do not walk;
and they do not make a sound in their throat.
8 Those who make them become like them;
so do all who trust in them.

9 O Israel, [1] trust in the Lord!
He is their help and their shield.
10 O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord!
He is their help and their shield.
11 You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord!
He is their help and their shield.

12 The Lord has remembered us; he will bless us;
he will bless the house of Israel;
he will bless the house of Aaron;
13 he will bless those who fear the Lord,
both the small and the great.

14 May the Lord give you increase,
you and your children!
15 May you be blessed by the Lord,
who made heaven and earth!

16 The heavens are the Lord's heavens,
but the earth he has given to the children of man.
17 The dead do not praise the Lord,
nor do any who go down into silence.
18 But we will bless the Lord
from this time forth and forevermore.
Praise the Lord!

Temple Tour

2008-06-07T03:54:00.003-06:00

Today after getting back from my dad's house, we met up with the team to do what I'm calling our "temple tour." We went to the Grand Palace with the Emerald Buddha and to Wat Arun, a famous temple in Bangkok I'd never actually been to. It was great fun. It was an extremely hot day, the hottest since we've been here, but it was beautiful. Visiting temples always brings out a mix of emotions in me. There are so many intricate details and really cool things to see, but it's also so sad to see people bowing dow before idols. When you think of it, pray for Thailand.

above and below: Adelaide on the lawn at the Grand Palace. We didn't actually go in. We've been there about 5 or 6 times now and the 250 baht (8 dollar) price tag per person seemed a bit too high.

Me and Adelaide on a water taxi crossing the Chao Praya river to Wat Arun. I'm sportin' my new sunglasses I bought off the street on the way to the boat for $1! The water taxi was 10 cents which was awesome. :
A cool shot of a monk on the water taxi with us to Wat Arun:

One of the many buildings at Wat Arun (temple of the dawn):

Notice all the roofs have what look like horns on the corners. Those are supposed to prevent spirits from going inside:

A random flower photo:

Me and Libby at the top of Wat Arun. We had to climb 3 sets of ungodly steep stairs to get up there. You can see the Chao Praya river and Bangkok in the background:

Those crazy stairs I was talking about:

Most Thai males are monks at some point. Here's 2 kid monks:

Wat Arun is mostly made out of pieces of China. It makes each section of the temple unique:

The team (sans me) L to R sorta: Rocky, Chris, Liza, Isabella (4), Adelaide, Zach (2), Andrew, Libby, and Matt.

To Top off a Good Evening

2008-06-07T03:54:00.001-06:00

We have had lots of adventures over the past few days and even though I'm wiped, I just wanted to update real quick while Adelaide is napping.

Thursday evening after Rocky got off work, our good friend P'Din took us and the team to the Khao Mon Gai (a yummy dish of chicken and gingery oily rice) place near where we used to live. Well, it was closed as it is about half the time we try to go there. They are just open until they sell everything they've made for the day. I have to say I wasn't too disappointed though because that meant we'd go to P'Din's favorite restaurant. We'd only been there once with him before but I remember that we absolutely loved it. I was right and we loved it again.

The part of town the restaurant is in doesn't get alot of tourists which is understandable because this place is the epitomy of a hole in the wall. The restaurant basically consisted of a bunch of tables with stools along and in the street. It was worth the risk of getting hit by a motorcycle though. The food was so good!

That wasn't the end of the greatness though. As we were finishing up dinner, we look up and see an elephant! Yep, an elephant walking down the street. Now we've experienced this before but it's not commonplace enough for us not to get excited. Adelaide was not quite as excited. She was scared. Looking back maybe we shouldn't have just rushed up to it. She seemed freaked out that first of all, it was so big, and then second of all, that its nose was also an arm. She pretty much clung to Rocky the entire time.

After dinner and hanging out with the elephant, we walked to a market. Adelaide was showered with attention there. She is everywhere here but she was given fruit, flowers, and had her picture taken I don't know how many times. She was such a trooper through it all and smiled through it all (except when she had a staple poking her the neck in the picture below).

At the market we got loads of khao naow ma muang (mango and sticky rice) to share with the team. Then we piled in P'Din's VW van for the trip back home. Ah, this is what I love about Thailand.

Here's a couple more pics from the market:

NightLight

2008-06-04T04:44:00.001-06:00

Last Thursday we visited NightLight Bangkok, a ministry to women involved in prostitution. We were impressed with the ministry and the number of women they have been able to help. We met with a Thai woman named "Bang," one of the 5 founders of NightLight. The ministry was started by 4 American women (one of whom is our friend Natalie) and Bang. They all met through Rahab ministries, another ministry to prostitutes in Bangkok. Rahab is centered around the Patpong area of the city. These ladies had a vision to reach out to women in another part of the city, NaNa.

They originally started by going to the bars a couple times a week just befriending women that worked there. (That personally seems like a scary outreach to me. They aren't the kind of bars we go to in America if you know what I mean). The first night they went to the NaNa area a woman told them she wanted to get out of prostitution. They didn't have much to offer at the time but Annie, the founder, began meeting with her at McDonald's teaching her how to make jewelry. Annie made jewelry as a hobby anyway so it came naturally. Soon the ministry expanded from just one woman to 8 to 12 and so on.

Now the ministry is made up of about 75 to 100 women at any given time. They offer anyone a job that wants one or needs one in order to get out of prostitution. The salaries (which are fairly small) are paid from the profits made from the jewelry sold (which is mostly sold in the US or the UK) and through donations.

Through person-to-person relationships, NightLight's goal is to meet the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of women in prostitution, their children, and those children brought illegally in Thailand to financially support their families by selling items in the bars and often through sexual exploitation. NightLight runs a center offering emergency aid, educational and employment opportunity, emergency child-care, language tutoring, literacy training, and biblical teaching and healing for their community.

Bang said the ladies work about 4 hours total everyday making jewelry. The quality of their work is pretty impressive. She said they have bible study every morning before work and that they all eat lunch together. In the afternoons they are learning English as well. The women I met were super sweet and loved Adelaide (Nong Lamai as they all call her). I didn't see her for about 30 minutes at one point; she was being passed around all over the building.

She said that even now not a lot of the women are believers but she said they just make the Truth known to them, love them, and let God work in their lives. Thailand is less than 1% Christian. Most Thais haven't even heard the name of Jesus so there are a lot of humps to overcome. Two women are available to counsel them if they want it or need it, and two Thai pastors work for NightLight full time.

Bang said about 30% of the women leave Nightlight. Some return to their lives of prostitution. Some find other jobs. Some go back to their home towns. The ministry no longer meets at McDonalds (that would be a tight squeeze). They now have 2 townhouses that they've turned into their headquarters. It was pretty cool to see how well run it is these days.

I was amazed that through every door there were more women doing different jobs-- making jewelry, taking inventory, silk screening jewelry bags, sewing, accounting, etc. Most of the women only have a 6th grade education so they would have a hard time finding a job in many places. It was great to see that NightLight has changed so many lives. They have a retreat every year and this year seven women were baptized!

I asked Bang about the needs and she said that donations are always needed to keep and help ladies out of prostitution. She said that the Thai government doesn't really allow them to have the same non-profit status that organizations have here in the States so all donations are run through America and sent on to Thailand. Buying their jewelry is also helpful. It's mostly sold through vendors but can also be purchased through these websites:
NightLight
Trade as One
Not for Sale

I was asked not to take pictures of the women's faces but I did get some pictures around their headquarters that respected their privacy.

filming on the islands

2008-05-28T03:34:00.013-06:00

After a few days training the local media folks in Bangkok we headed south to shoot the footage for the video about what has happened since the Tsunami. Our plan was to be on 3 different islands in 5 days. We needed to get the stories of 13 people who have had major life change since the tsunami. Almost everyone we talked to were sea gypsies, the poorest of the poor. They were not until a year ago or so even considered Thai and so were not entitled to help from the government following the tsunami. These are the people Thailand CCC has spent the most time, money and effort with. We meet people who climbed trees in just enough time to keep from being swept away, while 60 homes and all the inhabitants went rushing by as the tsunami destroyed everything around them. I don't speak Thai well enough to understand everything these people said in their interviews but almost everyone of them at one point would smile. I asked one of the Thais about this and they told me it was when they were given a home or a boat or when someone shared the love of Christ with them. It was pretty great to be able to see so many new Christians who were so thankful and so loving to those around them.

We have been able to capture such amazing images. This was the first time I have shot something in the water.
The water was so blue, it's hard to put the camera down sometimes.
This is the whole team (besides me), simplebulldog and the thai media group.
I was filming the local people clean their nets.
The summer project building a pier for the villagers in the rain. I am the one under the umbrella, filming the work.
A view of some of the houses thailand CCC has built for the Morgan people.
another picture of Ko Chang [elephant island]. all the houses and the church on the hill were all built with volunteer labor and money given to CCC for the Tsunami rebuild.
inside the village, you can see the men talking in the back. They have just come in from fishing.
another photo of the morgan men getting ready to take us off the island. We had lots of fresh fish since the morgan sea gypsies fish a few times a day.

Back Again

2008-05-18T01:07:00.004-06:00

we have made it to thailand safely. after lots of flying and bad airplane food we are setting in. adelaide is having a great time and loves the food here, although she has not learned the sleeping pattern yet. She is waking up a lot at night so we are all a little tired but it is so good to be here. this morning we went to church, the same church we went to when we lived here and it was so great to see everyone. we also got to see ped and his family, you might remember ped he was our good friend in school and one of the first people i shared christ with. this morning i saw his mother and father at church,[strange because they are buddhist or were and have always thought ped was crazy for his beliefs] they are coming because the church cared for them while his father was sick and has been healed miraculously from cancer. peds dad believes that god healed him because of the prayers of the people at mahaporn church. it is so good to see how god has blessed ped and to know that god let me play a part in his plan for his life. [cup coon pra jow] thai for praise god. I will keep you updated and add some pictures later, thanks for your prayers and help. -us

April update

2008-04-24T14:08:00.009-06:00

a shot from the first film, wings. it was shot at our house so the neighbors were pretty interested. notice the young boy on the roof, don't worry there is a stunt man up there with him.

this is the camera we used for one of the films. we were pretty lucky to get to use it. It is the a very cool camera.

"Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn't she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she ﬁnds it? And when she ﬁnds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.' In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." Luke 15:8-10

There are seasons of life. Sometimes we feel like we haven’t made a short ﬁlm in forever, and then there are months like the past two where work seems like it’s been non-stop. We’ve made 3 short ﬁlms recently. I could write a ton about each, but instead I’ll brieﬂy summarize. Each Thursday our team meets in the morning for prayer and a brief Bible study. One week in February we were looking at the parable of the lost coin, and we started talking about how we could make a short ﬁlm based on the story. We came up with “Vinyl.” It follows a guy who has an extensive record collection. He discovers one missing and tears up his apartment trying to ﬁnd it. Eventually he ﬁnds it and celebrates with a party (playing the record he found of course!). This ﬁlm will go on our next DVD and can be used to create discussion that links directly to a Bible story. This past week we shot two more ﬁlms that will also be on our next DVD as well as with a Bible study series that will be used on campuses all over the US. One ﬁlm is called “Leland” and is a story about two friends who haven’t seen each other since grade school. One is now a successful children’s author who writes books about his childhood imaginary friend, Leland. As they talk, it becomes clear that he still believes in Leland and that it has trapped him in his house and kept him from experiencing life on his own. His friend decides that the only way he can help him ﬁnd freedom is to kill Leland, his
imaginary friend. How do you do that you ask? Well, you’ll just have to wait and watch the ﬁlm. “Leland” will spur discussion about truth & helping others ﬁnd freedom from sin in their lives.
“Wings” opens with two parents panicking because their son is standing on the roof ready to jump. He tells them that he’s sure he can ﬂy. They try to convince him that he can’t and is in danger, but he jumps anyway. They freak out, but their son lands safely in front of them. As they embrace him, the camera pulls back and we see that the boy, his parents, and even the onlooking neighbors have wings. They’ve just convinced themselves that they can’t ﬂy. This ﬁlm is designed to spur discussion about using the gifts that God has given us. It’s rewarding to get to use the gifts that God has given me to make these ﬁlms that will help to draw students in to spiritual discussions. I can’t wait to see how God uses these ﬁlms. Thanks for partnering with us to make it all possible!

THIS SUMMER
May 15-June 25 we will once more be in Thailand. We are very excited to go back for the 4th time and to bring Adelaide for her ﬁrst visit. We will be doing something a little diﬀerent this year. In the past, we’ve worked on college campuses sharing the Gospel with students. This time we’re doing something more like what Rocky does on a daily basis-- making a Documentary.
As you know a few years ago Thailand was struck by a tsunami that devastated its coast. Many were killed and many others were left homeless and alone. Thai Campus Crusade for Christ missionaries immediately traveled to the aﬀected areas to help wherever there was a need. We heard of Thai CCC staﬀ who were sorting through and photographing bodies, staﬀ helping people ﬁnd loved ones; we heard stories of homes being rebuilt. All the things that these CCC missionaries did had an impact, not just a temporary one in many cases, but an eternal one. Rocky, along with the Simplebulldog team, will be capturing the stories of the many new believers that resulted from the work of CCC. These stories will be used to share the Gospel with others as well as to encourage and thank believers around the World for their gifts and prayers for this eﬀort. As they are making this documentary, they will also be training Thai CCC on how to do video media on their own, which they’ve been wanting to learn for awhile. When I think of our trip to Thailand next month, tons of prayer requests ﬂood my mind. Here’s a short list. Seriously I came up with alot more! We’d appreciate your prayers for the transition to a place halfway around the world, that despite a 12 hour time diﬀerence, we settle in quickly. Pray that even though we’ll share one room for the summer that we’d all get good rest. Pray that Adelaide and I would ﬁnd things to do to occupy our time well while Rocky works. Pray for safe travel especially for the guys as they will be going to a small remote island (with no electricity or water) for ﬁlming. Pray that the work of documenting and training would useful and eﬀective in reaching people for Christ and encouraging believers.

FAMILY STUFF
Wow. So much has happened since we last wrote. We celebrated Adelaide’s ﬁrst birthday on March 21 and what a year it has been. Adelaide is now a full ﬂedged toddler. She began walking back in February and is now quite the pro. She’s starting to talk up a storm both with words and with sign language. I love that she is beginning to be able to communicate with us. She loves to give us hugs and kisses (we don’t mind them too much either). She has a whopping 12 teeth now and is pretty much tackling any food we throw her way including steak (not that she’s had that opportunity too often!). She loves to “read” with me or alone. Oh, and along with it we’re starting to get a little of the toddler attitude; I could do without that part.
Last time we wrote Adelaide had been struggling with sickness. Well she continued to struggle over and over. She had continual ear infections, a snotty nose, and almost daily vomiting for over 3 months. The poor girl didn’t gain any weight for 3 months which had me stressed, but ﬁnally just 3 days after her birthday we had tubes put in her ears. She still had a cold for about a week after the surgery but now she’s (knock on wood!) totally well. We are so glad to see our little girl feeling good again. She was a trooper through it all, but it was still hard to see. Please pray for continued health for all of us especially as we travel this summer.

Filming

2008-04-09T12:46:00.003-06:00

This weekend and beginning of next we'll be filming two short films-- Wings and Leland. More to come on the details of those soon. Friday night we'll even be filming at my house. Pray that everything goes smoothly; we're running into issues with the city. If you live here in austin and would like to come check it out you're welcome to.

To Orlando

2007-10-29T19:42:00.000-06:00

Rocky heads to Orlando tomorrow afternoon to help shoot a few commercials that will be shown on college campuses around the US to promote Big Break, a spring break opportunity for Campus Crusade students. Please pray for safe travels for him and that the filming goes well. The weather there isn't looking so great with a tropical storm brewing and all. Also please pray for Adelaide and I as he's away especially as our little girl hasn't been feeling 100% for awhile.

Where’s Troy

2007-10-24T08:23:00.000-06:00

When we made the film La Busqueda, we prayed that it would be very useful to the body of Christ-- that it would bring on conversations that would allow Christians to share their life and beliefs. As you know from previous updates, God is indeed using it all over the world. Now The Jesus Film is using our film in short film festivals. Students get together to watch films and then talk about what they think the films mean. These film festivals have been taking place in Spain, France, Italy, the USA and lots of other countries and have stirred up questions about spiritual things in the lives of many. CCC staff and student leaders have asked us if they could get the films and do their own festivals. So along with the Jesus Film, we created a DVD that can be used to host a short film festival of any size. Even in its demo version it was used in lots of different settings, from one on one to groups over 400. The DVD gives any person the ability to use film to reach those around them.

So what is “Where’s Troy”? Well, we wanted to include some instructions on how to use the DVD to put on a film festival, but as you know some people just don’t read instructions [like when I assembled Adelaide’s crib and then reassembled it after Sunee’s review]. So instead of using written instructions, we created “Where’s Troy?” a short film that explains how to use the DVD to spur on spiritual conversation. I was the DP, director of photography, on this shoot and I had a great time doing it. When you watch it, remember it’s a how-to video.

I also just finished shooting a promotional comedic short for our upcoming Dallas Winter Conference-- you remember the conference where I have been a gnome the past few years. DWC is such a life-changing conference in the lives of so many students, it’s exciting to let students know about it. Although the content is meant to be funny, I was very happy with the camera work that I did on it.

Family Update and Prayer Requests

2007-10-24T07:34:00.000-06:00

Adelaide just turned 7 months old. I’m struck on a regular basis by how she seems more and more like a kid. She’s just as happy as ever (which is pretty amazing considering all she’s had going on over the past couple of months-- see the prayer requests). She’s on her way to crawling-- scooting backwards and rocking on her knees. She sits up very well on her own, loves to eat lots of solids, and is still cutting her first tooth (and has been for a month!). A few of her favorite things are her wooden blocks, books, pears, cell phones, being with people, and being tickled (oh, wait. that’s our favorite thing). As always you can check out more updates than you can handle here.

Thyroid Issues
If you follow our family blog you may have read that Sunee has been having thyroid issues. She’s been to see a specialist twice. The doctor thinks things may be going back to normal on their own. Please pray this is the case and that Sunee’s thyroid will remain normal and consistent.

Adelaide-- one thing after another
First it was a virus. Then is was teething. Then it was a cold. Then it was an ear infection. Now it's a virus and teething again. The poor girl hasn’t been herself for what seems like months. And since she’s only 7 months old, that’s a long time. Please pray that she gets totally well soon and that she somehow manages to avoid sickness again for awhile (even as winter quickly approaches).

Travels
We’ll be doing alot of traveling over the next couple months-- Rocky will be in Orlando at the end of the month to help shoot some videos for an upcoming student conference held in Florida. We’ll all be going to a CCC Staff Conference at Pine Cove, a trip to Louisiana for Thanksgiving, a Christmas trip to Michigan, another conference in Dallas around the New Year, and who knows what else. Please pray for safe travels for us all.

Thank you all so much for caring for us, praying for our family, and supporting what we do. We thank God for you.

Summer Update

2007-08-10T14:53:00.000-06:00

Adelaide gets bigger every day, go figure.

CM 2007

I could just say we have been traveling a lot but instead I want to say we have been “movin’ on along.” It sounds more like something C.W. McCall would say and since I’m currently listening to him, I’ll go with that. Check him out, I have a feelin' trucker country will win you over. Anyway, Sunee did a calculation of how many miles I’ve traveled over the past few months and her rough estimate is 19,950. Needless to say, we’re excited we’ll be home for a little while.

Korea

In late June and early July, I was in Korea for a worldwide missions conference, CM2007. 16,000 staff and students traveled to Pusan to pray about reaching the 6,000 unreached campuses of the world for Christ. Students came from Mongolia, Tanzania, Indonesia, Thailand, Australia, the USA and about 115 more countries. Many of the students there had never traveled before, and quite of a few of the countries represented can’t even be listed here for security reasons. Some who came paid over a year’s wages to get there. It was so exciting to see so many believers worshiping together and learning from one another. It was a little glimpse of what heaven may look like one day, people from every tribe. . . Our team was there not only to take part but also to document this once in a lifetime gathering. If you look up CM2007 on you tube you will see tons of videos from the conference. There are videos of the vision for the conference, things during the conference, and lots more. Of course there is one our team made as well.

Colorado

July 15-26, Sunee, Adelaide, and I went to the biannual Campus Crusade for Christ staff conference in Fort Collins, Colorado. Every other year staff from the USA and many other parts of the world gather together. The conference was very encouraging and helped to prepare all of us for a new year of ministry. We heard from many great people like Donald Miller and the Women of Faith speakers. We also heard visionary talks from Campus Crusade’s own leadership and saw many life changing stories from those affected by the ministry. It was also a great time to visit with fellow Crusaders that we don’t get to see very often.

Since we were already in Colorado, we decided to take a few days after the conference to have a family vacation. We stayed in Estes Park in a cabin (where a bear frequented the dumpster every night!) and visited Rocky Mountain National Park which was absolutely beautiful. For Adelaide it was all about firsts. It’s a pretty extensive list since most everything but eating, sleeping, and pooping was all new. It was her first time to fly, see snow, hike, and see animals like bison and elk, just to name a few. It was a wonderful time. I’m so glad we got to do it. It definitely made Texas feel twice as hot when we returned though.

Kiddo

Adelaide is growing SO fast. It’s crazy to think that she’s already 4 months old. She isn’t such a little baby anymore. She’s starting to eat solid food now. She’s tripoding (sitting up while leaning on her hands). She laughs and squeals often. She is definitely an extrovert. She loves animals as much as her mom. She’s cute as ever and her hair is still as pathetic as ever (Rocky says she gets it from him). And in my personal opinion, she has one of the greatest smiles in the world. OK enough bragging, or is it? If you’d like to hear more, you can go to Adelaide's site

Prayer Requests
-that the money needed to finish the proposed film for Turkey would come in soon so that we don’t loose ground on that project.
-that we would be able to settle into our new office before our next big project.
-Rocky’s grandma just discovered she’s lost vision in one of her eyes. Please pray for her health.

CM 2007

CM 2007

From Korea

2007-07-02T20:58:00.000-06:00

Lots of students, I mean lots.

For the past few days I have been capturing on camera the students and staff of the cm 2007 conference. Last night the Korean students joined us making the total number of participants about 16,000+. It was pretty cool to see all these people singing and praying together. Last night Dr. Joon Gon Kim, the founder of CCC Korea, spoke. For an 80+ year old guy he sure can get excited. Miss Korea also gave her testimony and played some classic Korean music on the Gayageum.

One of the great things, especially for those from poor cultures about this conference is that CCC Korea raised the money for all in country expenses. When you figure in transportation, housing, sightseeing, food and more the Koreans have worked very hard and raised a lot of money to make this conference possible. I have heard that every student and staff and many many churches worked together to raise the money. One student went on a quiz show and dedicated all of her winnings to the conference, she beat all the other participants and was able to tell what she was doing with the prize on national TV.

There is a lot going on and we are trying to film it all. Keep us in your prayers as we spend time with students hearing about what God is doing in there lives. As you can imagine this many Christians in one place from all over the world is not only a logistical nightmare but there ane many security issues, please pray for all that stuff. Pray that students will learn from one another and hear from God about what he might call them to do to reach all the unreached of the world.

There are people from all over the world here.

Some of the food here seems very familiar.

More from Korea

2007-07-01T08:29:00.000-06:00

Rocky's having some technical difficulty posting things on the blog himself. The IP tells blogger he's in Korea and everything's coming up in Korean which makes navigating the website a little more difficult. Rocky wanted me to pass on a few pictures to you.

This is our good friend P'Din. Rocky and I spent alot of time with him when we lived in Thailand. He is on staff with CCC at one of the biggest universities in Bangkok. We haven't gotten to see him since last summer so I know Rocky is enjoying spending time with him. He is a very funny guy so that's a plus in my book, and he's also very passionate about the Gospel. We always love being with P'Din.

As I mentioned before, Rocky's team is in Korea not only to experience the conference, but also to document this amazing event. Here's Rocky running one of the cameras.

From these two pictures of the conferences you can get a glimpse of what it's like to be there. Koreans, Americans, Africans, Thais, people from 127 countries worshiping and learning together.

CM 2007

2007-06-30T09:30:00.000-06:00

Rocky is now in Korea and will hopefully be updating the blog soon. There have been a couple of hitches all the way but he's still very excited to be there. When Rocky went to make his connecting flight to Korea via Asiana airlines, the ticketing agent told them, "sorry the ticketing office is closed." Rocky and his teammates had already checked in at the Austin airport for all their flights and the plane wasn't even boarding so Rocky put up a fight (not literally of course). Finally after some convincing the agent gave the guys boarding passes. Rocky said the airline was very "asian" with he and his teammates being the only 3 white guys on board. And not that I'm being stereotypical, ok maybe a little bit, but the organization (or lack thereof) was very asian as well. Maybe that's why the guys' bags didn't make it to Korea quite as quickly as the guys did. Luckily Rocky had the foresight to pack some extra pants and underwear or otherwise that would have made for a rough 3 days. He did get all his luggage today which was just in time for the conference.

I'm so jealous that I can't be there and be a part of cm2007. There are college students and believers from 127 countries gathered together to learn from one another and worship together. It's probably one of the closest worship experiences any of us will ever experience this side of heaven. The vision for the conference to excite, remind, and prepare students to reach the unreached people of the world. Now. After the conference there will even be spontaneous mission trips available for people to go on if they feel led to reach a certain part of the world. Sounds like a logistical nightmare, but also sounds so cool for people to go without delay.

Although there are about 20,000 people there, Rocky's already been able to connect with Thai friends of ours and other Campus Crusade missionaries we don't get to see very often. It really is a small world.

Rocky's team is there to document this amazing event. They've split up into 3 teams to video and edit their footage as they go. They've got to have a video of the conference complete and ready to go by the Staff Conference in Colorado in a couple of weeks. Rocky's in charge of managing everything so he could use your prayers that he won't miss something important.

Oh, yeah. Rocky could also use your prayers when it comes to meal time. Here's a direct quote from an email he sent me: "The provided food here is a little umm... Not good. Americans were not the only ones looking at it praying for God to somehow turn the tentacles [no lie] into chicken." Rough for a guy that doesn't even like seafood.

If you're interested in checking out some of the gathering, you can view the conference live at www.cm2007.net. I'm having some issues getting my mac to view it but as soon as I can figure it out, I'm gonna be checking it out myself.

Upcoming travel and prayer requests

2007-06-14T21:31:00.000-06:00

Things are busy right now and it looks like they will stay that way ‘til August. My team is moving office buildings, which is a major answer to prayer as we and the rest of the Regional team have been cramped in a small space for a long time.
Please keep our travels in your prayers since Rocky will be away quite a bit; here’s some upcoming things on the calendar:
June 7-13— Rocky will be in North Carolina and Minnesota filming testimonies of what God is doing. These stories will all be compiled and shown at the staff conference in July.
June 27-July 7— Rocky will be in Busan, Korea for Campus Mission 2007, where an estimated 20,000 Christian college students from all around the world will gather together to worship, learn from one another, and mobilize to reach the Lost. Rocky’s team will be documenting this visionary missions conference. You can read more about it at www.cm2007.net.
July 15-26— All of us will be in Ft. Collins, CO for the bi-annual Campus Crusade for Christ staff conference. The conference is a time of training, encouragement, vision and a good time to see staff friends from all over the world. Please pray for support for this conference. The total including flights, lodging, & tuition will be about $2300.

Parenthood, the first 2 months

2007-06-14T21:29:00.002-06:00

Adelaide is now 10 weeks old, and we have been pleasantly surprised at how much we enjoy being parents. Adelaide is pretty much the perfect kid; we can’t help but brag. She’s sleeping through the night and has been since she was only a few weeks old. She is super strong; the pediatrician said she’s above average in her development. She’s healthy and happy too. She smiles and coos all the time and has been doing so since she was not quite 5 weeks old. She’s easy going and enjoys being anywhere. Don’t be too jealous though; she does have fussy times too.

We just had our first road trip over the Memorial day weekend. Sunee was nervous about it messing up Adelaide’s nap and sleep schedule, but it was good to see loved ones. Adelaide visited Judson Baptist and New Beginnings Church, had her first crawfish boil, rode grandpa’s tractor, went swimming, and met the livestock on the family farm. She was ooh’ed and aah’ed at for days, and her toes and checks were under constant attack. For those of you who just can’t get enough of little Adelaide, you can follow her every move at http://www.babyconly.blogspot.com/.

“Something Catchy”

2007-06-14T21:29:00.001-06:00

Every summer thousands of college students go on summer projects around the world with Campus Crusade for Christ. Both Sunee and I went on summer projects when we were college students. I went to East Asia and had my first international experience, and Sunee went to Yellowstone National Park where she washed dishes and shared Christ with her co-workers. Those summers forever changed our lives. So when the opportunity came up for me to promote summer projects, I definitely wanted to be part.

Last month I traveled to Orlando to make a “catchy” video that will be shown on campuses around the US to inform students about summer mission opportunities through Crusade. I worked alongside some other CCC staff members, Rhett and Link. They have a great video podcast that has been very popular on youtube and other websites so it was cool to work with these online celebrities. You can check them out at www.rhettandlink.com. This new video will premiere and become available at the Crusade staff conference in Ft. Collins next month. We hope campus leaders will find it useful in encouraging students to step out in faith and go on summer missions.

Here's some pictures from the set of "Something Catchy." Rocky was set manager.

More pictures of Adelaide

2007-04-16T21:55:00.000-06:00

I couldn't resist putting some more pictures of our little one up. These were all taken over the past week or so. It's crazy to think that she's almost 4 weeks old. She's a pretty great kid. We're even getting pretty decent sleep most nights.

Adelaide gets lots of kisses from her us both.

Here's one of our first family photos. We've gotten so wrapped up with taking pictures of Adelaide we've forgotten to take pictures together.

We already can't resist her adorable smile.

Our cats have no idea what to think of Adelaide. They usually avoid her totally. Here's one of Scooter's closest encounters with her.

She's here

2007-04-05T09:56:00.000-06:00

Adelaide Lamai Conly entered the world on the first day of spring, March 21, 2007 at 5:50 pm after over 15 hours of labor. As you know, Adelaide wanted to cook a little longer than the typical baby and was scheduled for induction on the 21st. Well, Sunee being a true procrastinator went into labor on her own Wednesday morning, a little over 4 hours before we were supposed to go into the hospital anyway. Things went pretty smoothly. Adelaide never once "complained" as the nurse phrased it. She's a tough, healthy kiddo who was born with stellar apgar scores of 9 and 10. She was 7 lb. 4 oz and 20.5 inches long. She wasn't nearly as big as the doc thought she was gonna be. She was just right.

She's pretty great. The transition hasn't been easy but really hasn't been that bad either. It's just weird to not be able to get up and go as easily as we used to. The most difficult thing about the transition has been feeding our little one. We've always wanted Adelaide to be breastfed but Sunee's been struggling with her milk supply. She's seeing a lactation consultant weekly for advice. We'd definitely appreciate prayers for us in this area. Other than that, things couldn't be better. The pediatrician says she's not just doing well, that she's excellent.

Here's some pictures of our girlie from the first few days. Enjoy but don't be too jealous that we've got the cutest baby in the world. :)

Pregnancy, Week 41

2007-03-11T15:47:00.000-06:00

So here it is 5 days past the big day. Patience is wearing thin. God always seems to think we need work in this area and He's right--we do. Anyway, I just wanted to send out another update since everyone's so anxious to hear what's going on.

I went to the doctor last Wednesday and there wasn't a ton to report. She said our daughter has indeed dropped a little bit and I was dilated to a whopping 1! I hope this isn't too much info for ya.

I will have to go back into the doctor on Tuesday if I haven't delivered before then. Keep your fingers and toes crossed for us that we'll get to cancel that appointment. :) At that time they'll have to do another ultrasound and something called a non-stress test. They are basically looking to see that everything is still looking OK. After that we'll have to make a decision about induction. Please pray that we will make wise decisions about how to progress and that my impatience won't get in the way of what's best for our daughter and myself.

Due Date, Smue Date

2007-03-07T09:56:00.000-06:00

I know that every one says the due date is just an ETA for a baby, but it was still a bit disappointing I gotta admit when yesterday came and went with no little one in the picture. It's really funny how a week or so ago we weren't so ready for the big day, but now it's almost all we can think about. Now the room's ready, the bags are packed for the hospital, the car seat base is in the car, the calendar's free and clear. We are just so excited to meet our daughter (and get the uncomforts of pregnancy out of the way too). I know the transition's still gonna be a shocker, but it's a shocker that we are now welcoming.

Thank you all so much for continuing to pray for us and care for us. We are going to the doc today to see if there's any progress happening. Standard policy is that we'll now have 2 weeks before we have to have a scheduled induction. Pray that it doesn't come down to that. Pray that nature will take it's course soon. My doctor's even on call all weekend so that's nice too.

We will definitely keep you updated when the labor day does come. The hospital has free wi-fi of course so Rocky plans on emailing everyone at least once while we're in the hospital.

Stuff from January [I know it's February]

2007-02-13T08:07:00.000-06:00

Dallas Winter Conference

Once again, DWC was a success. Over 900 students and staff from around our region gathered to learn about the Kingdom of God—what it is, what it means to be a part of it, and how to be about the work of the Kingdom. I’ve said that this is always one of my favorite weeks on staff because we get to be a part of incredible things the Lord is doing in students’ lives. This year was no different. But I don’t want you to hear from me. I want you to hear from the students. Listen to what they said about their week and praise and thank the Lord for all He has done and is doing. Thank you so much for your continued role in changing students lives. What students said:

“God renewed my passion for people and the nations especially... I intend to go to Thailand this summer on a CCC summer project.”

“He encouraged me about going out to share with others the good news about Him. It's something I avoid but it was encouraging to go out into the city and share the gospel.”

“God taught me that my life is not about me but about Him and His kingdom.”

“He just softened my heart even more for the lost and the everyday people on campus that I come in contact with. He showed me that that is my calling as a Christian— to build relationships with non-Christians and show Christ's love to them. I am not called to a "safe" life as a Christian. . .”

“He humbled me through the outreach events because I really saw Him working through me and opening up ways for me to connect with people.”

“DWC was amazing and the Lord showed me so many things. I realized how my life was and wanted to change that. I was a "borderline" Christian, meaning I believed in Jesus and knew him but I didn’t have a relationship with him. I had a lot of alone/ prayer time and asked for the Holy Spirit to enter my heart. The Lord met me in my time of need and I fully accepted Jesus Christ and praise him for everything he has blessed me with.”

“The Lord showed me I needed to make more of an effort to reach out to the non-Christian community in my dorm, instead of just pouring into my Christian Cru friends. He also helped me to confess past sexual sin to a good friend for the first time and helped me make a commitment to certain physical boundaries in future relationships.”

International Summer Project Leaders Training
Leading a group of 20 college students to a completely foreign country for 6 weeks can be a very daunting task for many Campus Crusade staff. The International Summer Project Leaders Training is there to help leaders know what to anticipate as they prepare for the upcoming summer.

A couple of days after DWC, Sunee headed down to San Antonio for the annual Summer Project Leaders Training. There were almost 200 staff from all over the States there that will be leading international summer projects. Sunee was there to lead and direct the leaders from our region.

It was a bittersweet conference for Sunee as she got to know the leaders knowing that she will soon be stepping out of her role as summer projects coordinator. Sunee has loved her job because she has had a big part in helping hundreds of students and staff experience life changing international mission trips.

Please pray for our region’s 8 summer projects to East Asia, Thailand, North Africa, Russia, and Italy. Also keep the leaders of these projects in your prayers as many of them are leading for the first time.

Baby Conly (& Mom) update
Little Baby Conly is still doing well, perfectly as far as we can tell :). The due date is approaching in about 5 weeks! It’s amazing how time really flies. A few months ago I remember thinking that we had plenty of time to get everything done, but now I’m wondering how everything will come together and if we’ll ever be ready for our daughter’s arrival. But we know it all will happen. It has to! Please continue to pray for good health for Sunee and the baby and for a great delivery!

As we mentioned before, Sunee will be transitioning out of her current role to another full time job as a mom. Please pray that the transition will go well for Sunee as she stays at home and pray for her current team that they will survive losing her!

Home for the Holidays

2007-01-05T11:24:00.000-06:00

Here's Sunee and our daughter on Christmas day. It was a really nice relaxing day. Mr. Kim, Rocky's dad, started by reading the Christmas story and then we exchanged gifts. From there we headed to Sunee's grandmother's house for the Ballard family get together.
Another fun thing we got to do while we were back in Louisiana was hang out with Chad, Kaisa, and Micah Young. They were some of the first friends we had here in Austin and now we've sort of traded places. They are in Thibodeaux, LA teaching at Nicholls State.
The Wednesday before Christmas we got to go to The New Beginnings Baptist Mission. They have supported what we do even before they had a church building. The church is growing rapidly-- from 2 to about 40 on some Sundays. We shared a little about what we do and got to meet many members of the church. It was a good time.

2006-12-06T15:53:00.000-06:00

So, Rocky makes movies, right?

Describing what Rocky does can be very confusing at times. Yes, he does make short films with Crusade, but what does that exactly mean? What are the films used for? What part
does Rocky actually play in the whole process and is this even effective? We hope that by the time you’re done reading this letter that some of your questions (if you had any) may be answered.

Rocky works with a team of 5 others. Together they make up Simplebulldog. There are 4 main things that go into making each short film—planning, filming, editing, & distrib-
uting. With such a small team, they are all involved with every part of every project. Sure, some of them are better at certain aspects, but they all contribute and give input on each film.
Rocky is sort of a details kind of guy. He’s good at seeing everything that needs to come together for a film and managing it. This seems to be rare among creative-type folks. He’s
also really good on location. Maybe it’s his art background coming out, but he’s good at selecting camera angles, lighting a scene, and generally making something look good. This isn’t all he does, but I’d say these are his specialties.

Now you know a little bit about what goes into making a short film, but what’s the purpose of these projects, how are they used, and are they effective? Without answers to these
questions, honestly all the rest doesn’t matter, right?

Well, as you know, technology in general influences our lives a great deal, but I think it influences the lives of college students even more. Young people actually search for answers
to life’s big questions through media. That’s why we think it’s important to make use of these resources to tell people about Christ. Hey, the rest of the world uses them everyday to influence others, shouldn’t we do the same?

So why film? Because it’s powerful. It has the ability to draw us into a story, stir our emotions, and get us thinking. But film’s limited. Sure, it could have a prayer at the end but
without more, I’m not sure it would really change lives. That’s why our films are designed to help missionaries around the world talk with students about Christ. Campus Crusade’s got folks in almost every country. We love to get our short films into their hands. Our desire is that through these films, someone would start thinking about God, eternity, and the
big stuff and that then Crusade folks could be there to help as they wrestle with questions-- now that’s life changing & powerful.

We could have a standard story that was dubbed into many languages, but our goal is to make culturally relevant films that really speak to the people we are reaching out to. That
means the story isn’t only in their language, but it’s really focused on their culture. The stories may not always make the most sense to us, but the important thing is that they speak to their audience.

La Busqueda, the last major short film we did, has been seen by literally hundreds of thousands. We’ve heard back from many CCC staff in Mexico, Spain, Italy, and France, and
here’s a few things we’ve heard:

“[A French student] was very surprised by the short movie saying that he didn't know that Christianity was like that, he thought that it was irrelevant to hislife and boring,
but now he is ready to hear the claims of Christ. Many thinkthe same because of your short movie!”

“The video really worked as a great intro as it spoke directly to many students’ lives. We've done pizza parties before but I feel that using the video was probably the most
effective way for us to transition from party to gospel presentation.”

“We showed [2 student government girls] La Busqueda and when we asked if they wanted to hear about how they can know God personally, they responded ‘Yes!’. They
both received Christ and have done a little bit of the follow-up with us.”

These are just a few of the many stories we’ve heard in response to one of our films. It’s so exciting to think that a project we worked on for a few months is impacting lives all over
the World. Thank you for partnering with us to reach the World for Christ one culturally relevant, conversation starting short film at a time.

2006-12-05T17:43:00.000-06:00

Two projects with one stone

As you may remember from our last prayer letter, Rocky went to Spain and Turkey to work on some projects re-cently. The Spain part of the trip was for a project we are doing with the Jesus Film. They have begun using our short films around the world. The Turkey part of the trip was for our next big film. It will be similar to our last big film project, La Busqueda (see it at simplebulldog.com), as far as scope; but it will be targeted at a different audience. I could write down all the details but instead I will just show you some of my pictures from the trip.

My time in Spain was spent filming the testimonies/stories of actors that participated in La Busqueda.

Me & Chris, my team leader, at the entrance to a village in Turkey. We plan to shoot our next film here.

Me in the equipment rental house in Istanbul, Turkey where we’ll rent our lighting and cam-era stuff. Finding a good rental place was one among many things we had to do while on this preliminary planning trip.

While looking for locations for the film in Turkey, we met some interesting people. Here’s a couple of them!

The guy on the left is a Turkish villager who invited us into his home (and loved showing off his antique gun). We will be using his home in our film.

Boy or Girl?

2006-11-07T11:35:00.000-06:00

On October 17, Rocky and I went in for the “big appointment.” And. . .drumroll please. . .we’re having a girl! We were kinda hoping for our first kid to be a boy so that he could be a big brother, but we’re just very happy
every thing looked good and healthy on the ultrasound. The top picture is our daughter from the side. You can see her arm up by her head. She likes to move those arms around as lot. She did while we were having the ultrasound and does it lots everyday. She is a squirmer, but it's fun for me to get be reminded she's there repeatedly during the day :). The bottom picture is of one of her cute feet. The sonographer counted and there are 10 toes and 10 fingers-- always a good sign!

Welcome to Campus

2006-10-24T14:59:00.000-06:00

Welcome to Campus
Rocky and I along with friends, supporters, and fellow staff headed to the University of Texas on September 26 and 27 to welcome freshmen to campus. We set up a table in a dormitory, gave away Freshmen Survival Kits,
took spiritual interest surveys, and told interested students how they could get involved in Crusade.
Over the course of the two days, our group gave out over 150 of these kits which each included a Bible, a Christian book, a laundry bag, a water bottle and more. I remember as I was giving one girl a kit, she said, “Oh, it has
a Bible in it! I’ve always wanted to read one of those.” UT Crusade has told us how helpful this annual event is in getting new students involved in the ministry. We look forward to seeing how God uses the kits and the sur-
veys to influence students’ lives.

Prayer Requests
Sunee will be in Orlando October 22-25 for a training conference.
Rocky will be in Spain and Turkey from October 30 to November 7. They will be filming some interviews as
well as preparing things for a short film they’ll be making in Turkey next spring. Pray that they have safe travels and that they accomplish everything they need to.
Please continue to pray for us and our little one. We will also be raising support for our ministry until the baby
comes; please pray that God will bring in all that we need.

OUR BIG NEWS

2006-09-11T12:54:00.000-06:00

Well, I’ll jump right in to the big news— we’re expecting. Yes indeed. A little Rocky or Sunee is on the way! I’m due March 6th, about 6 months from now. I’m currently 14 weeks pregnant, at the beginning of the second trimester. We are very excited but totally nervous at the same time. Us. Parents. Craziness.

We suspected pretty much from day 1, but had our suspicions confirmed on July 4th while we were still in Thailand. Rocky and I both had goofy smiles on our faces as we heard the nurse say in broken English, “Baby for sure.”

We kept the big news from almost every one until about 2 weeks ago. We’ve had 2 doctor’s appointments thus far and everything is looking great. We got to see the little baby about 7 weeks ago when we couldn’t make out much of anything but the steady heartbeat. (see the ultrasound photo to the left). On our most recent visit, we got to hear the heartbeat for the first time. It’s so cool that we get to see and hear what’s going on; I love technology. Rocky said he’d like to have one of those contraptions but of course he’s a gadget type of guy. I’ll have to hold him back from zapping every gadget onto our gift registry when that time comes.

My days are still spent wrapping up and planning summer projects, but my nights over the last few weeks have been much less exciting. With my morning sickness actually being night sickness, I’ve been pretty useless in the evenings. Rocky says the baby’s confused—it’s got its nights and days mixed up; it’s still on Thailand time. I’m hoping all that pukiness will end pretty soon though.

We will keep you posted on baby news for sure, especially on the news everyone (including us) is waiting to hear—boy or girl? We’d appreciate your prayers for our child’s health and mine as well. We’d also appreciate prayer for our financial support. We’ll be working on it again soon anticipating little Conly’s arrival.

We appreciate you and are so excited to share our joyful news with you.

Thailand Summer Project- Wrap-up

2006-07-26T16:50:00.000-06:00

Proof I can use a skill saw, my dad should be proud.

One of the many temples in Bangkok.

Before heading overseas, all project staff & students from our region met together for Summer Project Briefing in Dallas. Briefing helps prepare staff and students for the things they may experience during the summer—culture shock, conflict, etc. Sunee planned and ran the conference and even spoke a few times. She was nervous about it going in, especially since the hotel was about half a star, but the time went really well. We met our team there. It was made up of 14 students mostly from our region but some were from California, Michigan, & Canada. There were also 9 staff and 4 kids.

Our first week in Thailand was spent on an island building homes for the Morgan people. A year and a half ago, all their homes were destroyed by the tsunami; ever since, CCC has been rebuilding their village and has even built a church. Before the Tsunami none of the Morgan even knew about Christ, now nearly the whole tribe is Christian. Although conditions on the island were rough (no electricity or running water, no beds, no ice water, etc. ), we were able to build 6 homes during our week there.

One evening I went fishing with one of the villagers “Bomb.” While we fished, he told me about his tsunami experience. He was out fishing when the tsunami hit. The surge carried him & his boat nearly 10 miles and dropped him in some treetops uninjured. After several days, Bomb was able to make it back to his wife who was pregnant at the time. All his tribe had run into the mountains when the water pulled back, and not one of the villagers lost their life. As CCC came in to build, a Crusade staff member shared their faith with Bomb. He is now a disciple of our good friend, P’Din, and is growing in his faith.

After a day of recouping, we headed to Chiang Mai, the second largest city in Thailand. There we began working on college campuses, sharing Christ with students. Because our team was so big, we split into 2 teams. I led the group that went to Maejo University. This university is best described as the A&M of Thailand. It is an agricultural school with intense school pride and lots of traditions. Many of the students could not speak English well, but through the Thai staff we were able to have translation.

Things have changed so much in the 3 years since we left Thailand, even the response to the Gospel has changed. When we were in Bangkok, we began to see an openness to Christ, but this summer we saw an eagerness among students to know Him. Sunee went out sharing on campus everyday with P’Juum, a Thai staff, and 2 students, Amanda & Brianna. One day, they walked up to a girl and began sharing about God with her. She prayed to receive Christ and immediately asked them to call her friend and share the message with her as well. They tried to call but her friend was in class. The following day, they went up to a different girl. They shared and had the same positive response. As they sat there chatting after she prayed to receive Christ, the girl from the day before walked up—this girl was the friend that she wanted them to share with!

Sunee and I felt so blessed to be working with the students on our team. They truly connected with the culture; they cared for the Thai people well and were very bold. Many of them have committed to financially support Thai staff and all of them are considering going back to Thailand for a year. Over the course of the summer, 165 students heard the Gospel, 50 prayed to receive Christ and all of them have been connected with Thai staff and have begun follow up.

PRAYER REQUESTS
• Pray that the new believers would grow strong in their faith, that they would be bold in proclaiming the Truth even to their families.
• Pray for the long term teams in Thailand (Thai, American, and Korean) & for the support of the Thai staff.
• Pray for wrap up of summer projects for Sunee. She’s got to finish up finances, evaluations, and so much more for all the projects.

I don't miss these at all!

Life without a team

2006-07-05T00:40:00.000-06:00

Summer project was action packed til the last minute; above is a group photo of our team. We saw the group off at the Bangkok airport Monday morning bright and early. We originally planned on saying goodbye as we helped load the team into taxis, but as the last taxi drove off we heard another student, Colby, coming down the stairs. We were apologizing that he got left behind but all he kept saying was "I can't find my passport." We searched his room and his bag but couldn't find it. We thought perhaps one of his roommates grabbed it so we headed off to the airport. Our taxi driver was swerving all over the road and I asked if he was drunk. He said he wasn't cause he'd had coffee! It was obvious as he danced as he drove that he still needed a few more cups. Once we arrived at the airport, Colby's roommates looked through their bags and couldn't find it either. Rocky decided to ask the United desk what the next step was and when he did we discovered Colby had left his passport on the flight from Chiang Mai and that someone had turned it in. What a relief to a stressful morning.

The project students were great. All 14 of them are considering coming back to Thailand for a year long STINT like Rocky and I did. Despite language barriers with students and some timidity, over 30 Thais prayed to receive Christ with our team. The Thai staff are already beginning follow up with many of these new believers.

As much as we'll miss certain people on our project team, we certainly won't miss traveling in a pack of 30. Rocky and I are now in Bangkok and will be here most of the time til we fly back on the 17th. We're staying with Rocky's disciple from LA Tech, Ped, his wife Tik, and their daughter Hymn. We are actually sleeping in Hymn's room on a twin bed. I'm thinking about trading our queen in for one of those when we get back; it'd really save space in our bedroom.

We've already begun visiting parts of Bangkok we know and love (our old neighborhood, our favorite restaurant, the Thai CCC office) and today we'll go visit Kasetsart, the campus we worked on when we lived here.

As much as we love Thailand, we'll be happy to get home on the 17th. We love and miss you all!

2006-06-27T06:05:00.001-06:00

Kimchi Kimchi Kimchi

For the past week I have been in Korea, and eating a lot of the food pictured above Kimchi. It is a staple of Korean food made from fermented cabbage. As bad as that may sound it was not to bad. You are probably thinking "I thought he was in Thailand". I had to leave my Thailand summer project for one week to attend a planning conference with a few of the other folks from my simplebulldog media team. Campus Crusade is planning a gobal conference that will bring 20,000 people from around the world to Korea in the summer of 2007. It is a huge undertaking and a really cool project for our team to work on. We will be in charge of marketing and recruiting for North America. As part of our planning conference, we attended this years Korea CCC country wide conference. It is the gathering of about 10,000 Korean CCC students. It was so cool to be a part of there prayer and worship times. It was a little less exciting to sing in front of the whole group, luckly I was not alone. Tommorow morning I fly back to Thailand to be part of the rest of our summer project. By the way the pic is of me at the Korean student conference.

Last Week

2006-06-24T02:12:00.000-06:00

Last week was a phenomenal week of seeing God work. More students prayed to receive Christ than the entire rest of the time. Every day there were new stories of divine appointments. At Maejo, Rocky had the opportunity to lead a Thai guy named Thunder to Christ. I had somehow found 2 Christian girls (in a country where less than 1% are Christian) over the course of the week who were desperate for some fellowship on their campus. All of the new believers will be involved in follow up with the Thai CCC staff. Today is actually a follow up outing for those who have prayed to receive Christ thus far.

This week was also great because we got to do lots o’ fun things—ride elephants, see a snake and monkey show, and visit an orchid farm. And last night me and 2 of the STINT girls created a scavenger hunt for all the students to take part in. They ran around town doing things like eating fried worms and durian (the stinkiest fruit ever) to climbing in the moat that surrounds Chiang Mai.

I spoke with Rocky last night and he’s pretty bummed he’s missing out on some of the project. Rocky is in Korea right now. He left on Thursday and will be back this Wednesday. His media team is there also; they are part of the design team for CM 2007. CM 2007 stands for Campus Mission and will take place in Seoul next summer. It is a week long conference where college students from around the globe will gather to worship and then head out on mission trips. I don’t know all the details but it seems like it will be an incredible thing to be part of.

It’s crazy to think that next week everyone on our team will be going back to the States. This summer has flown by. We are sad they’ll be leaving but are pretty excited to go to Bangkok and hang out with old friends and Ped, one of our best friends and the first guy Rocky led to the Lord. It’ll also be nice not to be traveling in a pack of 27 all the time!

Thank you for your prayers and support of our time here. We sincerely appreciate it!

Friendship Camp

2006-06-18T01:47:00.000-06:00

Around 75 students came to our friendship camp this past weekend. They were Thai students from Maejo (the campus we work on) and 3 other campuses in Chiang Mai. About half the students were Christians.

It was a fun time. We played lots of games, sang songs, did skits, and danced the Electric slide over and over again. The first night we even had a bonfire and roasted corn over it; we’re making a note of that for future camping trips. The guys slept out in tents and the girls had cabins.

Even though students we work with are academically on a college level, their social maturity is different. Students enjoy things we enjoyed in junior high or elementary school.

The camp was held at Mak Fah national park about an hour away. The park is famous for a gorgeous waterfall. We got to play around in it Saturday after some more games (of course).

Towards the end of Saturday afternoon, the camp became a little more serious. Students shared their testimonies and P’BJ, one of the Thai staff, shared about how someone could come to know Christ as their Savior.

I don’t know how many students became believers during the weekend, but I was so encouraged to see students, Thai and American, sharing their lives with others throughout the weekend.

Campus Days

2006-06-14T21:28:00.000-06:00

Time is flying by. I can’t believe I haven’t updated y’all since last week. Our schedules are jammed packed so it’s pretty hard to find enough free time to communicate like we’d like to.

Time on campus has been great though it’s been harder here than it was in Bangkok to find English speakers. We work alongside Thai CCC staff however, so there is translation most of the time. That is such a blessing.

This weekend we’ll be having an “American Friendship Camp.” You may be wondering what a Friendship Camp is and I’m still pretty much wondering the same thing. The theme is “Friendship Beyond Frontier.” Hey, it’s Engrish. We’ll be playing games, dancing (like Father Abraham style), and doing skits. There will also be a clear Gospel presentation (in Thai). So this week we’ve been inviting students to that and if they can’t come (usually because of class on Saturday), we’ll go ahead and try to share the Gospel.

Yesterday was a pretty neat day. As Rocky and I walked in the gates of the school, a guy comes running up to us yelling, “Hey, I speak English. I saw you yesterday and I would like to talk with you.” How cool is that. We call ourselves White Magnets. We got his number and plan on hanging out with him soon. About 5 minutes later as we are heading to our campus prayer time, the same thing happens again. We got to invite that group to the Friendship Camp. Then as we are leaving it happens yet again. Monday and Tuesday had been hard, trying to find students who wanted to talk to us and then yesterday people came running to us!

Most of the day, I went out on campus with 3 other girls—Amanda from Canada, Brianna from Baylor, and P’Juum who is Thai CCC staff. Pretty soon after arriving on campus, we got into a conversation with a girl named Ja. It was amazing to be able to have a one-on-one talk since most Thais travel in packs of 5 or so. It’s weird if you are ever alone.

Ja is one of the strictest Buddhist students I’ve ever met but soon after talking with us and hearing about our lives, she asked how someone asks Christ into their life. We had the opportunity to share with her right then. Brianna, one of the girls that I’ve been training, shared her testimony and the Four Spiritual Laws for the first time ever. Ja didn’t accept Christ yesterday but now knows a little more about the Truth. Pray this will spark further interest.

About 15 minutes before we had to leave, we entered a conversation with 2 girls. I can’t remember their names right now (Thai nicknames are a little hard to remember sometimes; they’re always like Boy or It or Off or something). Both said that they had at least one Christian friend and one of the girls even went to a Christian school. She said she had asked Christ into her life 3 years before but didn’t really understand what she did. She said she never told her parents anything about it because they wouldn’t understand. She said she prays to God in secret now and He answers her prayers. It was so cool to hear that God has readied her to learn more about Him. Hopefully we’ll get to talk more with her again soon (and hopefully I’ll remember her name soon. I could just look at my phone number list).

Already this week, 2 students on our campus prayed to receive Christ and are beginning follow up. 2! At Maejo, the hardest campus in Chiang Mai!

Thanks for caring for us and praying for us while we are here. We sincerely appreciate it and can’t wait to tell all the fun stories that we don’t have time to blog about right now. We’d love to hear from you on how your summer is going; we can check email almost everyday now though we don’t have a ton of time to respond.

Our digital camera is broken so we can’t really post pictures unfortunately. However, I uploaded these from one of our teammates. There's one of me and some teammates at our welcome party (hence the powder on our faces), Rocky riding on top of a Song Tow Truck (our primary means of transportation), me with some girls at a market in Bangkok our first night in Thailand, some of the island we did Tsunami relief work on including one of the toilet there, etc. Enjoy. Excuse those that are flipped properly. :)

First Day on Campus

2006-06-07T03:06:00.000-06:00

Our project team has split into 2 groups. One will be led by Rocky and the other will be led by Jordan who we were on STINT in Bangkok with.

Our team will be on MaeJo University, an Agricultural school of about 20,000 students. It is well-known among Christians as one of the darkest campuses in Thailand. Ministry will look different here than it would on a typical Thai school.

Upon entering college, the freshmen students at MaeJo have to go through a week long hazing/ brainwashing type thing. The Buddhist club is very strong; they have worship times weekly. Many Thai students don't really practice Buddhism actively, but at MaeJo students can't help but do so.

Today we had the opportunity to get acquainted with the university, the Thai CCC staff there, and the key students. School will not start until Monday but some students were still going through the hazing rituals. It was like nothing I had seen before. The Thai staff said that every year students die because of the rituals. Really. They are forced to go without sleep. They are forced to run around the campus 10x a day. They can't walk in certain places or even raise their heads up to look around when they walk. Last night, the 3000 new Freshmen were "born" into the college. They went through a baptism-like ceremony at midnight. MaeJo is deeply engrained in Buddhist tradition and rituals, and students could be beaten for not being part of some of these activities.

Other than the insane secret ceremonies, MaeJo felt alot like the campus we used to work on in Bangkok.

Please pray for us as we try to get to know these students that so desperately need the Lord. Pray that the Lord would lead us to students that are ready to learn about Him and that we can communicate well with.

Summer Project-- A Whirlwind

2006-06-06T03:31:00.000-06:00

Well, this is the first time I've really had internet access since we've arrived in Thailand. The past couple of weeks have been crazy! We've pretty much been traveling since May 24.

We arrived in Bangkok late on the 25th and had briefing over the next couple of days for the students that have never been to Thailand before. Then we headed down to Kao Phra Yam for tsunami relief work for a week.

The island was a tropical paradise with all the pros and cons. Reaching the island took around 2 hours by long tail boat from the main land. Campus Crusade purchased the land and relocated about 50 families there. After the tsunami, someone bought their land right out from under them and since sea gypsies have no true citizenship, there was nothing they could do about it.

Campus Crusade has been working with these people (the Morgans) for about a year now. Almost all their homes have been rebuilt, a church has been established on the island, and almost all the villagers have become Christians.

We had the wonderful opportunity (though it didn't always seem wonderful at the time) to work alongside Thai Campus Crusade staff and students to finish 3 homes and build 6 more.

I'm not gonna lie. It wasn't an easy week. It was hot, extremely hot. We were stinky; I think I almost passed out once after getting a whiff of myself. We were tired but couldn't sleep well because we slept on the floor. Construction projects can be difficult no matter what but the communication barrier made it even harder.

I was the tool girl. I was the only girl on our team that knew tools (thanks to Rocky :). I managed and distributed all the supplies which sounds easy until you get back to that language barrier again and how hot the toolshed was. The most gifted English speakers didn't know the words for tools and I never got that far in my thai lessons.

Rocky was as usual his hard working self doing what ever needed to be done dispite bronchitis, an impacted wisdom tooth, and a rusty nail through the foot. Our team had our share of illness over the week, I had the beginnings of heat exhaustion on the first day despite drinking 3 liters of water. Luckily Rocky made me chill out and drink some electrolytes. I got over it in an hour or so.

Work began at 7am every morning with a 30 minute break for breakfast at 8:30. We got back to work and broke for lunch from 12:00-2pm (the hottest part of the day) and then worked from 2-6:30 (or whenever the sun went down). We'd eat dinner, take a dump shower (pouring well water out of a bucket over our heads) and then go to sleep. With no electricity, there wasn't much to do.

I've gotta run now. More to come. We start campus ministry tomorrow. Thanks for praying for us.

We are here (or in your case there)

2006-05-27T00:00:00.000-06:00

We made it safely into Thailand with our team 2 days ago. We have been doing some in country briefing [Learning about the language and culture and such]. Things are seemingly good so far, some of the students are experencing some culture shock but as a whole the students are good. We will leave tomorrow morning for the south to build houses in the area that was destroyed by the tsunami. It will be a rough time as we will be working in the sun all day right on the equator. We will be staying in bamboo huts and eating rice porage for the week. There will be no electricity or running water. This will be in stark contrast to the hotel with air conditioning and great food that we have been in the past 2 days. Please pray for our team to be healthy,loving and helpful. After our week of tsunami relief work we will head up to Chang Mai where will will spend the majority of our time. We won't be abile to comunicate with you till then. Also be in prayer for the Thai people in the northwest, they are experencing a great deal of flooding and have already seen over 50 people die and many homeless. We hope to bring our team near there to help feed and build housing for those effected there too. We will try to get some pics up later this summer.

Summer missions

2006-05-16T09:37:00.000-06:00

HEADING TO THAILAND
This summer for 8 weeks Sunee & I will go back to Thailand. It has been almost three years since we returned from our 1 year STINT there. We are excited about going back to this culture we love so much to help reach the most Buddhist country in the world for Christ. Sunee and I along with 25 other students and staff will spend most of our time in Chiang Mai, the second largest city in Thailand, reaching out to university students. We will teach English classes, share our faith one on one, and disciple new believers. Please pray for us this summer.

TSUNAMI RELIEF
Our first week in Thailand will be spent in the South in an area that is still recovering from the Tsunami. Although it’s been a year and a half since the Tsunami, there’s still much to be done. We will build homes for residents, many of whom are still living out of tents. Although most relief organizations have come and gone, Campus Crusade in Thailand is still committed to helping this hurting area. Their unwavering commitment has been recognized by the Thai people and many are coming to Christ.

JESUS FILM TRIP
Midway through the project we will be traveling outside of Chiang Mai to show the Jesus film in hill tribe villages. I have such great memories of doing this last time we were in Thailand and seeing God work mightily; I’m so excited to have the opportunity to do so again. The majority of villagers have heard little or no explanation of the Gospel before. The Jesus Film is an amazing tool because it portrays the entire Gospel of Luke in their language.

BANGKOK
At the end of the project, we will head down to Bangkok, our old stomping grounds. There’s some friends we can’t wait to see, our Thai church we’re excited to visit, & some restaurants we’ve been craving for 3 years! We’ll be staying with Ped, one of our best friends and a guy Rocky led to Christ at LA Tech.

UPDATING
We want to keep ya informed this summer so we’ll be updating our blog as often as we can. Please check it out and see what we’re up to in Thailand.

THANK YOU!
We also want to take some time to say thank you to all of you who support us. This has been a tough year for many of you financially and Sunee and I are very grateful for those who are financially committed to helping us be involved in ministry full time, long term. We really could not do what we do without you!

NEW ORLEANS SPRING BREAK

2006-05-03T08:39:00.000-06:00

During Spring Break this year Rocky and the rest of the media team went to New Orleans to document on film one of the largest relief efforts in the history of Campus Crusade for Christ.

Originally we thought around 2,000 students would participate in our New Orleans Spring Break. But God had bigger plans. By the end of March over 8,500 students converged on New Orleans to gut thousands of homes, churches, and businesses. So many showed up that we overwhelmed FEMA, and at the last minute we had to make alternative arrangements for housing. In five days a handful of volunteers transformed a flooded warehouse in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans into a camp that could house thousands of students. It wasn’t pretty but was amazing. The cots were packed together with no space between them. The line for the showers was 2-3 hours. Yet every student we spoke with said it was an amazing experience.

Although we’ve seen students lead movements and change lives in the past, we were reminded of the tremendous impact a group of college students can make on a city, or for that matter, a nation. It was amazing to see thousands of students from all around the USA come together with one common purpose and change lives in our home state.

The army of volunteers made a huge impression on the city, and even drew national attention from CNN and other news agencies. For the residents, it was a message of hope. For the students, it was a life-changing week. For us, it was a reminder of the impact God can make if we step out and love others.

Thank you so much for your encouragement, prayers, and generous support of our ministry. You are such a blessing to us.

PRAYER REQUESTS
• We will be on Thailand Summer project from May 20- July 17. (We were originally going to be going to New Orleans for the summer but needs changed so we were reassigned to Thailand.) Please pray for all the preparations over the next month and for an amazing experience while we’re there. We will be part of a team of 28 and will be sharing our faith on the college campuses of Chiang Mai, Thailand. We’ll have more details for ya soon.
• Thank you so much for praying for us in the midst our car problems last month. We sold our broken down car and thanks to the donations of many of you, we were able to buy a new vehicle!
• The next month or so will be the busiest time of year for Sunee. Please pray that she won’t stress and that she’s make wise decisions as she prepares hundreds of college students for international summer missions.

The Cheatham family was one of the many families we had the opportunity to help.

Housing was really tight, so many students slept on cots in warehouses.

Me conducting and interview with one of the students.

A group of sudents outside of a house they gutted out.

TURKEY -making a culturally relevant film-

2006-03-06T14:57:00.000-06:00

Here are some pics from my trip to Turkey.

-Rocky and his team will be heading to New Orleans for a Spring Break relief trip March 13-17. There are already 3800 students signed up.
-Our car has been having major problems. Please pray for solutions and our decision making in the process.
-Our summer mission assignment-- we originally were going to New Orleans for 6 weeks; this is may be changing.

DWC- funny videos-

2006-02-15T10:47:00.001-06:00

Thought you might like to see some of the funny videos we shot for Dallas Winter Conference. You might think the guy on the front page looks familiar.

watch the videos here.

Dallas Winter Conferece '06

2006-01-23T16:26:00.000-06:00

Dallas Winter Conference
During the first week of January, nearly 700 students arrived in Dallas for our annual Winter Conference (DWC). Students from TX, AR, LA and OK joined together for a week of worship, challenging speakers, seminars and fellowship. The conference speakers, Todd Wagner and Cheryl Fletcher, reminded students that they have been SENT by God— SENT to their campus and the world as ambassadors for Christ.

The Lord used the theme “SENT” to work in the lives of those who were here. God prompted many students to take new steps of faith on their campus with their peers or as they enter the workplace. Others felt that God may be calling them to be SENT overseas. Still others decided to join Campus Crusade staff .

During the week we spent a day reaching out to the community. Some students went to visit prisoners and others went to local communities and interacted with the residents. Many students shared their faith for the first time.

No matter what specific step each student decided to take, God has used this week in Dallas to change the lives of students that came and each one left knowing that they have been uniquely SENT to their campus to reach those around them with the gospel.

DWC is one of our favorite weeks of the year. Although it’s such a busy time for us, seeing the work of God in the lives of college students makes it totally worth it. As always, the video team played a big part. Hopefully we’ll have the videos from DWC posted soon. As soon as we do I’ll share those with you.

WSN School of Leadership
Sunee along with all the Summer Project directors (pictured below) from our region headed to sunny San Diego the second week of January for the Worldwide Student Network School of Leadership. The focus of the conference was to prepare the directors to serve and shepherd their teams well.

This summer our region is sending 9 teams to 5 countries around the world—East Asia, Thailand, Russia, Italy, & Central Asia. This is the largest number of teams we’ve ever had. All of the 21 directors are first-time project leaders, some have never even been overseas. That’s where Sunee comes in.

Her job is to help the leaders every step of the way. They’ve got questions, they come to Sunee. They need help with something, Sunee helps them. They need advice, Sunee gives it.

Sunee loves her job and the impact it has on so many students’ lives. She likes being able to serve the leaders by bearing some of their many responsibilities. Please pray for wisdom, humility, and confidence for her as she seeks to serve them well and prepare for this summer. As always thanks for making this ministry possible through giving and prayer.

Prayer Requests and Praises:
Pray that students would follow through on commitments made during Winter Conference.
Praise the Lord for the 40 people who accepted Christ during the day of outreach.
Pray for Sunee and the summer project leaders as they prepare for the summer— recruiting students, evaluating applications, making in-country preparations, etc.

Beginning of Rebuilding, Reaching our Goal, & Other News

2005-10-17T12:28:00.000-06:00

THE DEVASTATION OF HURRICANE KATRINA
The three days following the landfall of Hurricane Katrina were the longest days of my life. I dialed my dad and brother’s numbers over and over desperately hoping to hear from them. My dad and brother, Dan, live just across Lake Ponchatrain from New Orleans in Slidell, and they work together at one of my dad’s businesses in New Orleans. I knew that they had evacuated their home and headed to safety in Poplarville, Mississippi.

My mom and Rocky’s family are also in South Louisiana, but we were able to get in touch with them Monday (the day the hurricane hit). They were all safe. By Wednesday, I was a nervous wreck. I couldn’t take my eyes off the news though it only made me worry more. It was evident from what I saw that my family’s lives would never be the same. New Orleans was totally devastated. Slidell was no different, and Poplarville was right along Katrina’s path.

We felt so helpless. We wanted to charge in to help, like we could do something more than what was already being done, but all we could do was wait. We were at a friend’s house when my mom’s number popped up on my cell phone. I answered and much to my joy it was Dan on the other line. He and my dad were safe. The house in Poplarville where they were staying was beaten up, sustained some flooding, roof damage, and 13 downed trees, but what was important is that they were OK.

I felt like a burden was lifted off. At the time I didn’t realize that the hardships were just starting. The first time I spoke with my dad he gave me all his insurance information to start making claims. The next time it was about contacting FEMA, the Red Cross, and unemployment. It began to sink in. Everything was gone. My dad who has been a fairly successful self-employed businessman since I was a little girl is now going to struggle to make ends meet. With all his financial responsibilities, savings is not enough. He’s now paying employees, mortgages, and business loans with no income. Since I had an internet connection, a cell phone, and fax machine, I soon began to realize that the best way to help my family was be their connection with the outside world.

It’s been a month since Katrina hit. Now Dan and Dad both have electricity, running water, and regular access to phones again, but life is far from normal. My dad has been able to assess the damage at both his house and businesses, and the damage is extensive. There had been 5 feet of water inside the house. My dad’s small grocery store had 2 feet of water inside and had been looted. Miraculously my dad’s other business, a po-boy shop had no flood damage at all. Insurance will cover some of the damage but my dad’s now realizing his coverage won’t be nearly enough.

All in one day, everything my dad worked for his whole life was gone. He’s not normally an emotional man, but I’ve heard him get choked up over and over again. Please pray for him. He’s not a believer. Hopefully through this, he’ll begin seeking for answers and find hope in Christ. Please pray for the rebuilding process as it is just beginning.

Thank you to those that have already been praying for my family. We appreciate it and the gifts we’ve received to help get them back on their feet.

BACK IN FULL SWING
Last month we asked you to pray that we would reach our current financial support goal, and the Lord has done it! As I look back over the past year, it’s so amazing to see who the Lord has brought into our lives and onto our team. We have begun ministry again full-time. Rocky is currently working on short promotional videos for the upcoming Dallas Winter Conference (DWC). DWC had a huge impact in our lives and has the opportunity to change the lives of 1000+ students every year. I’m currently finishing up my apprenticeship for the role of International Summer Projects coordinator, and I’m loving what I’m doing! Being able to enable hundreds of students experience missions overseas for the first time has to be one of the coolest jobs in the world. Thanks again for making it possible for us to do what we do.

OTHER EXCITING NEWS
You may have noticed from the return address on the envelope, but we’ve moved. Not only moved, but moved into our own place! It’s a little outside of Austin so it means more of a commute to work, but we’re no longer renting. We’re really excited that the Lord has enabled us to do so. Our new address is 705 Big Spring Dr. | Cedar Park, TX 78613.

Over and Above

2005-09-16T09:19:00.000-06:00

Thank you for keeping our ministry in your prayers. I've been so late in relying the news that we are finished with raising our financial support for now! Last Saturday we still need $60 in monthly commitments and the Lord brought 4 more people on our team since then! We are now above our goal by $220. Life has been really surreal since then; it seems crazy that something we've been working on for a year is now over. We are so excited but a little overwhelmed as well.

Since 1/3 of our ministry supporters live in south Louisiana we may continue working on support on the side in case some are no longer able to continue giving.

Also I've been so excited about getting back to ministry full-time but it has come at a time when I'd like nothing more than to go to Louisiana and help our families. I've been having to realize that we don't always have to be "hands on" for God to use us. I've wanted to go help my dad but he needs me here to be his source of communication with insurance companies, his employees, etc. Sometimes it's hard to be behind the scenes when you want to be more involved.

Please continue to pray for my family. My dad has a permit to the city of New Orleans tomorrow to assess the damage.

1st real phone call from my dad

2005-09-07T21:55:00.000-06:00

I've never really seen my dad cry but tonight I heard him on the verge of tears numerous times. He had borrowed someone's cell phone to ask me to sign him up for help from FEMA and for food stamps and unemployment. My dad owns a small business and is a fairly successful man, but even for him the hurricane is hitting hard. I never thought I'd hear my dad saying he was in need like this. People keep saying that insurance will cover things for people and for some that's true, but even as I spoke with my dad he said insurance wasn't going to be enough. Homeowner's insurance will most likely not cover much because most of the damage was due to flooding, and his flood insurance wasn't enough to rebuild and replace everything. On top of losing the businesses, his total means of income, he still has to pay the loans he has for them and for his home. I don't know what I can even do to help. Please keep him and my brother in your prayers as they try to salvage what they can and wait to rebuild.

We may go down to help with the relief effort soon. I'm thinking about heading to Slidell to directly help my family and to possibly help at the First Baptist Church there. CCC has organized with them to help out the community. If you are interested in going with us or just interested, you can read about all the opportunities at:
http://www.campuscrusadeforchrist.com/katrina/index.htm

Assessing the Damage

2005-09-03T17:12:00.000-06:00

I received a call today from my brother. He had just heard from my dad who was visiting his home in Slidell for the first time since Katrina hit. He was very thankful to see that the structure was still intact, however, the water line inside the house was five feet high. Every thing inside their home was destroyed-- clothes, electronics, pictures, everything. My brother's car was still sitting inside the garage though it is most likely totaled from the flood.

Today Rocky and I volunteered with Red Cross at a shelter here at the Austin Convention Center. Today there are 5000 arriving. I mostly organized and distributed clothing while Rocky unloaded donation trucks and set up cots. All the victims were so thankful and gracious for all the help. We heard horror stories from some who were in the Superdome, and we hurt with those who are so desperate even for underwear and a shower. We brought some things up there; one item in particular which we know most Louisiana folk can't live without-- Tony Chachere's seasoning. We hope to go back on a regular basis until these people can return if they can return.

Word from the Family

2005-09-01T08:41:00.000-06:00

I heard from my brother yesterday afternoon after 3 long days of no communication. My dad and Dan are fine. They, like lots of others, had no communication lines available. Yesterday they finally made it to my mom's house. They had to try 3 different routes or so before they could get there. It looks like it will be a little while before they can get into Slidell or New Orleans to assess the damage to the house and businesses. As far as we know, everything they own may be gone. They can't foresee life returning to anything resembling normal for awhile. With the mayor of New Orleans saying that the city may not be habitable for 3-4 months and with the Interstate they drive on daily destroyed, making it through Katrina is only the beginning. My brother may come to stay with us for a little while until he and my dad can begin clean up. Thank you so much for your prayers and concern; we really have appreciated them.

CCC is currently working on relief efforts through their ministry GAIN USA. If you're interested in giving to the need through CCC you can go to their website at: http://www.gainusa.org/ .

Hurricane Katrina

2005-08-31T15:44:00.000-06:00

I remember talking to my dad on Saturday about the hurricane. He like so many other Louisiana folks wasn't that worried about the storm. I remember asking him to come our direction instead of heading to Mississippi where he's escaped to for so many hurricanes in the past. I was asking more so that we could hang out instead of thinking of his safety. He lives in Slidell along with my brother, Dan, and owns 2 small businesses in New Orleans.

I haven't spoken with Dan or my dad since Sunday when they arrived in Poplarville where they were going to wait out the storm. As I watched the news, my anxiety grew as I saw that the storm's path was aimed directly at them. Poplarville underwent substantial winds and rain. We've tried calling the police station to see if we can get any information but all the land lines and cell towers in the area are down.

My anxiety has grown as I've seen the shots of Slidell and New Orleans. At this point there's only a slim chance that my dad's house or businesses have survived. The entire interstate he and my brother took to work everyday has totally been destroyed as well.

We would really appreciate your prayers during this time for everyone affected by the hurricane but specifically for my family. I will update as soon as I hear from them.

We have heard from Rocky's family and my mom. They are all fine, experiencing no electricity, but are safe. The stories about what its like there are crazy. Streets are filled like parking lots with people trying to get ice and other necessities. Many people can't buy anything as ATMs are all down as well as credit card machines. There have been fights and looting all around.

We plan to head to Louisiana as soon as we think there will things we can do to help. Right now there's still alot of pandemonium. CCC will be setting up a relief effort very soon.

US Staff Conference & Campus Ministry Days

2005-08-12T13:15:00.000-06:00

“God’s stepping things up today,” Steve Douglass, the President of Campus Crusade for Christ Int’l, exclaimed to the thousands of staff from around the world at the U.S. Staff conference last month. From his stories & those of others at the conference, it’s impossible to think anything different.

In India a 7 year old girl named Richi cried beside dying mother. Richi was desperate-- her family had no money left & her mother’s death would leave her and her siblings homeless orphans. One night Richi heard about the Jesus Film playing in her village and went to watch it. At the end of the film, she accepted Christ into her life. She then ran home and fervently prayed for her mom that entire night. After seeing Jesus heal afflictions on the film she trusted that he could do the same with her mom. The following morning her mother’s tuberculosis was entirely gone. Richi then led her mom and siblings to Christ. Over the past 3 years the number of Christians in India has risen from 2 to 7%. God’s stepping things up today.

Recently at a conference for some of the most influential Christian leaders in the world, Table 71 formed. Steve Douglass found himself at the same table as members of the International Mission Board (Southern Baptists), Wycliffe Bible Translators, CrossWalk, Youth with a Mission (YWAM), etc. At the conference someone posed the question, “How can we get it done?” referring to the Great Commission (Matt 28:18-20). So these people from very different backgrounds, realizing the advantages of pooling their resources, began working together to form an answer. Together! The Table 71 group still meets together to actually carry out some of the solutions they worked on that day. God’s stepping things up today.

Many people from all around the world gave money to aid in the tsunami relief for the affected countries. Millions of dollars were given specifically for Thailand but went directly to the government, which is very corrupt. Thai military officials who have been working daily in the effort are suffering from lack of funds and manpower due to this, but Christians have made a huge difference. Thailand CCC has gone every month since the disaster to share with groups such as the sea gypsies (who are considered 2nd class citizens) & to work alongside the military doing things unimaginable to us. Through their efforts, many military officials & villagers have come to know Christ as their Savior. God’s stepping things up today.

From stories of God stepping it up also came encouragement for us to step it up in our specific ministries. We were encouraged to take steps of faith, try new things, & not just rely upon “what works.” We were encouraged to reach out to every student on every campus, not just those that come easily. We were assured it is OK to fail sometimes too, that our fear of failure is no reason to hold us back from change. We were reminded of the vision of CCC and encouraged to make it a reality—“Building spiritual movements everywhere so that everyone knows someone who truly follows Christ.” Thank you for the part you play in helping to build these movements around the world!

PRAYER REQUESTS
• URGENT- We need to complete our team of financial ministry partners this month. Please pray for us daily if at all possible. We have a deadline on Sept. 1st and need about $840 in monthly commitments to continue doing ministry with CCC.
• Sunee’s currently apprenticing for the role of Int’l Summer Project coordinator. Please pray that she grasps everything she needs to know quickly.

During some free time during the conference, we visited Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park with the Thailand national staff that were in town. These were some of our good friends when we lived in Thailand so it was really cool to spend some time with them. We caught up on what's going on in the ministry there and got updates on all of our other Thai friends. It was also neat to be with the Thai staff since 2 of them had never seen snow before. We had snowball fights and sledded. It was SO much fun. Below is another picture of our visit.

US Staff Conference at CSU

2005-07-19T16:39:00.000-06:00

We've been here for 3 days now and have been blown away by the conference. We were nervous we wouldn't know many people since we are so new to CCC, but it has been completely opposite from that. There are so many people we know, we don't know who to hang out with first. There are friends that we joined staff with, friends that we were in Thailand with, friends from summer projects we went on, etc. It's been so fun to see all these people. . .some we haven't seen in years.

So far we've loved our time here. The sessions have been awesome. The theme for this part of the conference is People of the Mission: Captivated by God | Called to the World. We are really catching even more of a vision for CCC ministry. One thing they keep stressing this week are multiple movements. Movements that include every segment of society. John Piper has been our main speaker over the last few days. It's been so good to hear him for the first time since I've read several of his book. He's so passionate about his faith. He's been talking about the Gospel. It has been so refreshing to be reminded of what we so easily grow complacent about.

We've been going to special sessions to hear about what God is doing in ministry throughout the world-- in Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia, Latin America. . . God is doing some amazing things. We always hear about what God is doing in East Asia, but He is working mightily all over. It's given us both a glimpse of the struggles and joys others are facing.

Last night was an especially sweet time for us; they were showing video clips of what's going on in some of our partnership countries. They showed a short video about the tsunami relief in Thailand. I was brought to tears as I saw dear friends sacrificing so much to be a light during such a hard time for so many. Right afterwards they told a story about a short film God was using in the lives of Mexican students this summer. This was our first time to hear about what God has been doing through La Busqueda (formerly called La Lata-- the film Rocky worked on in April). Once again, the Lord moved beyond anyone expectations using this tool to reach many this summer.

This evening we had dinner with the Thailand national director, his wife, another Thai friend, and Jordan Eoff who was on our STINT team. It was an awesome time to catch up, hear all the news, & learn firsthand what God is doing in the lives of Thais. Hopefully we will get to spend alot more time with them during the upcoming week.

NEW JOB FOR SUNEE

2005-06-30T13:58:00.000-06:00

The Worldwide Student Network (WSN) is the segment of CCC’s campus ministry that reaches out to students all over the globe. My role with CCC just recently changed, & in the fall I will be working with WSN as our region’s International Summer Projects Coordinator. I will be coordinating with students and staff here and abroad to take the gospel to students all over the world.

Every summer with WSN, we send hundreds of American students from our area on missions to countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, & South America for 6 weeks of their summer. I will be coaching, giving direction and encouragement to all of our international team leaders; serving as a liaison between our national offices, our regional staff and the students on our summer teams; booking flights and making travel arrangements for all of the teams; tracking donations as students raise support for their mission trips; helping set budgets for our teams and ensuring they have the needed funds; covering administrative details such as necessary insurance forms and emergency authorizations; helping plan and execute a 3 day briefing conference where our teams are prepared for their summer mission...and the list goes on.

My new co-worker, Mark, likes to compare my position with Gary Sinise’s in Apollo 13. In the movie, Sinise played astronaut Ken Mattingly. When the problem occurred with the shuttle mission, there were many at NASA who worked to resolve the crisis. Gary Sinise’s character was an astronaut who, though left on earth, worked tirelessly behind the scenes and helped make it possible for the Apollo 13 astronauts to come home. It’s obvious that his role was crucial to their successful return. Like Ken Mattingly, I won’t be on the front lines, but I’ll be a crucial contributor behind the scene, making the front lines happen.

I am so excited about this new position; I think it’s perfect for me. I have a heart for reaching the world and will have the opportunity to do so in an amazing way. I think that God has gifted me with the skills that will be necessary to get this job accomplished. My experience with living and doing ministry overseas will be invaluable as I prepare students to do the same.

As Int’l summer projects coordinator I’ll get to play a part in changing the lives of many American students who will take great steps of faith, move out of their comfort zone, ask friends and family for support, give up their summer plans, move to another culture, share their faith, & expand their world vision. That in itself is an amazing opportunity, but I will also be involved in impacting the lives of the students they come in contact with. Every summer, countless numbers come to know the Lord through these summer projects & begin discipleship with CCC nationals.

PRAYER REQUESTS
• We are still building up our team of financial ministry partners. Please pray for us. We have a deadline quickly approaching and need about $1450 in monthly commitments to continue doing ministry with CCC.
• Pray for the upcoming U.S. Staff Conference which will be from July 17-28 in Ft. Collins, CO. Staff from all over the world will be there for a week of vision casting, development, encouragement, etc.

Filming Trip to Spain

2005-05-06T21:20:00.000-06:00

I was In Spain last month, and it was awesome. Although we worked 16-hour days, at least this time in Spain I wasn’t locked in a dirty bathroom. As you may remember, about a year ago I was in Spain shooting a short evangelistic film El Bano (The Bathroom). As it turns out El Bano was a huge success and has already brought the gospel to thousands of students. This year we shot a second film that will be used in much the same way, but will be used on a much larger scale. The new film, yet to be officially named but referred to as La Lata, will be used this summer and beyond by students and ministers all over Spain, Mexico and other Spanish-speaking countries. The films are shown on campuses, on laptops, on portable DVD players, however it can be used to start conversations with students.

My vision is not only to create useful tools that share the Gospel but also to make great films, films that are causing students to take notice of God who is supremely creative and supremely loving, and calling them to a relationship with Him. As I walked through the old part of Barcelona through narrow alleys passing museums and small outdoor cafés, I realized how much art defines Spain. Spanish artists like Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso walked down some of the same cobblestone alleys so it is no wonder why art speaks to this culture. It is a blessing from the Lord to have been part of this project, and I am excited to see how he will use the film to change lives around the world.

LA LATA
A daughter runs away in the middle of the night with the family inheritance leaving without so much as a note of farewell. The father mourns the loss of fellowship with his daughter and yearns for her to return home. The daughter falls into a harmful lifestyle filled with drinking and meaningless relationships. The father calls out to her. In bars., as she goes home with a stranger, no matter what she does the father longs for her to return. One day she realizes he is calling out to her. She tries to hear him but she can’t. She moves closer, closer to home. The father calls even more. She arrives home remembering the good times as well as the bad. The father is happy to see her yet the daughter can’t bring herself back into fellowship with him. She’s not ready to receive his love and forgiveness. She leaves once again, but the father continues to call.

This story is La Lata. The film will be used to start conversations with students about God’s love, forgiveness, and unrelenting desire to have a relationship with us.

PRAYER REQUESTS
• We are still building up our team of financial ministry partners. Please pray for us. We have a deadline quickly approaching and need about $1800 in monthly commitments to continue doing ministry with CCC.
• Pray for the distribution of La Lata to CCC staff around the Spanish-speaking parts of the world. There are 4.5 million college students in Spain and Mexico alone. Pray that combined with El Bano on DVD that many students would be receptive to hearing more about Christ.

ON THE SET

ROCKY WAS ONE OF THE MAIN LIGHTING GUYS

STEADY CAM

THE RRR MEDIA TEAM

THE MAIN ACTOR AND ACTRESS OF THE FILM

LEBC Bronco Roundup

2005-05-06T20:49:00.000-06:00

April 30-May 1 we went to the 6th annual LEBC Bronco Roundup held at Katemcy Rocks near Mason, Texas. The place is known as a mini Moab. We camped and manuvered Rocky's Bronco throughout the rocky terrain. Here's some of the pictures which don't do justice to the difficulty of some of the obstacles.

W with Co-Founder of CCC on Day of Prayer

2005-03-30T15:40:00.000-06:00

I just thought I'd pass this picture along to all interested. This was taken at the national day of prayer last week. How cool it is to see Christians united for one common purpose-- prayer. Vonette Bright, the co-founder of Campus Crusade for Christ whose husband Bill passed away 2 years ago, is praying alongside the President.

Vonette's commitment to prayer actually led to the founding of the National Prayer Committee. She served for nine years as chairwoman of the National Day of Prayer Task Force, which encourages citizens to pray for our nation and its leaders on the National Day of Prayer. In 1988, as chairwoman, she was successful in introducing legislation unanimously approved by both houses of Congress to make the first Thursday of every May the permanent date for the National Day of Prayer.

Rocky at the Arc

2005-03-29T15:57:00.000-06:00

Rocky at the Arc
Originally uploaded by rockyandsunee.

We'll definitely post more about Rocky's filming trip in Spain later but if you want to check out pictures you can go to: www.flickr.com/photos/conly

EVERYSTUDENT.com

2005-03-17T14:35:00.000-06:00

Every month about 500,000 college students from all around the world visit Everystudent.com, a Campus Crusade for Christ website, seeking answers to questions they may have about spiritual or moral things. Everystudent.com has a plethora of articles on most topics students are dealing with today, video testimonies of students like them, and information about how they can have a personal relationship with God. On this site over 3000 students a month, over 100 students a day, are indicating that they are making the decision to trust Christ as their Lord and savior. All through one website!

And if the articles, the testimonies, and other information aren't enough, there is also a "get personal" link in which students can e-mail directly with Campus Crusade for Christ volunteers asking any question they wish (and I mean any question). Their e-mails are sent totally anonymously and students are taking advantage of that. The questions we receive are often questions that they'd be too embarrassed or ashamed to ask people they know. This gives them a safe place to communicate openly with a reliable source.

Sunee has been volunteering to answer students' e-mails for over two months now. She says that it has been one of the most challenging things she's done since she's worked with CCC. She's received questions from "Are God and Karma the same thing?” and “If God is good, how can He allow something like the tsunami tragedy to happen?" to more personal questions about things like sexual addictions. Some students seem like they have no one else they can turn to so Sunee really enjoys being able to be there for them.

We just want to pass along the news of what God is doing through this phenomenal site so you can rejoice with us and pray for its continued success.

Please pray—
• For Rocky’s filming trip to Spain at the end of the month.
• That the thousands who have made decisions to trust Christ through everystudent.com will grow in their faith and get connected within local churches or ministries.
• For our financial support-- that we would get connected with committed believers.
• Also we’ll be coming to Walker and Ruston soon!

DALLAS WINTER CONFERENCE 2005

2005-01-15T17:01:00.000-06:00

January 2-7 over 800 students seeking a fun-filled, encouraging week at Dallas Winter Conference found so much more. DWC is a week full of hype & excitement throughout but this year we wanted students to really consider Christ in His holiness. The first night started with worship and a quiet time for students to reflect on Christ through scripture and prayer, and it really set the tone for the rest of the week. There was lots of time for students just to be still and meet with the Lord, something this generation struggles with as it’s bombarded with stimulation non-stop. We didn’t know how students would respond to the change but we quickly saw that many seemed to be intimately connecting with God.

The first night of DWC was not the only thing that was different this year. On the third night after a day of reaching out to people in neighborhoods and prisons in Dallas, students entered the main ballroom to find no chairs and a very different atmosphere. Much to their surprise, this became an optional time of nailing sins to a cross (literally), praying for the nations, reading their Bibles or writing in their journals, reflecting on who God is and what pulls them away from Him, or responding to God in an artistic or poetic manner. And, much to our surprise, instead of students taking the option to run off and watch the Orange Bowl, many of them stayed in the room for almost two hours or went down the hall to have staff pray with them. Students opened up that night asking for prayer about relationships and struggles with homosexuality and alcoholism. Through various conversations we had with students and seeing many fervently praying and meeting with the Lord, we saw that God was working that night.

Rocky and I have been to many winter conferences over the years but I think this one was probably my favorite. Part of the reason why was the speakers. The speakers for the week were Matt Chandler, pastor of the Village church in Dallas, Nancy Leigh DeMoss, a national speaker and author of Lies Women Believe, and Rick James who is on the Campus Crusade National Staff Team. Matt Chandler started the week asking us to allow God to work in our lives so that we didn’t leave Dallas motivated but changed. He also challenged us to ask ourselves “what stirs our affections for Christ and what robs our attention from Him?” Nancy Leigh and Rick finished out the week by giving a practical picture of what holiness looks like and what our response to Christ should be. They all challenged us to pursue holiness in our lives and shook up our perceptions of what that means.

It’s hard to condense such an amazing week to a few paragraphs; there’s so much to tell! At least two students who attended prayed to receive Christ and 47 around Dallas trusted Christ on the day of outreach. Many commited their summers or a year to go on missions either in the States or overseas. Some even interviewed to join with Campus Crusade for Christ full time. Rocky worked on lots of funny videos again this year, making another acting appearance, while I made sure the worship band understood the program. Ultimately I think the Lord was glorified through it all.

Update from Thailand

2005-01-09T14:32:00.000-06:00

Below is an e-mail (paraphrased) I received from a Campus Crusade for Christ staff member in Thailand. Over 250 Thai students and staff members gave up a week of their vacations to help with relief work this week. God is moving mightily in the midst of this tragedy and within Thailand in general. More students attended their conference last week than attended our winter conference in Dallas. This is amazing since Thailand is smaller than Texas and has less Christians.

Dear Friends,

Only one word can express our feelings—terrible. I just got back from a tsuamni relief camp this morning after a 14 hour bus ride. We heard lots of miraculous stories from the survivors, but many could not stand hearing their stories of loss. It’s just too terrible.

We spent most of our time working hard side by side with the army. We built houses, outhouses, made tents, cooked, attended to medical needs, extended hope to those hurting, etc. One of the head soldiers told me he was very impressed with our team. He said that since the tsuamni hit, many came to give gifts and take pictures then left but our team stayed and worked hard alongside them. Then he asked me to tell him about Jesus. We gave out a few tracts prior to this but this soldier asked for 1000 to give to his army school.

One lady asked God to help her find the body of her nephew the night she prayed to receive Christ. She afterward got on the camp loudspeaker and reported with tears that “God is an almighty God. I was hopeless but God is true. Thank you for telling me about your God.” One old Catholic lady was fleeing for her life as the water hit her and pinned her legs between a car and a boat. As the water neared her lips she shouted “God, help me!” Then miraculously, the water unpinned her and rolled her up to the roof of a house.

We heard some stories we didn’t want to even picture. Some said that without God’s strength they’d rather die. Some asked for poison instead of medical assistance. They have no smiles and are full of tears, but after we tell them about God most have smiles on their faces. We saw happiness in their eyes after that.

Eight volunteers including me (4 guys and 4 girls) are flying back to help again. We’re fine with using our vacation to help. Our main job with be recovering DNA from over 800 corpses. The guys will help carry the bodies and the girls will interpret for international doctors as they work alongside local volunteers.

•Please pray for us as we work with the corpses, as we have never done anything like this before. •Pray that we can give comfort and help to those who lost their loved ones and to the fatigued volunteers, soldiers, and doctors who have been working hard since the beginning. •Pray that the government will figure out how to best handle this situation.•Most of the people here are fishermen and they need boats to support themselves. Please pray that we could raise $50,000 in an effort to buy 200 boats for them. •Pray that all of the bodies will be recovered. •Pray for Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and others who got affected from this hit. I understand how they are feeling right now. It's just too terrible for mankind to ever face alone.

Truly Yours,
Yod

TIDAL WAVE

2004-12-30T22:00:00.000-06:00

Those that have been affected by the tsunami that hit last Sunday have been on our hearts constantly. Homes destroyed. Children orphaned. Lives lost. I can't even fathom the entire scope of all that has happened. My heart is heavy. As many of you are trying to take part in the relief efforts by giving, I just wanted to let you know that Campus Crusade for Christ has already set up a fund also. The moneys will go to national staff in the affected countries such as Thailand, Sri Lanka, and India. Many of the nationals are personally taking part in helping to feed and shelter those involved. If you'd like to give to help meet this great need, you can do so at www.tidalwaverelieffund.com or
click here to give to the tidal wave relief fund.

DALLAS WINTER CONFERENCE

2004-12-09T19:51:00.000-06:00

Every year 1000 college students from our four state region-- Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, and Oklahoma-- gather together in Dallas for a week of spiritual growth, worship, commitment, life change, and fun. We will be heading to Dallas on December 30th and will stay there until January 7th or so.

Please pray:
- that God will use this conference to impact the lives of every student that attends (as He did in our lives while we were students)
- that each person including us would leave having met with the Lord
- for wisdom as Rocky and I plan a Thailand information booth for the conference with the intention of sparking the interests of students in going there for summer missions; Thailand is still on our hearts and we would love to see lots of students go there this year.

Here's a link to the conference's website.

Go check it out.

STUDENTS AND EL BANO

2004-10-28T12:15:00.000-06:00

El Bano—a short Spanish film Rocky had the opportunity to take part in producing earlier this year—is reaching students for Christ! In the picture above Mexican students are enjoying the film on a portable DVD player.

Pete & Di Henschel, just one couple of many in Mexico and Spain who had the opportunity to use the film this summer as a tool to help share God’s love with students, said that “to say that El Bano is powerful is an understatement. Students that have watered Jesus down to an irrelevant religious icon are confronted just like them claiming that Jesus is alive and changing lives. The video itself is a self-contained gospel presentation, but almost every time we showed it more gospel conversation followed. A number of students indicated decisions to trust Christ and many others wanted to talk more about Jesus! In a classroom setting where Di and I were invited to speak, 10 out of 19 students signed up to talk more after viewing El Bano.”

It has been a blessing to hear story after story about how God is using this simple DVD with a life changing message to impact the lives of students. From students who have never been interested in talking about spiritual things becoming eager to learn more to students praying to receive Christ, God is using this tool. Especially in Spain where for many years it has been a hard place to reach students, God is breaking down hardness of hearts.

Because El Bano has seen so much “success,” the Spanish CCC team already has another short film in the works for next year. It is so amazing to see what God is doing through media.

You can watch El Bano and other short films by Rocky’s media team, Simple Bulldog, at:

Click here to see the simplebulldog page now

Please pray—
• That God will continue to reach students through El Bano and that He will direct all plans for the next Spanish film.
• for Tong’s salvation (Chinese guy we mentioned in our last prayer letter).
• For our ministry’s financial support.

Rocky and Sunee at the Texas capitol building

2004-10-05T12:35:00.000-06:00

us in austin
Originally uploaded by rockyandsunee.

A CALL TO REMEMBER-- September 2004 Prayer Letter

2004-10-01T09:09:00.000-06:00

We were riding in the car on the way back from running some errand when we received the call. I almost didn’t pick up since I didn’t recognize the number and was almost out of minutes for the month, but I’m so glad I did.

The call was from David Tang, an old college friend of ours. We met David when Rocky and I were newlyweds. We had just moved into married student housing at LA Tech and had been led to begin a ministry to Chinese students. We took David out to lunch right after we met, got to know him a little bit, and shared the Gospel with him.

David didn’t accept Christ as his Savior that day, but he showed definite interest. He asked us if we could meet with him and “teach him about the Bible.” So once a week that’s what we did. We became good friends and slowly we saw David’s hard heart begin to soften.

After several months of meeting together, David realized his need for the Lord and prayed to receive Christ. David was immediately eager to grow in his faith and share God’s love with others including his wife Lillian. After a year, alot of prayer, patience and questions, Lillian prayed to receive Christ also.

David has since had a little girl named Grace; he chose her name because that’s what he’s experienced and wants her to experience too. Since we left college, we’ve tried to keep in touch with David but with all our moves and his it has been difficult. We only occasionally e-mail, so his phone call was a pleasant unexpected surprise.

After some small talk David revealed his real reason for calling—gratefulness. He said he was so thankful that we had been willing to share God’s love with him and Lillian years ago; he said he didn’t know what His life would be like without Christ. Tears of joy filled our eyes as we thought about what David said.

Before we got off the phone with David, he shared one more thing that was on His heart. Tong Liu, a fellow LA Tech alumni and friend of David’s, recently moved to Austin for work. David asked us to get together with him and “help him like you helped me.” He said Tong is “eager to know God.”

Since the phone call with David, we’ve been able to have lunch with Tong Liu and to bring him to church with us. Please pray for him. We were unable to share the Gospel with him during this quick visit, but pray that God will be preparing him to hear the Good News and that he will accept Christ as his savior sometime soon.

SUMMER PROJECTS-- August 2004 Prayer Letter

2004-09-01T09:37:00.000-06:00

Every summer college students go to another part of the country or another part of the world to share the love of Christ with others. These students who could have chosen to lounge the summer away on the couch or by the pool made an eternal difference this summer in the lives of many. Students from our region headed to Thailand, Spain, Russia, East Asia, France, Central Asia, Italy, & places all over the U.S.

Because Thailand is dear to our hearts and since I had the opportunity to help plan and orchestrate this team, I’ll tell you a little bit about what God did there this summer. This year the team was the largest international summer project from our four state region and God called so many because He was ready to do big things. They saw 32 Thai students trust Christ through one-on-one conversations and at least 20 more responded in evangelistic group meetings. That’s more than 50 former Buddhists that now have a personal and eternal relationship with Christ!

I’ve also been in contact with the Thai Campus Crusade staff and they have many more exciting stories. Summer projects came to Thailand not only from our region but also from other places around the world. A team of Korean Americans went and held huge outreaches. From these there are now hundreds of new believers in Thailand. These numbers are very exciting to us, but more exciting than that is knowing that these new believers will be contacted by CCC staff and will have the opportunity to grow in their faith.

Rejoice with us in all that God has done in Thailand this summer and with all the other summer projects. We look forward to seeing what God continues to do with all these new believers.

Thank you for your support of our ministry. We really appreciate your partnership with us and ask you to keep us in your prayers as we are currently raising our financial support.

How can you give to our ministry?

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As part of Campus Crusade for Christ, a non-profit interdenominational organization with no central funding to pay salaries, each staff member must raise his/ her own financial support. We are currently raising our monthly support. We have a great need and would appreciate anything the Lord would lead you to give.

Click here to link to the Campus Crusade online giving page
or copy and paste this ULR into your browser
http://www.give.ccci.org/staffmember/index.php?staff=2769
and follow the simple directions from there.

We can also receive your donations by check (made payable to Campus Crusade for Christ); just send us it to our address:
Rocky and Sunee Conly
12402 B TreeLine Dr.
Austin, TX 78729

Thank you so much. If you have any questions, please contact us. We'd love to hear from you.