June was a great month in the life of Solar Student Ministries! We saw students travel to Costa Rica to help build a church and they returned with great love for the people to whom they were introduced while sharing the love of Christ! They even got to experience their first exorcism during one of the worship services. Through their time spent away from home and out of their comfort zone, they learned more about how God interacts with people in different ways all over this world. The Costa Rica team will be sharing about their experiences on Sunday, July 25^th.

We also saw a large group of students attend the Student Life mission camp at Wake Forest University. The speaker, worship band (Rush of Fools), Bible studies, and community service work around the city all made for a great experience. Several students have spoken about how close they felt to God and to those with whom they were with while away from the usual day to day routine of Denver. We will be sharing more about the mission camp on Sunday, July 11^th.

Also in the month of June, there were a handful of guys who had the opportunity to experience a Chrysalis Flight. This is a deeply spiritual three day retreat, but the details always remain a secret among those who have attended a Flight, because there are several very moving occasions that are most meaningful if experienced without hearing about them before you go. The four students that attended the Chrysalis Flight had an incredible movement of God in their lives while giving up a few days for the sake of growing in their faith and growing closer to each other. They are very excited and motivated to increase the Chrysalis experience among more students here at DUMC.

Finally, we saw the long anticipated birth of Stephen “Caleb” Knopp on Father’s Day. Emily and I have experienced so much love from our church family and we cannot say thank you enough for all of the gifts, cards, meals, phone calls, Facebook messages, etc. We feel truly loved! All of the students here agree that Caleb is the cutest baby ever and everyone seems excited about babysitting opportunities in the future : )

We’ll have some more opportunities as this summer continues to heat up. There’s been some talk about going to a CD release party for the band Runaway City in High Point on July 23^rd and a day trip to the Crossnore School in the mountains of North Carolina to help out for a day of service. There will also be pool parties for rising 6^th grade and 9^th grade students this summer. You can also take advantage of serving through helping out with Vacation Bible Camp the week of July 18-22. Be looking for details on all of these events, as well as others as we spend our summer vacationing with family or attending camps for sports, band, and academics. Several of us will be getting together soon to prepare for how God will continue to move in the life of Solar Student Ministries throughout the rest of 2010 and into 2011!