Meet the Staff

So this week has been the first week of actual on-campus work, which has been so exciting and definitely busy! Being so brand new at this, I'm trying to slowly tip-toe my way through the ins and outs of campus and students and new places and new people - and it's funny because tip-toeing is hard to do when you're running at 90 miles an hour. It's been absolutely nuts since we started out of the gate Monday morning, so there's a lot of learning on my feet and kind of just figuring things out as I go - especially since Ryan, my campus minister, is the only other staff person here at the UW RUF and therefore the only person to watch-and-learn from!

Ryan is a graduate of New Mexico State University and an alumni of the RUF there. His campus minister at NMSU is a pastor named Mike Biggs, who just so happens to be the senior pastor at the church I went to in college in Norman, OK. Small world, check. He and his wife Amy met in elementary school and got married after graduating from NMSU. They have been in Seattle for five years, have a 2 1/2 year old daughter named Ava and a second baby girl due in 5 weeks! Super cute kids, check. Ryan is a competitive cyclist and just went to the something National Cycling Championships something in Oregon last weekend and got 8th in his age range. I don't even know, wow, etc, yeah I think he's really good or something. Here's a picture of Ryan and his family - Amy his wife and Ava his daughter.

Getting to know Ryan has been a cool process and so far we've been working together well and getting along and learning about each other which all seem to be good and positive things. As with all campus ministers I have met in RUF, his love for the Lord and the Gospel and his family and students are super obvious which is a constant encouragement, and he and his wife Amy have already been doing an incredible job of loving and encouraging me. I'm really thankful to be serving at the UW with Ryan and to be able to learn from him and from his knowledge of the students, the campus, the city, and the Gospel. Here's a picture of Ryan and I from our first day on campus (yes, it rained absolutely all day long) with "Dubs," the UW Husky mascot! Dubs was having trouble sitting still, I guess he's shy or something. Look at me looking so convincingly like I like dogs!