October Update

Wow! I cannot believe we're already heading into November! I guess time flies when you're having fun, right? Doing ministry has been the sweetest blessing. I love getting a front row seat to see how God is working and making Himself known on UTD's campus. 

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. October was packed with tons of stuff! It has been a joy getting to partner with you guys and I'm so excited I get to share what's been going on with you. Let's get started! 

Core: Leading Core this year has been a blast! All of the girls in my Core were already Christians when they came to college, so we've been focusing on casting vision for them to step up in leadership and live a life of making disciples. This type of ministry is new for me, but it has been really sweet getting to see these girls get excited to share the gospel with their friends and family. 

Here is my Core dressed up as a family for Halloween. We have a mom, a grandma, and some triplets! These girls are so goofy and fun to be around! 

Leadership Conference: Each year, our family of churches hosts a Leadership Conference. This takes place for people in the church that want to develop their leadership skills, FOCUS Corefas (Core Facilitators), and other FOCUS students that have potential to step into a leadership the next year. I invited several girls from my Core to stream the conference with me. It was great getting to have conversations with them about how they want to lead others. I also think God used the Leadership Conference to encourage the girls in my core to think about the way God wants to partner with them now, as opposed to just next year if they have a specific leadership role to step into. 

We got to watch this handsome guy give a teen ministry update at the Leadership Conference! I love when our work overlaps! He's the best :) 

World Prayer: This month I got to introduce our community to World Prayer. A few years ago, I learned about God's heart for the nations. I learned that God desired a relationship with me, with the people around me, and the many people across world that don't even know Him. Since then, I've been very passionate about showing my friends different ways we can participate in the Great Commission internationally. One way to do that is to pray for the nations! Since we still aren't meeting in person, the best way for me to push this was through posting on our social media pages. So far, as a community we have prayed for different unreached people groups in Indonesia, India, Turkey, and Guinea. If you want to join us, follow @focusutd on Instagram! I post slides like this every Wednesday. 

Outreach: In October, our staff got creative in how we are going to encourage our community to participate in outreach. We decided the best way to do this was to provide them with a class that explains how and why God's people should be outreaching people. Many different students in our community (including freshmen that are new to FOCUS!) signed up for this class. As a staff, we got to encourage them to expand their idea of what outreach is. We also explored the idea of outreach being the start of a spiritual friendship. I even got to give a talk that explained the Great Commission and how God wants to partner with them in making Him known on UTD's campus! 

Class: I can't believe it, but we have finished reading the Old Testament and going through our Old Testament Foundations class! This class has reshaped the way I approach the Old Testament. Most importantly, it has helped me see different aspects of God's character. I never would have thought that I could see God's goodness, patience, creativity, etc., so clearly while reading these books. While I have only scratched the surface, the things I learned in this class will serve me well as I continue to walk with God and make disciples. We also started two more classes this month: Spiritual Leadership and Financial Stewardship. I'll update y'all on how these are going next month! 

Here are some prayer requests for the upcoming month!

• Please keep praying for our staff as we navigate what ministry looks like during COVID. Please also pray that we stay safe and healthy. 
• At the end of the semester, a lot of our students will be going home and staying home during the spring semester. Be praying that these students will stay connected to FOCUS and will keep growing spiritually while they are home! 
• Please pray for girls in my core to keep befriending each other. My vision for core is that instead of it just being a small group study, it is a place where girls can grow in friendships as they are growing in their relationship with God! 
• Pray for the students at UTD that haven't made any friends or introduced to our community yet. There are so many lonely people on campus due to COVID, and that is so heartbreaking! Please pray that they will meet someone from FOCUS that will love them well before they go home for the semester. 

This Apprenticeship has been such an incredible experience so far. I have experienced so much growth and have only fallen more in love with God and His people. It means the world to me that y'all support me and what God has been doing in my life! As always, please don't hesitate to share prayer requests with me. I want to be praying for you guys and support you in any way that I can! 

Here is our student testimony for November!