It's a New Semester!

 Hey everyone!! Thanks for checking out my blog for this month! 

I just wanted to start with a big thank you for all of your prayer, encouragement, and support. I feel so blessed to get to do campus ministry for my job! It is a joy to get to befriend, love, and invest in college students every day, and it is all made possible because of your generosity!! The past two years of doing campus ministry have only confirmed the fact that I feel very called to minister to college students. Because of this, I have committed to working with FOCUS for five more years! I’m in it for the long haul :) 

Life to the Full

Before I get into my update, I’d like to share some of what God has put on my heart lately. FOCUS’s theme verse for the year is John 10:10. It says, “The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” Y’all, that is GOOD NEWS! I have found myself using this scripture in many of my one on one Bible studies. The enemy is crafty and sneaky and has made a living out of selling us cheap substitutes for a full life. I think one of the ways I’m tempted to settle for a less than full life is to separate “spiritual” and “unspiritual” things. This weekend I was challenged to reconsider how I think of the things I enjoy and have previously deemed as “unspiritual”. Enjoying the things God has given me is indeed a very spiritual act. For example, one of my favorite things in this world is a good laugh! What if the next time I get to laugh with a friend, I think of it as a gift from God? Or even something I can experience with Him? God has given me the tools to have a full life, now I just need to recognize them as a gift from Him! So here’s my question for you: What are some everyday things you enjoy and can recognize as a gift from God? I’d love to hear from you! 

Core

After a long Winter Break, we are finally back in the swing of things! This semester, my cofa (co-facilitator), Hailey, and I were able to add another leader to our Core! Sara is so sweet, bold, inquisitive, and genuinely loves people. We are thrilled we get to add her to our leader team! We’ve spent the first few weeks of Core going through the book of Philippians. We have discussed things such as Paul’s attitude towards life and suffering (Ch.1), valuing other people above ourselves (Ch. 2), and this week we are discussing what it means to put our confidence in the Lord instead of in things of this world (Ch.3). One of my favorite passages of scripture is Philippians 2:3-8. It says: 

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,  not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God,

    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

rather, he made himself nothing

    by taking the very nature of a servant,

    being made in human likeness.

And being found in appearance as a man,

    he humbled himself

    by becoming obedient to death—

        even death on a cross!”

We had the idea to ask the girls in our core to rewrite this passage in their own words. Here is an example of what one of our friends, Lauren, wrote! 

“Don’t do things with the intention of personal gain but with an attitude of humility. View people as more important than yourself. Seek other people’s interests and not just your own. In relationships with people, both of us should have the mindset of Christ Jesus: Although He is God, He didn’t use that for His advantage. Instead, He chose to disadvantage Himself by being a person. Looking like any other human, He humbled himself by obeying God to the point of obeying to die on the cross.”

I pray that we can all take this scripture to heart and have the same mindset as Jesus in our relationships with one another! 

Here's a picture from our first core of the semester! 

Winter Camp 

In January, all of the FOCUS campuses brought students to a retreat we call “Winter Camp.” This was our first time getting to take students to Winter Camp since January 2020! Winter Camp is a 4 day retreat where we have sessions taught by a seminary professor named Rikk Watts, worship, time to build relationships, and more! One of the best parts of this weekend was getting to watch girls in my core bond with students in other cores and even from other campuses! 

Here is a photo from winter camp that captures a worship service that was really meaningful to me. The worship leader started by reading Revelation 5 in English. After that, one of our pastors read that same passage in Spanish. Finally, another one of our pastors read Revelation 5 in Mandarin. It was so neat to hear people proclaim that Jesus has made a way for people from “every tribe, language, people, and nation” to be in relationship with Him in their own languages. It reminded me that the ways God moves and works in campus ministry is not just a FOCUS thing, but part of a worldwide Jesus movement! 

The quality isn't great, but this is a photo of one of our pastors, Pedro, leading the community in worship in Spanish! 

Prayer

Here are some ways you can be praying for me and for FOCUS!

-That God will show me and my students what it looks like to live life to the full!
-That God will help me develop leaders that will make disciples for the rest of their lives

-Pray that the girls in my core will continue to grow meaningful friendships within the ministry. 

-Pray for the future of FOCUS at TCU! I am still going to Fort Worth once a week trying to build relationships and lay the foundation for a ministry! 

How can I be praying for you?

Showcase

One last thing I want to put on your radar! Each year hundreds of our students are invited to attend the Student Institute of Campus Ministry (SICM) where they learn the foundations of being student missionaries on their campus. To help fund this leadership opportunity FOCUS proudly hosts an annual benefit concert and artisan market. Each year the performances and unique artisan work leave us wowed and the generosity leaves us in awe. I want to invite you to join me at this event! All proceeds go towards our students to help them pay for SICM! 

Here is the student testimony for February!