Hitting the Ground Running!

 Hey friends! Praying this first month of 2024 was incredible for you! God is already doing so much here and we barely hit February. 

The beginning of 2024 just got here a month ago and we are already back into the groove of things! Just looking forward to what God is going to do this semester! This month alone we have already had our Winter Staff Retreat, Winter Retreat with our students and are quickly approaching things like Family Night! Even in the business of starting again, God has just been reminding me of the peace and stillness we get from simply sitting in His presence. God has been showing His sweet love for me in the midst of the chaos and what a blessing that has been! 

Like I mentioned above, we had our Winter Retreat this past month! It is a 4 day long retreat where students from all of the campuses we are on come together and learn about Jesus as one big community! We had an incredible speaker, Dr.lee, come all the way from California and speak on Disruptive Grace. His insights into how grace should not only change our lives but do so radically was inspiring to say the least. Our students truly walked away with a new vision for grace and a renewed spirit ready to take on the semester! I am so incredibly blessed to get to join students during these times and see how the effects of events like these play out and shape them for months to come. 

I did not get many pictures from Winter Retreat but here is one of my students who won the Spirit Stick (a great choice in my opinion) at a cheer class some of our staff put on for free time! 

We also started core (our gender specific small groups) back up a couple of weeks ago and that has been so sweet! We have 3 new girls in our core who are so excited to be in community and learn more about the heart of God together! We did this activity in our last core that had each girl reflect then write on a white board what they bring to our core and how that can help the other girls in our core. It was such a bonding experience for our group as we got to piece together everyones uniqueness to make the family we have built there! Here are a few of the responses we got! 


Prayer Request: 

  • We have had so many babies born in our community recently so prayers for continued good health and for the parents as they navigate this new journey! 
  • Prayers for health as we enter the flu and cold season! 
  • Prayers for our ongoing FOJ's (one on one Bible Studies) as they start back up, that they would just be a time where students build deep friendships and point each other back to Jesus. 
  • Prayers for the Wylie Northeast Church and our search for a new building
  • Prayer for a woman at our church named Natalie as she battles with cancer






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Exciting News!

Image
 Hello Everyone! Time is flying by! How are we already at the end of February?! It truly does not feel real to be coming closer to the end of this apprenticeship.  This month has been so busy and God has been doing so many great things in our ministry, from non-believers engaging in conversations about faith to seeing girls who have been Christians their whole lives getting serious about building their adult life on God! It has been a true blessing to be a part of! Even though this month's update could be about so many things, I want to share some exciting news will all of you! After much prayer and thought, on the directors end as well as mine, I will be staying on staff with FOCUS this next year at Collin! I am so excited about this and feel like God is calling me to continue to pour into these college students! I am so thankful to be able to join God in His work on campus for another year! Saying this, I will be starting back up fundraising soon and will be contacting each of yo
Read more

How is it already NOVEMBER?!

Image
 Hey friends! Wow, I can not believe it has already been 3 months since I began this apprenticeship journey! Thank you so much for your continued support and prayers, I truly could not do this without all of you! So much has happened since my last update, so let's dive in!      First, I got baptized! What a joyous and life giving experience that I got to share surrounded by some of the people who have been such an example of Jesus to me. Adriana, one of our senior staff members at Collin and one of the fastest friendships I have ever made, baptized me. Here is a picture of Adriana and I, after what I like to call my "Holy Dunk".      This moment was such a special experience where I got to publicly proclaim my faith and express my gratitude to a God that gave everything while asking nothing but devotion in return. I was overcome with joy as I saw people I met in Denton and my new friends in Plano come together to celebrate how far the Lord has brought me and His overwhelm
Read more

A New Year Full of Even More Blessings!

Image
 Hey friends! I hope you had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! God has done so much in my life this past year and I can not wait to see what He does this year!  One semester of the Apprenticeship down, one semester to go! What a joy it has been and this past month was no different!  This past semester was filled with friendship, fun, self reflection and crazy growth! God has shaped me so much and I can not wait to see how He continues to do so. He has placed so many people in my life that has challenged me and showed me Jesus through their care for me. Some of these people are my fellow apprentices! They have been such lights to me and I truly feel as though I have gained 9 new siblings through this journey. Here is a picture of us from our FOCUS Staff Christmas Party!  God has also been revealing to me the importance of serving the community He has placed us in! One of our students, Rachel (photographed above), got me plugged into a ministry called Exodus. Exodus serves previous
Read more