May 2023 Update: Graduations and Goodbyes

   May

End Of Year Party /Parking Lot Graduation

This year flew by! Here's some snapshots of our summer themed end of the year party and Parking Lot Graduation (which btw is a tradition that we started during COVID! Since graduation was cancelled, they decided to get people together in a Walmart parking lot and let the students walk!).

We said goodbye to our seniors and our transitioning staff. While we are glad that we get to send people out into the world with all that they have learned and gained from their time in UTD FOCUS, we are saddened by each person's absence because of the unique thing they each brought to our community. What a bittersweet ending to the year.

Honorable Mention

This is my good friend Rhett. You can tell a lot about the kind of person he is based on the fact that he grabs peoples phones, unbeknownst to them, and takes pictures like this one here. I have gotten to work with him on the UTD staff team for the past 2 years and he is one of the first people to make me feel safe and seen as a black woman on our majority white staff team. When I would make jokes or references to obscure things about black culture (well, at least what would be obscure to most white people), he would know the reference! In moments of insecurity and shock at the huge change I had made in my life, on 2 or more occasions I have gotten a very timely text from him of encouragement saying, "So glad you're here, sister."  He has continued to empathize with and seek to understand black culture as well as take the time to hear from me and about my experience and make sure I was ok. While he wasn't the only person on our staff team to make me feel safe and accepted in my time in FOCUS so far, he has been the most endeared to me. there are a hundred other things I could say about him, but I will leave you with that. 

 He is now relocating from UTD's campus, 40 minutes away to UT Arlington's campus to help lead the men's ministry over there. While its not all that far, and though I will see him at least once a month at our all staff meeting, I will miss him deeply. He is an incredibly talented, musical individual, deep thinker, artful illustrator of ideas and images, and just an all around blessing to everyone he meets. We will definitely feel the loss of him on our team, but I am just so glad that I got to have him as a co worker first starting out. Love you Rhett! 

This is a photo of Cathryn (my first small group co-leader), and members of my very first small group, Hannah, Caroline, and Ashlie. This is one of many Friday nights that we stayed up together in Cathryn's room until 3 am laughing, talking, and speaking God's truth into each other's lives. It is only by the grace of God and the unity of his Kingdom that a group of very different personalities and backgrounds could come together and be this close of friends. It does not make sense that we are all this close and actually like each other despite our very different differences. Thank you Christ for the deep unity that is found in you! 

This is the apartment where I got my first experience in being a small group leader with these very girls. Cathryn and Ashlie are both graduating now and moving to new places. My girls. Definitely bittersweet. 

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my blog and for giving of yourselves so generously so that I could do this amazing, fun work. I am ever grateful. 

How can I be praying for you? 

 

April 2023 Update: Baby Showers, Baptisms, and Rez(urrection) Fair!

  April

Baby Shower

These are 2 of my good friends from college. DJ is having her 2nd son who Im proud to call my 2nd Godson! I have been so blessed by these girls friendship over the years. Im grateful to call these two my supporters as well. We were able to reunite at the baby shower after a lot of time! 

Though they are not students in my ministry, it has been a blessing to share the things that God has taught me and the ways that he has grown me over these past few years working for FOCUS. They have both attested to the transformation and different person that they see in me since college, and I have to thank our ministry for being the leading force in that change. God has done and is doing incredible things through FOCUS in my life, and in the student's lives, and I am so thankful. Praise God for the work he does in our hearts. 

Me, DJ, Christen 

Me and my 1st godson, (Dj's first son), Dyce! This boy can play some basketball! 

This is Presley, Christen's baby girl! 

Rez(urrection) Fair!

Rez Fair is something we do each year during the week of easter where us and the other ministries on campus come together as a united front to declare unity in the celebration of one of our Lord's biggest deals: the RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD! When I think of the resurrection, hope and excitement are the words that come to mind. What a wonder it is that we who believe can look forward to death without fear and doom. I wouldn't rather serve any other God than the one who tells me that I can look at the most desolate part of life and feel hopeful about whats to come. How bizarre! Here are some moments from our celebration!  

Baptisms

Matthew 28:19 "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

This is what our forever mission is as Christians whether working directly in ministry or not. Wherever we may find ourselves. Whoever is presently in our lives. We will always be called with the charge to show people Jesus and show them how to follow Him. 

Have you told anyone about Jesus lately?

Haley from my small group :) We got to study the bible together, and boy let me tell you, this girl's got some wisdom for a 19 year old! 

This is a student named Miriam's baptism. I didn't disciple her or know her very well, but it was such a gift to hear about what God had done in her life. People really showed up for her! 

Ashlie from my small group from last year :) 

Ashlie's family Mom, dad, and then 6 siblings!

The strides Ashlie has made in following Jesus are so tangible. The way she thinks and acts now is far different from where she was when I met her as a Freshman. I am so thankful that her and I became friends and that I was able to get to know her and study the bible with her. Her questions kept me on my toes! What an example she is to her family. 

This was the month of April in my ministry! Thank you so much for taking the time to read my blog! Thank you SO much for your continued support in my ministry. None of this would be possible without your selfless generosity. Thank you!

How can I be praying for you?