March-July Update

My supporters! I am sincerely sorry for how long its taken me to send y'all another update. Its been way too long and Im sorry for how badly I dropped the ball in communicating with you!!! There is no excuse for my neglect in fulfilling my commitment to y'all to keep you abreast of my experiences as a minister. I am sorry if I've kept you waiting or wondering in any way. Thank you for your grace, patience, and unwavering support of me. Y’all really are like Jesus to me. Thank you.

 

That said, here are some key points from the months of March-August that I want you to know about:

MARCH

This is me and some girls from my core (aka small group). For spring break, we went down to a small town outside of Austin called Burton (pop >450 !!) to visit with one of the girls in our core who had to leave UTD. She was so sweet to host us in her family's home. 

Have you ever made pasta from scratch? We did. Definitely wouldn't recommend doing this when you're starving. IT TAKES AN ETERNITY! It was good tho!!

Hannah, our host, woke up earlier than all of us and cooked us breakfast! I mean, how sweet?! And that was good too!! 

I would like to ask for prayers for Hannah. She has been having a rough time getting through school and navigating life at home. She is a very kind person who loves the Lord and is doing her best to do her best in all areas. Im being vague intentionally, but God knows her situation. I know she would very much appreciate your prayers. 

Here are some snapshots of what outreach and "joint cores" look like. Outreach is the place and time where we engage students over different activities in hopes of becoming friends with or having a cool spiritual conversation with them. "Joint core" is when several different small groups from the same night of the week get together over a specific activity and also talk about life topics facilitated by scripture, coupled with a hangout session afterwards. This is a photo of all the Wednesday night cores gathering at Braums for burgers and games.....as you can see, we love board games at UTD 😀

Pictured here are two group photos of a group of students from a ministry that FOCUS partners with out in Bellingham WA. They are from Western Washington University and have been partnering with FOCUS for over 15 years. They come to our campus on a missions trip every March and then we go to their campus every May for a conference called SICM: Student Institute of Campus Ministry. 

SICM is where our select students go to be trained up in the what and why of campus ministry with the intention to go back to their respective schools and become leaders for Christ. If you look closely, you'll find the faces of these SICM students in the 2 photos above that, as they came along to our campus outreach and joint core that week! 

These photos make me very happy. This was a magical moment of some of the black girls of FOCUS doing our friends hair! This was special to me because it was at a FOCUS event where there is a majority white population, and getting to be our full selves around white people who are kind enough to ask good questions and have a heart posture of learning and celebrating us just being us, felt like a slice of The Kingdom where people from every nation tribe and tongue will be gathered around the throne. 

APRIL

This is me and my friend Henry in our blue gear for Autism Awareness Day!  

These photos are from out LatinXplosion event. This is event was put on by Andrea, my coworker (far right of the bottom photo) to celebrate LatinX culture. We had Mexican candy, Spanish karaoke, Loteria,  and DIY piñatas! It was such a good time. My most favorite moment of this event was when the custodial staff heard a popular old school Spanish song being sung and they peeked their heads in the door to see what the buzz was, and in true Jesus fashion, we invited them in to come sit, sing, and play games with us!  They are in the 3rd and 2nd to last pictures in this row. It warmed my heart that they felt celebrated and seen and that they took a break from working and joined us. 

Pictured here is me and a student named Acacia at a swing dance event we put on for the students after our weekly fellowship meeting 

Photos from another coworkers wedding! His name is Peter!

Some of the girls in my core supporting at the wedding 

Me in my natural state: Pestering Ashlie to take her mask off! 

Me happy that Ashlie will at least take them down for pictures...lol

Me and my other friend Ashley dancing at the reception 

Pictured here is a photo of our "Parking Lot Graduation." This was birthed out of COVID. When graduation was cancelled FOCUS put together an impromptu graduation in a nearby parking lot with some  speakers and a mic that one of our staff people had in their cars, and gave our seniors the chance to walk and celebrate with their friends and families. Though the height of the pandemic is behind us, we decided to keep the tradition going :)  

Praying over the students 

A snapshot at the males on our student leader team!

What a worship night looks like

These are photos of a baptism! Baptisms are such a beautiful time where we admit and confess our need for God and our need for His Spirit to dwell within us and lead us. I had the privilege and honor of baptizing a girl in my core named Arielle. I was so humbled by her allowing me to be a part of this big moment in her life. The other students pictured here are Harrison, Nhala, and Jadon!

My dear friend and ministry partner Rachel KILLING it in her show 

My dear friends and ministry partners Rachel and Goodness!

My dear friends all here to watch Rachel SLAY. Lives were changed lol. 

MAY

These pictures are from our End of Year Party that we throw for our students to wrap up the school year and send everyone off into summer feeling encouraged and reminded of community, as well as to celebrate all of the students and staff who make it possible for our ministry to thrive. 

Below you will find photos from our annual trip to Washington State for a conference called SICM: Student Institute of Campus Ministry. This conference is in partnership with a campus ministry called CCF (Campus Christian Fellowship). FOCUS has partnered with this ministry for 15+ years and their SICM has served as the training ground for raising up student leaders for Christ on college campuses throughout the world. We start the trip off in Seattle WA, and then make our way up to Bellingham WA where CCF's ministry is on Western Washington University's campus. You will see a collection of pictures  from both parts of this trip! 

Hands down the best Mac and Cheese ever.

The first original Starbucks!

This is Peace Arch Park that is on the Border of Washington and Canada 

The house some of us stayed in!

A stunning view that this picture does no justice to in the slightest.

My house mates headed to a waterside 

Some students praying after a game of capture the flag and before parting ways to go back to their campuses/homes

Me and my apprentice siblings at our end of year hang out! We were very happy to be done! 

A startup of our summer bible study at my church, East Plano Fellowship 

Another co-worker/apprentice sibling wedding: Connor and Orion

JUNE

June was a glorious month because I got to go on a much needed vacation. Enjoy some photos from St. Thomas!

I mean....just incredible.

My coworkers I went with 

Guess who got to go scuba diving for the first time!?!

July

This is me and my dear friend and dance partner (aka "Dance Husband") and ministry partner Xavier Mack at his going away party to go and dance with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre!!!! If you ever get a chance to see him move you will never be the same! 

I got to go back home for my dad's 60th birthday. Me and my youngest sister who don't live at home surprised him and got him to cry! it was all worth it! Me my sisters and my dad. 

Renee, Angel, and me walking the streets of NY! Were there to watch Dallas Black perform at Summer Stage!

We also got to see Xavier in his new world!!

Our final goodbye until we visit him in NY again to watch him burn a hole into the stage with his dancing!

Thank you all for sitting through that multi month photo dump for those of you that did! You will be hearing from me soon with an update about how my 2nd year with FOCUS is next month! 

Thank you again from the bottom of my heart for being on and staying on my support team! Y'all are the best. Talk to you soon!  

February Update

 Happy Black History Month and Happy Spring!

February and March have been some amazing and busy months. 

Enjoy the highlights below!

Did you know we had some crazy weather in the month of February here in Texas? In true Texas fashion, this snow came and went, and shortly after we were met with warmth and sunshine. But who doesnt love a  snow day?! Plus I got this really cute pic of me and my roomies dogs 😃

(from left to right: Maizy, Asa, Kenny, Neo...Kenny and Neo are mine 😻)

Neo, being a Bernedoodle (Bernese Mountain dog/poodle mix), was living his best life on his first snow day ever. He was very happy. 

They sat and stared out of this door for about an hour lol. 

Here are me and my fellow women apprentices for this year. We have been hanging out each month at someone's house and this was me and Renee's night to host! It was a fun time. 

MY BELOVED CORE!! This picture is special to me because its one of the first moments of our core hanging out for an extended amount of time outside of core! They so sweetly went on a walk together through campus and like the "corny mom" I can be sometimes, I just had to snap a picture and make a big deal out of it. I am always so moved by how God brings some of the most unlikely people together. 

Another picture of the girls in my core at our weekly campus gathering called Friday Night Fellowship or "FNF" for short. They are such a fun and funny group. 

Natalie and Issac, on the left, had us over for dinner and a sweet exchange of stories about our lives. 

This was my carpool group to our staff retreat. It was quite fun and really meaningful to have some solid hours to connect with my coworkers on the larger FOCUS staff not only on this car ride but the entire 4 days in general. From left to right that is Cole, Pedro, and Sirak. 

A group workout that we did that was actually very hard and left me sore for days. It was nice to do though to help all that brisket and pork move along 😳

What I loved so much about Staff Retreat were the talks that we had on humility, surrender, self control, sacrifice, and finally, silence and solitude. These talks are given by a fellow staff member followed by an open forum discussion/sharing of experience with these values from the more senior staff. For these talks to happen at this point in the school year were a game changer on my outlook on how to approach the rest of the school year and gave me a very helpful framework to think about my spirituality through. One of the talks that stood out to me the most was the one on humility. Our speaker used a resource called "The Freedom Of Self Forgetfulness"by Timothy Keller. To sum up the idea of what was discussed take this quote:

 "A superiority complex and an inferiority complex are basically the same. They are both results of being over inflated. The person with the superiority complex is overinflated and in danger of being deflated; the person with an inferiority complex is deflated already...deflated or in imminent danger of being deflated - it is all the same thing. And it makes the ego fragile."  

This was related to how we as children of God should "get out of the courtroom" because God is the judge, there is, no jury. We can stop living our life on trial in a court room where we are trying to prove our resumes to ourselves and to the nonexistent jury. The Reigning Judge calls us righteous when we are in his son, and the verdict is already in: we are priceless. By God's saving grace through Jesus Christ, we have already been approved of by the only One who matters. Therefore, we can walk out of the courtroom and live in such a way that doesn't think too highly or too lowly of ourselves, but that lives in a way that is true and pleasing to God. after all, he's the only one who really knows our motives! Therefore we can rest as his children and avoid either extreme of being overly inflated or too deflated because either view does not square with God's truth. 

 1 Corinthians 4:3-5 says 

"I care very little if I am judged by you or any human court. Indeed I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear but the does not make me innocent. Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart..."

Some more views from our Campsite in Burnet, TX

Below you will find a link to this show we do every year called "Showcase" 

Showcase is an event comprised of the gifted performers in our community that showcase talents from singing, rapping, dancing, and comedy, along with an artisan market. Showcase is put on each year to raise money for our choice students to attend a week long conference in Bellingham WA called SICM (Student Institute of Campus Ministry). This conference is designed to helps us develop and train students into pastoral leaders that are equipped to reach out on our campuses. 100% of our sales go to our attending student’s expenses such as travel, housing, and food. 

The full cast on stage for the finale "Don't Stop Believing"

A snapshot of me and Renee dancing in an original piece called "Never Lost."

If you want to view this show you can visit 

anyfocus.org/showcase 

Please consider leaving a donation to help our students travel to Washington this May! Every amount helps!  (tickets were sold at $25)

Once again thank you all so much for investing in me this year. Praying that God would restore and replenish all that you have given!  

 

 

January Update!

If I could sum up the month of January in 1 word, it would be choice. In January I felt as if I was faced with the choice of whether or not I really buy into the the reality of the cost of what it means to follow Jesus.  How ironic considering that I have been serving as an apprentice campus pastor for the past 6 months. Over the Christmas break, our FOCUS staff read the book “The Jesus I Never Knew” by Philip Yancey, and it was this book that very disturbingly brought me face to face with confronting exactly what I had signed on for by calling Jesus lord. 

I was going to try to summarize the contents and purpose of this book on my own, but the back of the book does a much better, and fuller job at it, so I have included the description of it below: 

“…Philip Yancey’s award-winning book on the teachings, person, and life of Jesus Christ is a groundbreaking, disturbing, and exhilarating look at the Jesus described in the Gospels. Yancey writes: ‘The Jesus I got to know in writing this book is very different from the Jesus I learned about in Sunday school. In some ways more comforting; in some ways more terrifying.’ Now you can share in the same exciting breakthroughs as the author. This book will rock your preconceptions and challenge you with hard questions about why those of us who bear his name don’t do a better job of following him…”

I couldn’t agree more with the sentiments of “comforting” and “terrifying” after reading this book, hence my internal dilemma I mentioned earlier! While this book was a game changer for my understanding of Jesus and what his life meant for the world, it really shook me up with the reminder that when I followed Jesus I willfully relinquished a life of autonomy for a life of dependence on Him. And within this life of dependence on him, I voluntarily choose to adopt his world view. And adopting his world view means that I will allow the Holy Spirit to shape my heart and mind around God’s truth that,

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,

    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 

Blessed are those who mourn,

    for they will be comforted.

5 

Blessed are the meek,

    for they will inherit the earth.

6 

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

    for they will be filled.

7 

Blessed are the merciful,

    for they will be shown mercy.

8 

Blessed are the pure in heart,

    for they will see God.

9 

Blessed are the peacemakers,

    for they will be called children of God.

10 

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,

    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you

Signing on for a life as a follower of Jesus, for me (and Im guessing would be or was for you), is signing on for a life that is way different from my childhood visions of what my adulthood was gonna be like. So I had to ask myself: “Do I really want this?…Am I truly committed to the depth of what I’ve just read that this means?” 

As I examined my heart and remembered again that I don't get to decide what is right, who's in or who's out, and that I don't get to pick and choose when I will take up my cross, I was filled with despondence, irritation, fear, and doubt. Surely the rest of that Sermon on the Mount was allegorical...right? Whether it was allegorical or literal, you cannot ignore the blaring, radical code of ethics that Jesus is daringly introducing. While my understanding of what it means to live out these truths is still en process, I am fully confident that following Jesus hasn't led me astray yet, so I chose him again 😃 (*wipes sweat off brow*). Though its challenging, I trust and have been shown in many ways that He is true life. 

Enjoy some photos below from Winter Camp! (The highlight of the month of January for FOCUS!)

Random: I got stuck in Vegas on my way back to Dallas from Christmas break in San Francisco. I got to go and see the Blue Man Group! They were incredible! Have you ever seen them before?

This is Ashlie. She's in my core. Fun fact about her is that she had only planned to come to Winter Camp on the first day and leave that same night.......SHE STAYED THE WHOLE TIME AND HAD A BLAST!!

Also, to explain Winter Camp: Winter Camp is a 4 day 3 night trip where all of the FOCUS members, and any other students who want to come, from every campus that FOCUS is at in the DFW come together and learn and hang out! We have indoor and outdoor games, but the highlight of winter camp are the speakers we bring in for the different talks that we have. this year we had seminary professor at Regent College, Rikk Watts, speak to us about why we can trust the Gospels, and why Jesus's life is/was such a big deal in ancient Greco-Roman society. It is our kick off to the next semester to help everyone reconnect after the holiday break as well as send people into the semester fired up about Jesus and ministry!

This is a game called Gaga Ball. Very user friendly, fast paced, and fun. The goal is to get people out by hitting them with the ball from the knee down using only your hands, so you can imagine that there was lots of jumping and sliding so that you didn't get out! Whoever is the last one in the ring wins!

Ashlie and Serenity after a long match of Gaga ball where Ashlie won! 

Me, Ashlie, Chasity, ans Serenity in our cabin!

Us at dinner! 

The infamous Winter Camp dance party! Everyone is doing the Cha Cha Slide here. 

Me and Cathryn's core on the oversized chair! You didn't do Winter Camp unless yogurt a photo on this chair. Shout out to our Admin Director, Paul Ueng, for the photo bomb! 

Serenity playing basketball with some of the kiddos.

This is a picture of our core at Target. On the surface it doesn't seem like the hugest deal, but this was the first time our core hung out together after our weekly meeting which was so special to me! Everyone really is becoming friends with each other and I am so glad! 

Thank you all so so much for reading my blogs and being interested in what all is happening on campus. I am blown away to have such a sweet team of supporters like you all.

How can I be praying for you? Please email me! 

See you soon with the next update!