Oh, what a sweet month!

Hey y'all! Oh, what a sweet month of ministry it has been! It has been full of sweet surprises in seeing how God is working! But first I would like to thank you guys for supporting me and what God is doing at Collin! 

 We had a Latin X outreach event this month to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month! This was really sweet getting to students who are also Hispanic light up whenever they saw our event! We taught dances such as cumbia and bachata. We also had Hispanic candies! Getting to go the cultural events as a student was always so special to me! It made me feel even more seen and I loved getting to hang out with people in sharing my culture! Some of the students we met came and checked out our other FOCUS events!

This is a picture of us practicing cumbia at the Latin X outreach event!

CORE (our small groups) has been so sweet and encouraging this past month! Me and my coleader Jamie's core started out with two people but now it has grown to around ten people! I know it isn't about how many people are in our CORE but it is encouraging to see how God has brought people randomly to our group from places that I didn't expect! Most of my CORE is new believers which has been so awesome to see! They are all on fire for God and it is so cool to see how they accepted Jesus and now are here. Me and my core have been exploring what it means to make our heart Christs' home! 

This is me and my core at the state fair! It was sweet getting to see them outside of core and be able to bond!

This is Alex! She joined CORE about three weeks ago! I study Focus on Jesus with her which is a ten week bible study on different topics such as "What's Jesus Like?" or "Faith, Love, and Obedience". Getting to study FOJ with Alex has been so sweet! She always has questions and loves getting to learn about the Lord. She accepted Jesus a couple months ago and is eager to learn as much as she can about Jesus! Her enthusiasm for wanting to know more about the Lord is so encouraging!

This is Alex! I have loved getting to study the bible with her these past three weeks!

Fall retreat was this past weekend! It was SO fruitful and life-giving for the whole community. Fall retreat is a twenty-four-hour retreat at Mount Lebanon camp. Having Fall retreat every year is essential because it helps bond people in core and also the whole community. We have a couple of sessions throughout the retreat. On Saturday night we had a worship night that was planned by two of our students. The worship night was one of my favorite parts of the retreat! There were different worship stations and these seemed to be very meaningful for students. The worship stations included praise, lament, and thankfulness! Some of the guys during the worship started dancing in a circle and hugging each other. This was really sweet! It showed how much they wanted to be there and praise God together! 

Here is a picture of me and the girls from my core who came to Fall Retreat! I love getting to do life with them!

Here's a picture of the worship night we had at Fall Retreat!

One final thing, I have loved getting to be in the apprenticeship classes! We just finished getting to read over the Psalms. For our Old Testament class, we listen to lectures, read a textbook, and read our bible. While we were studying Psalms I learned that over half the Psalms are about lament and eventually progress to praise which is so cool! I found this very interesting because it shows that it is okay to lament and bring the things we are struggling with to God. Another interesting thing I learned about Psalms is that Psalm 119 is an acrostic Psalm which is so cool! 

This month was full of such sweet moments! I am so thankful that I get to do this. Thank you all for your support and prayers! All Glory to God! 

Prayer Requests

• Please pray for our Pizza Theology event coming up! It is on Nov. 5th! This is an event we host every semester where spend a couple of hours learning about a certain topic. This semester's topic is "What does it mean to be human?". Please pray that students will be excited to come and learn!
• Please pray for the girls in my core as they keep seeking Jesus! Pray that they would always seek him and put him first. 
• Pray for our Keep Focus Growing fundraiser on Nov. 28th and that people would give if they feel led to! 

In Christ,

Carolina

It's September!!

 Wow, I cannot believe that I am already almost two months into the apprenticeship! It has been such a busy past month but filled with sweet blessings! However, first I wanna say thank you so much to everyone who is supporting me throughout the apprenticeship! I keep learning over and over what a sweet gift it is to work in ministering to students! You guys make it possible for us to be on campus. I love that this is my full-time job! :)

We hit the ground running with Welcome week! This week was filled with such neat things! If you don't know what welcome week it is we have intentional events to meet people in order to build our cores (small groups). It's always important to do welcome week because that is when students are most willing to try new things and join organizations! 

  This is me and some of the corefas during one of our welcome week events!

We had our kickoff TNF this past month which was so sweet and encouraging! TNF stands for Thursday night fellowship, it's our worship service! During our service we always start off with worship music and then have a message, afterwards, people will go and hang out! It is always one of my favorite nights of the week because you get to see how God is working throughout the whole community. We had around 120 people show up which was so great! Not because of the number of people but because it showed how hard everyone had been working during welcome week in inviting people to the community! 

This is a picture from our first TNF! :)

This is me and my core (our small groups) ! I have really loved getting to know each of these girls and building a relationship with them. It is so encouraging and sweet to see how God has been working in their lives since before I met them. It is also so encouraging to see how passionate they are about following and learning about Jesus! A lot of them have mentioned that they came across F.O.C.U.S. at a perfect time and it's like God knew they needed community. That has been really encouraging to hear because it shows how God is working! I am really excited to get to pour into them and learn from them as the year goes on. They already have such a big space in my heart!

This is my core! I love them so much already!

Here is me and the apprentices at our monthly sabbath dinner! We decided to have monthly sabbath dinners where one apprentice at their home and we each bring a dish to share! This past month's theme was breakfast foods so everyone brought breakfast foods! It was a  sweet time to get to see the other apprentices outside of class and just hang out. We only get to see the apprentices who are not on our campus during class! I love them dearly!

Me and some of the apprentices at our monthly sabbath dinner!

Thank you so much again for partnering with me in ministry! You guys are such a big part of why we get to do what we do! I would love to hear from you guys and how I can be praying for you!

Prayer requests

• Please pray for my CORE and that they would let God continue to work in their hearts! And that they would draw nearer to him!
• Please pray also for our upcoming fall retreat in October! This is a 24-hour retreat where we get to worship together, listen to messages, and also just build community! Please pray that we will learn more about God and also grow closer as a whole community and CORE.

In Christ,

Carolina

Kickoff to the school year!

I can't believe the apprenticeship is finally here! I am so pumped about it! Thank you so much to everyone who is supporting me financially and through prayer. It is so encouraging to know that all of y'all are excited and want to invest in campus ministry. You guys make it possible for us to be on campus! On this blog, I'll be posting monthly updates about how God is working throughout the apprenticeship!

Our first day was August 1st where we started the apprenticeship with orientation and old testament class. I am so excited to be reading through the old testament, the first we week read through the first five books of the old testament! I am already learning so much from just these past couple of weeks and can't wait to use what I have learned in ministry! One thing that has really stuck out to me is God's faithfulness to his people in the Old Testament, it blows my mind to see how faithful and merciful he was to them!

Here is a picture of all the apprentices during OT class! 

This is all the apprentices at FOCUS licensing ceremony which was so sweet and encouraging! During this ceremony, the apprentices and re-committing staff make commitments to set Christ-like examples and serve their campuses faithfully throughout the school year. During the ceremony, I realized what an awesome opportunity that I get to serve God in this way! This ceremony made me more excited for what I'll be doing this coming school year!

Here are the apprentices before the licensing ceremony! We thought it would be funny to carry David since he's the only guy apprentice!

The staff goes on a four-day retreat at the beginning of every semester. This retreat that happens at the beginning helps the staff prepare for the upcoming school year. It was so encouraging getting to go to this because I came out of it feeling prepared for the school year and so encouraged that I get to be part of this team! I felt like I learned a lot from the short time at retreat! Our time at staff retreat was filled with fellowship and also sermons that helped us think about ministry for this coming school year. One thing I walked away from staff retreat is that we need to be rooted in him while doing ministry because he is the one who works through us and get our strength from him.

 Here is a picture of all the apprentices at staff retreat!

Here is the staff from all the F.O.C.U.S. campuses during staff retreat! :)

Thank you so much again to everyone who is supproting me through prayer or on my support team financially. It is so encouraging to know you guys want to invest in what God is doing on DFW campuses! I'm so excited to see what God will do this year and can't wait to tell y'all!

Prayer Requests

• Pray that as we are on campus this week that the student's would be open to what God wants to do in their life and also to community!
  
• Pray that as we try to reach these students we would be bold and not listen to fear! That we would listen to the spirit in who he wants us to reach out to. 
• Pray for the staff, professors, and other employees that they would be able to love these students well!

In Christ,

Carolina :)