Skip to main content

Good Gifts

 Hello again! It’s time for your ministry update. I have to start by thanking you for your prayers and support. This specific update is full special moments I got to have while doing ministry. God is kind to provide the way for me to work in ministry full time. Thank from the bottom of my heart.  

Since we last spoke, I went with our students to SICM. This is our annual leadership training up in beautiful Bellingham, Washington. This trip was such a fun change of pace from the end of the year. I know I’ve been honest on these updates about how tired I felt from this semester ending. It was a tough semester for me, so this trip felt like a gift because it let me relax and get to know our students better. It is a blessing taking students who have never flown or been out of the state before to Washington. I loved seeing this trip through their eyes. A sweet moment was when one of our TCC students ran up to me and exclaimed, “You have to go to Pike’s Market!” At first, I wanted to say that I had been there before and that it’s a great place. But, seeing his excitement over the new environment reminded me that he had never been out of the state before. I just asked him what he liked and said I’m excited to visit too.  

Moments like these remind me of how good our God is. James 1:17 comes to mind: Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. God is the ultimate gift giver. Whether it is seeing beautiful mountains or the gift of exploring a new city, these are both gifts from God. The SICM trip reminds me of this truth. Many of our students fundraised to go on the trip. God blew me away with how many people were excited and willing to partner with them; it's not an inexpensive trip. But, our God is incredibility generous. Another gift that comes to mind is the awesome food we had up there. That may seem small, but tastebuds are a blessing! I personally do not have a taste for fish, but many students ate fresh seafood for the first time ever. That is a kindness in my eyes. Lastly, being around God's people was a gift to me. I got to connect with different staff and church members while in Washington. Our family of believers is so much bigger than our town or states. This verse in James reminds me to thank God because his good gifts are all around.

Speaking of good gifts, Graham got the opportunity to baptize a friend who he studied the bible with years ago. Their friendship and story reminds me that everything happens in God's timing.  

I want to take that mindset into the summer. Anything that is praiseworthy or good is a gift from God. I hope you guys too can look for God’s goodness this month. Pray for us as we fundraise this summer. Pray for our students as they are back home. We know that not every student goes back to the best situation. Pray that the summer will not be a stagnant time in the students' faith.


Pray for the orientations we will be working this summer. 

Highlights from May:


This was our first day in Bellingham. We explored the rocky beach before the beginning of SICM. 



This is a photo with a friend of mine, Mia. She is amazing. We did our one on one bible study together. It was cool seeing her get the training to reaching out on campus! 

This is a mix of our UTA/TCC ladies. 

Later that same day, we spotted this beautiful bush and took a photo. 
It's unfair how beautiful these flowers are. 

Here's a creeper shot of some students during a worship service. 
It was too wholesome not to capture. 

Here is a glimpse of the delectable food we had with our amazing host family. That's homemade pasta. Shoutout to Wendy. 

One of my favorite parts of the trip is connecting with our host families. We laughed a lot and we were so blessed to stay there. This is a glimpse of us teaching/ showing our host dad some memes. 


Here is what the rest of our week looked like. 



I could show y'all many more photos, but I'll end with this one for this month. 
This is the Freemount Troll. We liked him. Seattle was fun to explore. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

August 2023: Is Bucee Going to FOCUS?

Greetings from Buc-ee's Above is a photo from Buc-ee's on the fourth of July. We got to met the celebrity beaver while visiting my family.  For any of my out of state friends, Buc-ee's is a huge gas station and this beaver is their face and mascot. I just had to get a photo of these two with him.  Here's a photo from our church's dog event. The guy above's name is Mauricio. The dog he is holding is his. We had a good laugh that his beloved dog was a pampered shih Tzu. He and Graham have become great friends over the year. He will be leading in the fall. Pray for our men's side of the ministry. What happens every four years or so is that many of our people graduate. We are coming into this year with fewer men leaders. Pray for them to have courage and boldness to reach out on campus to their classmates, friends and whoever. I'm hopeful with guys like Mauricio that we will meet the people God wants us to this year.  Ministry-wise, we have begun the prepara...
Post a Comment
Read more

August Update!

  This update is full of prayer requests and news! Let’s get started.  I just got back from our summer staff retreat with our entire staff team. One of the key parts I want to underline is: we have not had our entire staff together on a retreat since my apprentice year. Our staff has boomed in size because we are taking on nineteen apprentices this year. Nineteen. It’s exciting to experience a surge of new people and to see our team grow. I had a strange moment during the retreat where I realized some of these apprentices were students when I started back in 2018. Now, I get to partner with them in reaching our campuses this fall. I guess that’s what happens the longer you work at a place.  One of the most exciting updates I have is that we will be pioneering five new campuses this fall. Each team is focusing on a different campus. One thing that has blown me away during my time in FOCUS is how the Lord has worked on community college campuses. I remember visiting a Colli...
1 comment
Read more

Big News at the Bottom.

 Happy New Year!  The photo above is of some of us at Inks Lake State Park during our staff retreat.  We made it to the new year! I hope you all had some time of rest during Christmas time. Since you last heard from me, our semester ended and students went home. At UTA, We did a Christmas devotional service and then ended with a party. At TCC, we went to Chick-fil-a and all got free sandwiches. I love the rhythms of ministry. We always end with parties and food.  Over our break, we rested. We read our assigned reading for the break; a fabulous book called To Love as God Loves by Roberta Bondi . If I could surmise what I learned,   it would be that many things i.e. our sin and our lack of humility get in the way of loving those around us. The book looked at how monastic church mothers and fathers tackled this common issue with prayer and seeking God. This book was what our retreat centered around. Graham preached the chapter about love. Also, We went to Hous...
Post a Comment
Read more