Saturday, May 5, 2018

End of Another School Year

Hello,

I can't believe another school year has come and gone! It seems like yesterday we were beginning this semester and last night we just had our final FOCUS event for this semester. Now it's time for SICM, and I'm so excited. This is a trip I look forward to all year! It's so amazing seeing how these students lives' are impacted from taking a week of their lives and devoting it to learning about God and experiencing Him.

We leave for Seattle on Thursday, so I would appreciate prayers for safe travel and that God would reveal himself to these students and the staff in powerful ways.

Thank You!

I also can't talk about SICM without thanking you! So many of you invested in our next generation of student leaders through the Spring Showcase or otherwise giving scholarships for SICM. The Showcase raised $17,759.20in one day! We should be in great shape paying for everyone who needed help.

I am constantly blown away by the generosity people show. It's such an amazing example of the generosity God shows to us, and it makes me want to be just as giving. 

I can't wait to send lots of pictures of the trip in my next blog!!!!

Baptism Galore!


I'm so excited to share that this year we've had several women commit their lives to Jesus! This semester we've had 5 women decide to take this step. Sadly I didn't take a picture of all of them, but I did take a picture of a few. 

The picture on the left is a picture of Dawn (the one in a black t-shirt) baptizing Candace (the one in the red t-shirt). Dawn is one of our apprentices this year, and she has been working with Laurence at SMU this year. Candace is a girl they met at one of their outreach events they put on, and her and Dawn have been studying the bible together. The ministry at SMU is still in its early stages, but as you can see, God is moving powerfully in that ministry. It is so exciting to see, and I can't wait to see how God continues growing and developing FOCUS there. 

The photo on the right is a picture of Siena Walter being baptized by Erin Ihnen. Last summer, Mandy, Sandra, and I were praying for more women leaders, and this is a cool example of how God has answered our prayers. At the beginning of this school year, we did outreach in the freshman dorms where we met Siena. Siena grew up a christian, but wasn't really living her life for Jesus. After doing a one on one bible study, she decided to fully commit to living for Him. She has so much leadership potential, and I'm so excited to see how God uses her this next year! This is just one story of the women that God brought into our ministry. 

Both of these women will be going to SICM this year as well where they will learn more about how to be disciples on their campuses. They're among the people you've been praying for all semester! Your prayers have been working :)

Thank You Again!

To end I just want to thank you again. I don't think I could ever thank you enough. I can't describe how blessed I feel to have the opportunity to work with these women, to see first hand how God is working in their lives, to get to take classes learning more about God, and all the other things I get to do while working on staff. I feel deeply indebted to you for this experience, and I hope you see how valuable your partnership is. Your generosity is changing lives! Not just these students, but mine as well. I wish I could tell you all the ways that I've changed from how I started my apprenticeship to now, but that blog would be too lengthy! Suffice it to say that God has been humbling me, helping me to love more like Him, and to learn what it really means to be the servant of all. Thank you so much!


Student Testimony

Bekwele Wodi
Texas Woman’s University
Psychology
Sophomore
As always I'd like to end with the student testimony. I hope you've been encouraged by this blog. Thanks for reading all the way to the end!

"I first became involved with FOCUS when I was just starting out at Collin College. I had been living in Nigeria for a few years, so I was walking into a college experience where I didn’t know anyone. I worried a lot about not being able to find any meaningful friendships while I was there. So it came as a surprise when some old friends of mine, LorĂ© and Gibby Yessuff, invited me to a Thursday Night Fellowship. From that first night of fellowship, I made more friends than I could have prayed for. People asked me to sit with them, scheduled time to hang out with me, got to know me, and challenged me as a disciple. It became clear to me that this was not only an example of authentic Christian community; this was the way Jesus called us to do friendships—intentional, genuine and loving.

Through the many friendships I’ve been blessed with in FOCUS, God has changed my fear and worry of not having any friends into a desire to grow and develop friendships at TWU. I am beyond thankful when I see what he is doing in the lives of students here and for the example of Christian friendship that I’m now able to extend to others."




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