HELLO FALL

It has been nothing short of an exciting and busy month this past September! Our small groups, large group meetings and one on one bible studies are in full swing and it feels so good to be back in the normal swing of ministry. Our first couple weeks of the month were still filled with a few events to reach out to students walking around on campus and I've been so encouraged to meet so many new people to the FOCUS ministry!

FEELING HOMESICK?

This past month my fellow apprentices and I started our Evangelism class! One of our assignments for class was to plan and host our own outreaching event to meet new students. My team and I decided on hosting an event we called "Feeling Homesick?". We wanted to reach students who are new to UTD from out of state or our large international student population. Over the past few months of meeting new students, I have met an overwhelming number of international students. It had not clicked for me just how big of a change it is to move halfway around the world to a new country just for college! 

Our event went well! We set up a few actives for students to do and get a chance to meet each other. Since we wanted to focus on helping students feel less homesick and make UTD feel like more of a home, we set up different arts and crafts for people to paint Fall decorations for their dorms and apartments. Students really enjoyed getting to show off their artistic talents and take home and meaningful decoration for their home.

FALL CAMP

Not only were our outreach events fun but we also hosted our annual FALL CAMP! Every year, each campus of the FOCUS community takes a 24 hour retreat to Mt. Lebanon Retreat Center. We have some of our students share their testimonies about making hard decisions to follow Christ as well as persevering through hard times. Our students always share such meaningful and encouraging stories, and this year was no different!  

Along with getting to engage with the broader community of UTD, I also go to spend more meaningful time with my small group. (From left to right) Jackson, Gabe, myself, Jonathan and Cole all got to spend time together at camp playing games, walking around the camp and singing songs of worship. It was such a blessing to get to spend the time with my small group! These guys are the best and I am so thankful to have them in our small group this year.

Thank You!

Once again I cannot thank you enough for your support and prayers! I have time in my devotionals throughout the week that I reflect on just how lucky and blessed I am to have your support to be able to do ministry. God has already done so much work in the lives of our students and it is so amazing to be apart of what he is doing at UTD.

Student Testimony