Welcome to another sweet update!

We have officially transitioned into Fall, daylight seems shorter, leafs are falling, temperatures are changing, it's not even Halloween yet and stores are already set for Christmas! Meanwhile God is doing his thing here at Collin, transforming hearts little by little. There is so much to unload so grab a cup of coffee or if you are like me a cup of tea and have a good read! In case you haven't gotten the hang of my blog, I will usually end it with some prayer request so don't miss out!

Let's start with Fall Camp at Mount Lebanon in Cedar Hill! Our student body got to spend 24 hours of there weekend away from distractions like work, homework, electronics and all the mundane things in life in order to experience Jesus and his community at Collin. Our theme for camp was Community, we did this by having a time for fellowship where students who don't normally interact with each other got the chance to! We had a time for discussion like What does success as a community of believers look like for us?(this sparked much awareness for the need and importance of community within our students), a time for worship followed by different stations like journaling and prayer request.

This is a poster of one of our stations at Fall Camp

In case you were wondering whose kiddos are those, they are Garrett's, our director at Collin. Garrett brought his family during the last half of camp and as students interacted with his kids he shared with me, "...when doing ministry you definitely want to let these students in your life". How often do you get to hold your director's kid? Probably never. Garrett reminded me that he isn't different or better than us but as much human as I am, with little things like inviting us (staff and students) into his family!

This is a silly one from all of our Collin students at Fall Camp, shows more character along with our school spirit, Go Coogs! Garret is the one raising Jack on the left!

These are some of the girls from my core that got to come to Fall Camp! Top L to R: Addie, Elaine, Allison. Bottom L to R: Jocelyn, Me, Angelina and Emily (Emily and I lead Core every Friday night).

Remember me sharing about how the spirit led me to Sydney during one of our welcome week events in my previous blog? Well we started our FOJ study and little by little I've gotten to know her, she comes off as this shy and quiet girl but she is sassy, sarcastic, sweet and always comes to our FOJ time ready with questions of things she is learning or coming across as she discovers more of God's character.

Sydney and I bonding over our obsession with Crocs before our Thursday Night Fellowship service! 

Emily and I have been leading CORE (our small group that meets every Friday night) through different topics like going over the book of Micah, discussing the importance of building great friendships, the purpose of the church and God's community, thinking through how to build our lives with Jesus as the foundation, and many more. I've enjoyed getting to know each of these girls as we hold each other accountable, share life and hardships with one another, always striving to point each other to Jesus.

The girls that show up every Friday! We meet at Connie's House, a house that a group of student leaders let us use every Friday for our core to meet! Neat stuff right?! Top L to R: Elaine, Jocelyn, Sydney, Crystal, Angelina, Olivia Allison.  L to R: Emily and I

Organization Fair at our Spring Creek Campus. L to R: Victoria, me, Jason

When we (apprentices) are not meeting with students we are being poured into through our classes; The Old Testament by Brandon Worsham our men's director, Body Stewardship by Danielle Clark our senior staff, Evangelism by Sarah Glenesk our senior staff, Maturing by Mandy Lanciani our women's director, and Ministry Essentials by Ronnie Worsham the man who planted the seed into what is now FOCUS.

Some of the apprentices grabbing snacks before our Evangelism class! L to Right: Me, Cort, Austin, Josh, Mark and Kylie

Some of the girl apprentices hanging out after our Old Testament class! L to R: Ashley, Jacy, Hanna, Kylie, and I

• Pray for our student leaders and returners, they have such a neat opportunity to interact with students on campus through classes, projects, campus organizations etc. ask that God provides them with eyes to see those students that we are missing out on, for boldness as they approach these students on campus.
• Every year we have our Leadership Conference, this year we are having it October 26. This is a non-profit conference held by our churches where we have a neat opportunity to invite our current student leaders as well as new students who have shown qualities of a committed disciple. Pray that our students take advantage of this awesome opportunity, and pray for the process and all the hard work that is put behind this event.
• Pray for myself, I struggle so much with public speaking its laughable. Don't give me wrong, 90% of the time I acknowledge that 1)this is not about me 2)Isaiah 43:1 I have nothing to fear, and 3) it's a matter of practice, however there is still this anxiety, this dry and bad taste in my mouth, insecurities of my accent etc. that takes the best of me. I am currently preparing for my very first sermon that is coming up October 24th over Psalm 13, I am anticipating tears but I'll keep you posted.
• Pray for the apprentices, including myself as we continue to maneuver through the apprenticeship finding discernment whether this is where God wants us to join him in for the next year, couple of years, or perhaps the rest of our lives.

Thank you for being so faithful to God through your giving, it is because of you that I get to jump behind God's work and give you in return a little glimpse of the transforming hearts of many students!