January 2020

Happy new year! I hope you ended the year well next to loved ones. This month God took advantage of the holidays to remind me of His faithfulness through this decade. It reminds me of an artist working on a canvas so attentively and taking a step back to admire his work. God is the artist and I am His brush. Let's jump in.

Remember me sharing about how public speaking was not my forte? After many weeks of preparation I delivered my sermon in front of staff and a couple of friends. The theme of this sermon was "This is my Gospel" which allowed me to reflect and dig deep on all corners of my life. Three of my points in this sermon were "God is Omnipotent", "God is Faithful" and "Everyone is welcome here". With these three points I pointed out how; God had been present and all powerful before I even accepted Him as my Lord and savior; God is faithful yesterday, today and tomorrow; God welcomes everyone even those we think would never turned to God. Despite the steer of emotions and uneasiness of public speaking it was such a growing and helpful experience. Looking forward to my next sermon.

We ended the semester at Collin with a Christmas party for our student body. We had all of our core groups compete against each other by building the perfect creative fort. My core decided to build a Hawaiian themed fort, which was a failure but we enjoyed each others time doing this. We geared up by dressing up as Hawaiian tourist, Jarrito sodas with our Umbrella picks, and leis.

Few of the girls in my core. L to R: Elaine, Emily, Me, Allie

Our staff had a Christmas party which was so intimate and a great time for our team to reflect on the year and some of our takeaways! Here are some pictures of that day,

All of the apprentices! **Some are not showing because they are consumed by this big group hug

My roommates and I planned (in advance) a roommate dinner/secret Santa night. There is something about eating a meal and sharing life with people that always results so refreshing. Thankful for these girls!

My sweet roommates showing off our secret Santa gifts

Going back home is so interesting to me. I transition from speaking english to speaking Spanish and embracing our traditions. I love it. My family is pretty big on these holidays, there are many traditions on those days. For instance while you are sleeping on Christmas Eve, we are singing to baby Jesus haha.

My family singing to baby Jesus. Kid on the white is carrying baby Jesus and everyone else is singing to him.

It was so good to see my sweet family these holidays, I felt like the luckiest girl in the world!

L to R: Dad, Me, Julio (my brother and his pup Chari) and Mom

Year ended, packed my stuff, left Houston and took off to Staff retreat at Long Cove Country for 3 days! Our team from all campuses got the opportunity to disconnect from routines, life, home and re-center their focus on Jesus. We got to hear from Brady Bobbink, a pastor in Washington, who helped pioneer Campus Christian Fellowship at Western Washington University, and has been a huge influence to our ministry over the years. It was such a wonderful experience! 

We went hiking and on our way back to our cabin we decided to drive up to capture the sunset. L to R: Mandy, Me, Erin, Jacy, Mark

• We are getting ready for Winter Camp, our largest retreat of the year where students from all of our campuses gather together and experience Jesus in unexplainable ways. Pray for students to find the freedom and the courage to come to Jesus despite where they find themselves. Many students and staff are traveling to and from Winter Camp. Pray for safe travels.

• Every year we have donors go out of their way to scholar one of our students to be able to attend Winter Camp and not be excluded because of monetary issues. I ask that you pray and look at your finances to scholar one of our students. Again this retreat is one of the ways many students fall more in love with Jesus. Here is the link if you decide to be part of a student's experience, https://anyfocus.org/events/wintercamp/

Praying for you and I as we both begin this new year. God, please give us the eyes and hearts to be attentive and participate where you are working. I ask that you guide us and help us not give in to our selfish desires or be blinded by the things of this world. Let us not limit you Lord but join you. Thank you for your faithfulness and constant kindness. In your precious name we pray, Amen.

Thank you for joining me on this mission!

Your friend,