Adjusting well

Welcome friends!

My sweet abuelito passed away on August 4th and though it was one of the toughest weeks it was also an encouraging time. I was reminded of God's presence in the midst of pain through the support system within my community, friends, FOCUS family, and many of you guys! Thank you for being present during that time. Since my family and I were preparing for my grandfathers viewing my FOCUS family adjusted in order for me to be part of my Licensing Ceremony virtually. Though I could not be there with my peers, it was a special time for me to reflect and soak in the fact that I was committing to serve another year to the Lord, our students and campuses. Here is a picture of me joining the ceremony via Face Time taken by my peer, Erin.

Get ready for me to unload the abundant and overwhelming praises of ways the Lord has been revealing himself to our staff and students!

This year I will mainly be working at our Central Park Campus. Prior to the school year starting I invited our current CPC girls to come hang and join me in praying for the school year at our Central Park Campus. Only two girls showed up, Bryanna, one of our CPC returners, and Andrea one of our first year Corefa's from Spring Creek Campus showed up! Initially there was an ounce of discouragement penetrating within me but God was fast to remind me that is not about the number of people that show up but rather challenged me with this question, Are you choosing to be faithful with what I've given you? Later that night I found out that Bryanna had a friend visiting from out of town and left her that night for a couple of hours to be able join me. Andrea though is volunteering to lead this school year at SSC, lives in Dallas, about 40 minutes away from CPC and chose to come on her last day of summer before school started.  So I ask you guys that same question, How are you choosing to be faithful with what God has given you?

Every year we have a group of students that volunteer to serving in our ministry, we call them Corefas (Core Facilitators). Prior to starting the school year we have, Corefa Prep day, a time where our staff and Corefas spend time together preparing for Welcome week and the school year. Due to COVID, this year we met at Garrett's backyard by social distancing. Despite the sun, mosquitos and heat it was one of the sweetest times, our students were excited more than ever for this school year!

We just wrapped our first week of Welcome week! Let me tell you something, those students in that campus WANT to be around people, they WANT friends, they WANT community and some of them urgently WANT Jesus! 

First day of school, pulled up to the CPC parking lot at 9 am and felt overwhelmed yet pumped at the sight of a packed parking lot! I remember feeling too excited to meet students that COVID no longer appeared as a barrier for the school year. I was on outreach mode. Nothing was stopping me. I got out of my car, pulled out a poster, some markers and on one side I wrote "You Got This!" on the other, "Hi can I pray for you?". God first led me to one of the school Cops who was nothing but sweet and encouraging as I told him what I was doing that day. I went around and started cheering on some students, tried having conversations but started getting a couple of rejections. I started feeling anxious but very shortly God provided my friend Michelle, who used to be a student at Collin. She joined me and man was that a blessing and encouragement. After she left I figured I should leave too but when I got in my car I noticed I hadn't had lunch so I felt the spirit telling me "get your butt back on that campus and eat with some students". I walked into the common area where I met Angelica, we got to share about our faith and how our culture and background influenced our way of approaching God and thinking through Christianity. I got to pray for Angelica, her family and school year. I kept exploring the campus, bumping into students, some who wanted to talk and some who didn't. A wave of loneliness and lies creeped in. I reached out to some of you to join me in prayer during that time. I remember praying as well, asking God for courage, eyes and ears to talk to the people he needed me to. Suddenly I hear some Spanish from a table next to me and figured that was my cue. I met Olivia and Sara. Sara was immediately disinterested but Olivia wanted to talk. I found out Olivia was a believer, who didn't attend Collin but was rather just visiting from Florida waiting for her boyfriend. My shoulders felt down. I looked at my watch and it was 2pm, I felt hopeless, felt like I should just leave and call it a day. Olivia then asked what my poster was about and what I was doing on campus, and so I told her. Olivia's face lit up and laughed. PAUSE. Do you ever think about the number of times you have limited God from using you because you think you know better? I was checked out, I was ready to leave, go home and call it a day because there was no way that my interaction with Olivia would go any further then just a good interaction with another believer. And so Olivia with her sweet lit up face proceeded to tell me her boyfriend, Jeremy and his sister, Carolina had been looking for a college ministry but assumed Collin didn't have something like it. I grabbed his number and got them connected with our ministry. This experience has been a reminder to rather trust God and not my deeds.

That poster led me to more outreach ideas with posters haha! I went to Sam's and bought a bunch of snacks and started giving them to anyone who would answer "What are you looking forward to this school year?" which led students to ask, "Why are you doing this?" or "What is this for?" which made it easier for me to tell them about my role and our ministry! Through this outreach idea I met 2 girls that have now joined my small group. One of the girls who is currently visiting core is not a Christian and feels unsure about her involvement but has asked to hang out for the second time this week!

This year Core and peer team look a little different. Currently I lead peer team with Jacy on Mondays and I lead two cores on Wednesday and Friday's. We went from meeting indoors during the evening, last year, to this year meeting outdoors in the afternoon. Outdoor locations can and will be a challenge when the weather makes it complicated but for now the only challenge we have faced is heat and mosquitos but that hasn't stopped the girls in my core or peer team from getting together! See below the real troopers, (Top to Bottom: Monday peer team with Jacy: Hannah/DeAnne on zoom, Jessica, Bailey, Andrea, Bella, Hailey. Wednesday core: Eleanor and Natalie. Friday core: Sophie, Alee, Jessica, Bryanna).

Last week I hit the max of my fundraising goal!!! I started tearing up as I remembered how just last year around this time I was not even close to half my minimum. This year many of you have lost jobs, hours, shifts, or taken a lower pay to provide for your family or yourself yet YOU have chosen to still make it a way to provide for the Kingdom. I admire your faithfulness, thank you!

Sneak peak into what God is already doing this September. Stay tuned!

For the Kingdom,

Adriana