January 2020

February 01, 2021

January 2020

Hello friends and happy new year!

Ministry has looked a little different this past December from other months just because our students were on break but we are back on school with great ideas and opportunities for our students and God has done some pretty neat things this January!

Reflections from December,

I remember months ago not being able to put myself in this posture of thankfulness as our church sang this song of praise. The beginning of December I went on this run and a song called "Thank You Song" by Upperroom played and I remember being able to thank God for all that he has done. I felt the spirit placing this question, "How can one still praise God, thank him, see his goodness during a heavy season?". That has been a question I have been constantly thinking of and one that I pray I don't forget. Through this question I've been encouraged to look deeper at every corner of every low and high experience I surpass. With this same question in mind I've been able to recognize that because of what I've experience I've become more compassionate towards others. I see this change in the way I relate with the girls in my peer team, the girls in my core, the women I meet with from church. It's as if I went from acting like a robot to acting more like a human, one that feels, hears and is patient with others. I've been able to see a bigger and stronger bond with those around me, especially the girls in my peer team.

Before we went on break, Garrett invited me to stay on the Collin team and though I felt encouraged and excited to potentially stay on this team longer, I wasn't completely at peace so I used the break to pray and think through that decision. During the break our staff was going through a book called Money and Power by William D. Cohan which so happened to challenge the main reason I was hesitant to make a longer commitment, finances. Through prayer I heard God asking me to put my trust in him instead of the stability I tend to think money brings. During the break my car's battery died so I hit up the dealer to get it replaced. I remember thinking the money I was going to have to spend, crunching numbers, long story short, the manager paid for my battery along with a 3 year warranty. I went through countless experiences where God reminded me of who is in control, not my bank account but him. I reflected on the girls I've been spending time with this school year, my team and overall God's faithfulness. I think something that affirmed even more my decision was the response and support I received from my parents. I am excited to announce that I will be staying two more years on this team, continuing to invite students into this full life with God!

Our Collin team has been hustling and working hard in thinking of ways that we can engage with current students in our ministry as well as students that have yet to be reached in our campuses. We broke our Collin team into 3 groups, Togetherness, Prayer, and Scripture, these three groups are in charge of developing creative ways for our students to engage with God through scripture, fellowship, and prayer.

Togetherness:

Every Tuesday we meet outdoors and during this time we are what brings life to that campus through playing frisbee, volleyball, and socially distanced. This has made the students within our community get excited but has also brought momentum to campus now that more students are attending in person classes.

Prayer:

Our prayer team started a prayer challenge through out the break which triggered this weekly prayer challenge for our students. The plan is to provide prompts like the one below where students can find things to pray for as well as a way to grow in faithfulness with their prayer.

Scripture:

This is the team that I decided to partake in not because I am great at it but rather because I think it will be a great way for me to be challenge in. In this team we started with a survey where we asked our students their knowledge, experience and current involvement with scripture. The results of the survey showed that there was a need in our community for this team to focus in developing ways for our students to engage with the Old Testament. From the survey we also gauge there was an interest in receiving a sort of guided/planned devotional for our students to follow. In addition we gathered that students wanted more in person socially distanced events/activities so our team is starting a Bible Book club where Pedro, Garrett and I are going to lead a teaching time over a book in the Old Testament.

Last, our Collin team as a whole decided to adopt an idea from our UTD campus called Deep Dive. Deep Dive is a time where we dive into a teaching moment that is rooted in scripture. Therefore we spend 5 minutes sharing announcements and what we have going on in our ministry, 45 minutes reflecting on scripture and analyzing what it is teaching us and lastly we spend 10 minutes diving into a discussion over what was taught. I wish I had pictures but I didn't think to do so! Here is one of some of the girls that came to our deep dive hanging out afterwards!