I will be serving at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA as a third-year missionary with FOCUS.  This will be my first year in leadership, serving our campus as the team director!  I will be serving our team of 5 missionaries and helping to lead our ministry of over 500 students.  I am super excited to continue this journey on mission for and with Jesus!

When I was invited to join a bible study at the University of Pittsburgh, my life was marred with sin and I was deeply unfulfilled with the way I was living.  I was excelling in my classes, meeting new friends, cheering at football games, and immersing myself in party culture, but I felt empty inside.  I was pursuing everything I felt would make me happy, turning everywhere outside of my Catholic faith to find fulfillment.  But it wasn’t working.  I was lonely, disappointed that I couldn’t share my deepest struggles and questions with my peers, and wanted to live out my faith, but was easily drawn away by many other distractions in my life.  However, within bible study, I encountered God in Scripture, and I realized I had to change my life, living for Him, not for myself and other things I was pursuing.  With the accompaniment of a friend who walked with me, invited me into close friendship and brotherhood, and called me higher, my relationship with God slowly became the main focus in my life.  The last two years of my college career, I began to lead my own bible study and walk with other students in discipleship much like my friend had done for me.  From there, God has graciously called me to serve in this way as a FOCUS missionary on campuses to continue this mission of evangelization and providing college students with an opportunity to encounter Jesus where they are at.

Through actively supporting our mission, you are enabling me to reach college students in ways that otherwise would not be possible.  Your generosity will help to cover basic living expenses such as groceries, rent and housing, medical expenses, and other needs while allowing me to be on campus.  At Virginia Tech, your support will allow me to share the Gospel with Bible study participants by meeting with them over coffee or sharing meals, cooking meals for students, incarnationally spending time with other members of the community, and growing in fellowship with my teammates.  More importantly, your gifts will also contribute to continued transformation with our Lord in discipleship as well as other formative experiences that can serve as vehicles for conversion.  Above all, your prayers, by the grace of God, will touch the hearts of the students I will meet this upcoming year.  I am deeply honored by your consideration of supporting our mission!