My name is Aidan Stoll. I am a senior at Southeast Missouri State University, and a part time focus Missionary for their St. John Henry Newman Center.

I first became aware of focus at the beginning of my junior year of college, having just transferred to SEMO from St. Louis Community college. I was welcomed to SEMO catholic with open arms. The missionaries invited me to help with outreach for the entire week before school began. I got to see young men and women make connections with complete strangers in hopes to create friendships with them. I began to see those friendships blossom over the course of the semester, seeing familiar faces from outreach week in bible studies and discipleship. I myself, became very good friends with one of our missionaries, Joe Liebsch. He invested me with his friendship, and I became a witness to his life, seeing how a good, virtuous, young catholic man is supposed live. Joe asked me during that week if I could see myself doing focus someday? I told him that I indeed could see myself becoming a focus missionary someday. I didn’t think about it again for another few months until Joe asked me in November of 2025 to interview for focus. I told him that I would do it. I didn’t know if I still wanted to work for focus like I did in August, just a few months prior. But I went anyway. I was nervous the day of the interview. I had to wait half the day before it was my turn to be interviewed. I spent a lot of time in the chapel praying for God to continue to look after me during this interview and to help guide my thoughts, my words, and my actions. The interview went really well. I tried my very best to be completely transparent with them. When I walked out of the interview I was beaming with joy. I walked up to Joe who was watching college football with some other missionaries and interviewees. He asked me how it went and I told him that I felt really good about it. He congratulated me and asked me if I would take the job if I was offered it. I froze for a second. I hadn’t thought that far ahead. I had no idea if was going to take the job or not. I told him that I needed to go to spiritual direction with a priest to get some much-needed advice from a person much wiser than I am. I told the priest that I was in the biggest stage of discernment in my life. I had just gone to Conception Abbey in northwestern Missouri for a discernment retreat a few weeks prior to the interview weekend. I was ready to take my faith to new heights but didn’t know which route to go. The priest told me something that I will never forget. He told me that regardless of what you are called to, whether that is married life or religious life, you are called to be a son of God first. You aren’t going to find out right away what God is calling you to. But a great way to discern that is with focus. Whichever route you take, you will be a better man going into it having been a focus missionary. You will be a better husband and father, or a better priest and spiritual father. All I want in this life is to glorify God and not only do his will, but to do it well. I knew in that moment that God was calling me to be a focus missionary. I got the call from my regional director, Jared Burbach, and he told me that focus would like to offer me a job on staff. I said yes to focus.

Thank you so much for your support! it means so much to me that you would support my mission with focus. But it isn’t just my mission, it is yours to. You made this happen. God bless.