Hello! I am serving my first year on mission at the University of Northern Iowa as a Varsity Catholic missionary. Go Panthers!

I was born and raised Catholic but didn’t willingly practice the faith. I was glad to get confirmed because I wouldn’t have to sit through the boring formation classes anymore. I would go to Mass most Sundays, unless I had a club soccer game or work; I didn’t realize the importance of Sunday Mass. My prayer life was only present when I needed God for a favor or had intentions; I didn’t pray consistently and only would say Our Fathers and Hail Marys. After my senior year of high school, I left for college at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with the hope of eventually going to grad school to become an Optometrist, make lots of money, and be called Dr. Kaminski. On campus, I found the Newman Center and slowly began developing a relationship with God. Although I continued to live a double life of choosing sin but growing in the faith, God had a plan to change my heart to choose him abruptly. November 1st of 2021, I had a near-death experience. I fell asleep while driving, and God decided to save me by having my guardian angel say, “Autumn, open your eyes,” allowing me to wake up and get control of my car that went off the highway, back onto the highway with no damage or injury to my sister and me. It was a HUGE wake-up call to me, literally and figuratively, to stop choosing sin and choose Him!

After my reversion due to almost having my life abruptly stripped away from me, I have been much more grateful for my life and have strived to make amends for the way I previously chose to live. First, I started learning to pray through a summer book study with a FOCUS missionary, Erica, who led us in reading Time for God by Jacques Philippe. I never knew prayer was a relationship and could be a conversation. It was as if God had been calling me on the phone my whole life, and I just hadn’t picked up or answered to talk to Him. By praying daily, engaging in discipleship, receiving one-on-one mentorship in the faith with Allison, a student leader, and joining her Bible study, I began to find myself more and more present at events at the Catholic Student Center and developing virtuous friendships. I noticed the people there had an unexplainable joy and a deep desire to love, know, and serve me, whereas the people in campus clubs would just have surface-level conversations, and I struggled to make friendships last or be sincere. 

I firmly believe you are never “too far gone,” and Allison then convinced me to take this conviction to help bring others closer to Him. Starting my junior year, I co-led my first Bible study with my older sister, Chloe, and from there, I began walking with young women one-on-one in discipleship or serving as a confirmation sponsor as they entered the Catholic Church. Saint Paul’s helped me find authentic friendship and intimacy with Christ, build the habit of daily prayer, discover the power of God’s mercy through confession, and convince me that I don’t have to be an optometrist to help people see. I can help them by being a missionary and seeing life with a new lens; the lens of God’s love and perfect mercy. Just as my guardian angel told me to open my eyes, I desired to give back to the Saint Paul’s community and help be a witness to UW-Madison students to open their eyes to the truth: that they are beloved sons and daughters of God and their hearts will be restless and constantly grasping for Earthly desires until they set their eyes on Him. After a month of serving as a pastoral intern, I loved the mission so much that I asked, “What is something similar that I can do after serving this school year?” Be a FOCUS missionary! And the rest is history.