God has invited us to serve at Auburn University, War Eagle! I’m excited to walk with college students at Auburn, and through bible studies, discipleship and sharing life with them, we’ll get a front row seat to witness God move the hearts of many college students.

I left my corporate job to become a Catholic Missionary with my future husband. Take that, LinkedIn. Let’s backtrack for a second.

I grew up with a beautiful and loving family in Venezuela. Jesus and religion were always a big part of my life, but I didn’t have a personal relationship with Him until after I graduated from college.

I came to the United States when I was 17, and more than experiencing culture shock in my senior year of high school, my values and foundation were shaken because I didn’t know God personally. In college at Boston University, it seemed like I had everything: great internships, friends, dating, parties, and all the signs of a “fun & successful” college student. But in reality, throughout those years, I experienced a deep sense of emptiness and loneliness. I made myself extremely busy to avoid dealing with the reality of the void in my heart. I felt that my life was a mess, that I was a mess.

Everything changed after I graduated college in 2022. One night, my mom made me go to the Blessed Sacrament, and right there, I felt God’s infinite love. Jesus made me understand that no person, achievement, or experience would ever be able to fill the void in my heart; only He could. I thought I had Him figured out, but in reality, I didn’t know Him.

By the grace of God, I found a Catholic community in Miami, called Effeta “Open Your Heart,” where I found the most incredible people who led me to service and a deeper relationship with God. I also began working for Jason Evert, who kindly invited me the Catholic conference in St. Louis, Missouri, where I had my first encounter with FOCUS. After interviewing Nathan at the Chastity Project booth, Nathan asked me out. Fast forward, we started dating and are now getting married in July, praise God!

Seeing Nathan’s witness of surrendering his life to God and living mission had a profound impact on me. It convicted me of the call that all of us, as baptized Christians, have to go forth and share God with other people. I began a FOCUS bible study with my friends from Effeta, and it was so beautiful to see the Holy Spirit at work and how they grew in their relationship with God, and my heart was transformed. Bible study on Saturdays became my favorite time of the week. 

As I grew in relationship with Jesus through the Sacraments and service, God started knocking on my door to consider serving at FOCUS. Slowly, through learning more about the lives of great Saints, Jesus gifted me the desire to become a saint and showed me how they were normal people like you and me. I didn’t realize that you and me could become saints, which is the only way to make it to heaven!! I felt encouraged by the Rich Young Man story in the bible, where he asks what he could do to enter heaven, and Jesus answers,

“If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me. When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.” 

I didn’t quit my job because I read this Gospel. Corporate jobs are not evil. I quit my job because God was calling me to trust Him more and to detach me from many things that made me comfortable in my faith. It’s easy to talk about God with my friends and family. But how scary it is to talk about it with a stranger, and even more, a college student running on 3 hours of sleep. I was inspired by Jesus’ words to go and spread the gospel to all nations.

When I answered the call to join FOCUS, I made the decision to rely on the spiritual and financial support of mission partners to help me through this mission. If you are interested in learning more or partnering in this work, please contact me at [email protected]. Thank you and God bless you.