I am serving as a first-year missionary at Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, Michigan! Please pray for me, my team, and students!

I was blessed to be baptized and raised Catholic. Towards the end of my senior year, I began to attend some morning Masses before the school day started. At the time, I didn’t have a clear reason why I wanted to go to Mass outside of the Sunday obligation since I was quite busy with classes and sports. I realize now that God always pursues His children first, even when we aren’t consciously or intentionally seeking Him.

I attended Villanova University in Philadelphia, PA and earned a degree in Computer Science along with minors in Humanities and Japanese. I knew I wanted to continue to look for opportunities to grow in my faith. While I missed the Catholic women’s group at the club fair my freshman year, I was blessed to find the pro-life club, Villanovans for Life (the oldest collegiate pro-life club)! Throughout college, I grew in friendship with students who lived with joy and conviction of the club’s mission statement that, “every life is worth living and every person is worth loving.”  In this environment of living authentic love and service with and for others, I began to go to daily Mass and place God more at the center of my life.

After learning more about the mission of FOCUS and seeing how others have helped me see God’s presence in my own life, I became aware of a desire to respond to Christ’s Great Commission. St. Augustine observes that “Our heart is restless until it rests in You.” God created us for Himself. Finding an ever-growing and renewed love for the Mass during high school was more than a personal preference, but a response to the deep longing for God that all humanity shares.

I especially felt a strong desire to participate in the Church’s mission of evangelization through FOCUS after praying the Joyful mysteries of the rosary. For the last decade I reflected on the mystery of Finding of the Child Jesus in the Temple. Jesus asks His parents in Luke 2:49, “Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” In my heart I knew that that is where I began to learn to have a personal relationship with Jesus and visit Him in the Tabernacle. I also saw how others in my life accompany me in my journey and how I desire to bring others with me to find Him in our Father’s House both who have been raised in the faith and those who are new to the faith.

When I answered the call to be a FOCUS missionary, I made the decision to rely on the spiritual and financial support of mission partners to help me through this mission. I’ve been blessed with the most amazing people who have journeyed with me as I serve on campus. If you are interested in partnering with me, please let me know of the best way to reach you and I will schedule an appointment. I’d be excited to share this mission with you! Contact me anytime at (412) 518-2351 or at [email protected].