I’m as a Team Director at Montana State University in my 5th year on staff with FOCUS!

“Man cannot fully find himself unless through making a sincere gift of himself” – St. Pope John Paul ll 

All my life I’ve had big dreams; a singer/songwriter, a novelist, a coastguard, a super sleuth like nancy drew. As I got older and began to form a real relationship with God, this desire to do something great with my life became significantly stronger. The only thing that began to satiate this thirst was leaning more and more into this relationship and allowing it to be the moving force in my life. Yet ironically enough, the deeper I embarked the deeper the longing became! 

After returning from my 1st mission trip to Mexico City with FOCUS my sophomore year at Arizona State University, I knew in my heart God wanted me to go deeper with Him and begin to live my life in a new way, an outward way. It was shortly after that He gave me the opportunity to study the deeper truths of our faith through theological studies at the University of Mary satellite campus in Tempe. This is where my heart was truly set on fire for God. The knowledge I was learning lived alongside a daily prayer life completely changed my life. With my psychology background at ASU, it was particularly in studying human anthropology through the lens of these truths that God allowed me to see that this thirst I was feeling was really an invitation. In fact, I began to realize that my whole life, every joy, every suffering, and every dream was an invitation to live the greatest adventure set out for every human person: the call to holiness (allowing ourselves to daily be transformed by Christ and saying yes to His will for us)! I knew very quickly that if my life wasn’t lived with and for God, I would never be satisfied but always be searching. How many people in the world, especially college campuses are living this way? Constantly searching, looking for the next hookup, the next party, the next thing or person to make us happy yet never satisfied beyond the thrill of the moment. We’ve all done and experienced this to a different degree in our own way, and so many of us don’t even know what we’re missing because we’ve never truly encountered how transformational giving our yes to Christ can truly be. I found the fulfillment of my dreams, the meaning to my sufferings, and the greatest joy when I gave my full yes to follow Christ and His Church. These dreams are what led me to say “yes” to being a missionary disciple with FOCUS. Since my time in FOCUS, I’ve gotten a front-row seat to seeing the transformational grace of God at work in people’s hearts and lives, and it’s my greatest joy. Our God is moving and alive, and He’s desiring to set the world on fire with His love and mercy. 

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 be radically available for students on campus. St. Theresa of Calcutta said it best when she proclaimed, “some people give by going, and some go by giving.” Not everyone has the opportunity or means to give 2 intentional years of their life to building the kingdom of God and helping those in spiritual poverty. However, each of us has been made for mission and is called to be a missionary disciple. This is, in fact, the very reason the church exists, to evangelize! Whether or not you are called to financially give to FOCUS, how are you helping to advance the spread of the Gospel? If you feel called to answer your call to “go” on mission through FOCUS, please reach out to me!