The Lord has invited my husband, Thomas, and me to Columbus, OH, to serve students at The Ohio State University. I am humbled and honored to share life with the women at OSU and experience the love of Christ with them. Some of my favorite adventures on mission have been: a backpacking trip, picnics, water balloon fights, an All Saints Dinner, backyard campfires, making dried flower crafts, and attending plays on campus. On a regular week, you will find me scoping out a coffee shop with students, making soup for my Bible study, taking nature walks, and hosting watch parties for The Chosen series!

Thomas and I are grateful to have the opportunity to invite students into our home, to break bread with them, and provide a warm and welcoming space where they can be seen and known. The best part about my job is getting to intentionally share my love story with Jesus and how He has transformed my life. My mission and marriage have all become one beautiful testimony to the Lord’s faithfulness and providence, a witness to renewal and redemption! I love to hear people’s stories and share more about my own, so reach out and we can get together!

My (Love) Story (with Jesus)

I grew up in a Catholic family where attending Sunday Mass, praying before meals and bed, and serving others was a way of life. As I grew up and started to receive the Sacraments, I developed a deeper curiosity for the faith. I desired to make my faith personal and to understand more, not to just “go through the motions.” Throughout high school, music and sports were a big part of my identity. No matter how much I excelled or succeeded, I knew there was more to life. It was almost as if Jesus was telling me, “You are more than what you do.” I got involved in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and started a Bible study with other students. This opened me up to faith-based conversations and wholesome friendships, more than I had ever experienced before.

By the time I got to college at the University of Northern Iowa, I knew I didn’t want to join the party scene. I quickly met incredible friends who held similar values to me. Still, the Lord wanted deeper communion with me. Attending St. Stephen the Witness Catholic Student Center for Mass on Sundays, I realized how full of authentic joy everyone was. What did they have that I didn’t? I was intimidated by the vastness of my Catholic faith and worried I couldn’t “catch up” with others. Eventually, the Lord gave me enough confidence to join a Catholic Bible study. For a year, I faithfully attended the Bible study in addition to Sunday Mass, and still lacked a deeper connection.

After Mass my sophomore year, a FOCUS missionary named Whitney approached me. She looked me in the eyes, asked for my name, and said she was glad I was there. I thought she was simply doing her job, but she proceeded to spend the rest of the morning with me and eventually invited me into her Bible Study. Whitney’s mission was to help students encounter the person of Christ more deeply and to teach them how to respond to the Lord’s love — exactly what I had been searching for. She began to invest in me, teaching me the importance of prayer, to frequent the sacraments, to be in community, and to learn from the beauty of the Church. Jesus used Whitney to invite me into a life as His disciple. Suddenly, I began to recognize His love more clearly in my day-to-day life. Time and time again, He reminded me of His desire to have an intimate relationship with me. His act of greatest love on the Cross captivated my heart, and I knew I could entrust my life to His hands. My love for the Catholic faith grew, and it didn’t take long before I knew I must invite others into it.

This is my YES to Jesus. My YES to my Baptismal call to be a missionary. I am thrilled to see what God will continue to do in our love story. I have hopes He will continue to use me to lead students at Ohio State to Himself. To begin a love story of their own!

(My Baptism, the day I became a Beloved Daughter of the Father – June 30, 2001)

When I answered the call to be a missionary through FOCUS, I made the decision to rely on the spiritual and financial support of mission partners to help me through this mission. By joining my support team, you can impact students by praying for my mission and through radical generosity.

Your financial support will go toward scholarships for students to attend our annual SEEK conference or retreats, Bible study materials, groceries for my weekly Bible study meal, campus outreach, and activities with women I walk with on mission.

I send a monthly newsletter via email to all of my mission partners. This allows you to see highlights of what’s happening on campus. I love inviting the women I walk with to pray for mission partners as well, which allows for a beautiful “prayer chain” of sorts. If you are interested in partnering with me, please let me know the best way to reach you, and I will schedule an appointment. I’d be honored to share this mission with you!