We are now serving as Parish Missionaries at the Church of the Magdalen in Wichita, Kansas!

We can’t believe it’s already been 5+ years as missionaries with FOCUS (MIT, UConn, and now Wichita)! What a blessing it has been. We have been able to share Jesus with all kinds of people in all different places in their faith.

This past year, we prayed about where the Lord might be leading us. As we have settled into family life and been blessed with sacramental graces in joys and trials, our desire to invite others into the love of our family has continued to grow. We desire to raise up missionary disciples through the Vocation we have been called into, and to bring Jesus’ redemption the family unit currently in crisis in our country.

In the midst of acknowledging these desires to Jesus and one another, we became aware of a newer initiative within FOCUS: Parish Outreach. The mission of Parish Outreach is the same as our collegiate mission to launch college students into lifelong Catholic mission just a different entry point: the parish…where all of our college students will end up. (Learn more: https://www.focus.org/what-we-do/parish-outreach) FOCUS sends full-time missionaries into parishes to help build a culture of missionary discipleship. Our mission is to raise up missionary disciples in the parish, whether they had experience with FOCUS in college or not. The opportunity for investment in others within the parish is exciting because of the ability to really dig deep in long term friendships that can change lives. 

This spoke directly to our desires! Because it’s such a new endeavor, placements are limited and we were presented an opportunity to be placed in a parish in Wichita, Kansas. It was never on our radar to relocate to the midwest, but Jesus had other plans. We have already witnessed great graces here in the parish and can’t wait to see the fruit the Lord will continue to bear.

We came out of college, at our destination, but confused at what our goal even was. We had prepared all this time to be self-sustaining adults but never asked ourselves what it was all for in the end. We had a hole in our hearts that we had failed at filling on our own.

Julia and I were introduced to some FOCUS missionaries while she was a graduate student at the University of Connecticut. These missionaries were people who lived life unrestrained. They had a sense of peace, freedom and joy that neither of us had ever seen before. What was their secret? They knew the love and truth of a relationship with God. That year, through prayer and openness, we both had discovered a love that had been awaiting us patiently our entire lives. That love is the person of Jesus Christ.

Through much discernment and prayer, I (Mike) felt a real and true call from Jesus to give my life to Him and follow him as a missionary for His Church to join FOCUS and share the love I had received with the world.

If we all discovered and lived fully the love that we were truly made for and went into the world changing the lives of others, think of how our world could be changed.

When we answered the call to join FOCUS, we made the decision to rely on the prayers and monthly financial support of mission partners to enable us to radically give of ourselves as missionaries full-time. We’ve been blessed with the most amazing people who have journeyed with us in this way. If you are interested in sponsoring our work, please let us know of the best way to reach you and we can set up a time to get together. We’d be honored to share this mission with you.