I will be serving as a first-year missionary at West Virginia University, while also wrapping up my last semester there. From WVU, I will be sent off to a college most likely in the East. I will be performing outreach to students outside of the Catholic community on campus, as well as leading Bible Studies and Discipleship groups within the community to foster spiritual growth and form the next generation of missionary disciples! I furthermore plan to teach others how to present their wounds to Christ for healing and transformation to not only help others overcome past pain, but to further know and love God as the loving Father He is.

Throughout my life before sophomore year of college, I had a pretty lukewarm relationship with the Lord and mainly practiced my faith in a habitual way out of assumption that I will reach heaven as long as I follow the “basic rules”. Everything changed when in freshmen year of college, I overindulged in illicit substances and had both a terrifying overdose and a powerful encounter with God. Despite this, I chose to follow the path I wanted for fulfillment rather than following Him. This led to everything I wanted falling apart and leaving me in the deepest depression of my life. I remained this way until I started watching Andrew Tate clips which helped inspire me to fight my way out of depression, and try to grow myself mentally, physically, spiritually, and financially. This continued until later in the Fall semester of sophomore year where I realized I felt hollow and that I was more so just trying to “cover an open wound”. I then decided to put spiritual growth first, and I noticed that my depression was beginning to lift. In my newfound zeal, I decided to read the Bible starting with the Old Testament, but instead of growing in love for Christ I became very scrupulous and terrified of God when I read about Him exacting justice on people. Despite my scrupulosity, I continued to pursue my faith since it was the only thing that had helped me. I eventually sought fellowship in the Fall of Junior year where I met some great Catholics in a community formed by a beloved priest in the town of Charleston. This community helped me grow further in a desire of fellowship as well as encourage me to stick to my faith. Later in my junior year, I started watching the Chosen with my family and my eyes were finally opened to who Christ was through Jonathon Roumie’s portrayal of Him. Through this show, I finally began to see God and Jesus Himself as the loving and merciful God He was and my scrupulosity began to lessen.

In my Spring semester of Junior year, I joined the Newman community to further seek fellowship. Despite the fun times and the further growth in my faith, I still struggled with something in my heart, especially when an attempt at seeking a relationship with a girl failed. Near the end of Junior year, the Lord helped lead me to a men’s chastity group called “Augustine Way” where they were studying a book called “Be Restored” by Bob Schuchts which was a book that helps people open their hearts to Christ of their shame, wounds, and brokenness.  Upon reading this book, I realized that I had wounds and brokenness in my heart that were holding me down and weighing down on my heart. Over the summer I used this book to help me overcome lies about myself within my heart as well as unhealthy attachments to people in my past in regards to attractions or pain. I was only able to scratch the surface at the time, but the Lord presented me a series of trials senior year that not only led me to a lot of suffering but also helped me dig deeper and find the more deep rooted pain in my heart. Through this process, not only have I been transformed into a better person, but it has also helped me to open my heart more to know and love God, understand the purpose and benefits of suffering, and to love others more.

Through my involvement in FOCUS discipleship before I became a missionary, I have been leading both a Bible Study and Discipleship group. When I initially started, I was able to invite and bring a pretty decent sized group. However, I was unprepared and struggled to lead discussion, which with combination to the engineering workloads of my group led to very minimal sessions. Despite that, I sought to further improve in leading discussion, and through prayer and dedication I have been able to form a small yet committed group to the Bible Study. Furthermore, I have had the privilege to lead two guys in discipleship where I have not only been helping to form them for the purpose of mission, but also invest in them to help them grow spiritually and strengthen their relationships with Christ.

Besides my Bible  Study and Discipleship groups, I have also had the privilege to serve in a mission trip in Harlingen, TX! It was one of the greatest experiences in my life with all the encounters with both God and others that we made. I got to help people with their physical needs by basically becoming a nurse and helping with logging patients’ symptoms. Not only that, we also helped out at local food distributions for those who could not afford a secure amount of food as well as visiting assisted livings for those who either had dementia or Alzheimer’s. Our most significant encounter happened when we were out seeking homeless who needed medical attention, especially one woman who was in absolute despair due to having cancer and being unwilling to seek treatment out of fear of her stuff being stolen. After helping her both physically and spiritual, we came back the next day to see her restored with joy and learned that she even was seeking medical attention! Ultimately, this mission trip was both beautiful and life changing because it helped give me a greater zeal in wanting to help those in need both materially and spiritually as well as being a healing trip not only for others but even for me.