We serve at Notre Dame Parish in Clarendon Hills, Illinois.

I (Shea) grew up in Indianapolis in a Catholic home but never took my faith seriously until after college when I met a thriving young adult faith community. this group of peers totally transformed my life by sharing with me the joys of a relationship with Jesus. Later that year, I decided to walk the Camino de Santiago. While on that trip I came to a deeper knowledge of prayer and grew in a desire to share that with others. When I got home from my pilgrimage I knew I wanted to become a missionary in some way. FOCUS came up in a conversation with a friend and I decided it was exactly what God had been calling me to. After two years at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, I felt a deep call to evangelize Europe because of the desire I had to share Christ while on the Camino. I spent  Five years in England sharing my life with the students at the University of Southampton and two years at Queen’s University in Belfast.  This year we are moving back to the U.S. to serve with the Life Long Mission team as parish missionaries in Clarendon Hills Illinois. We are very excited about the possibilities of bringing this model of evangelization to the parish.

I (Mickel) grew up in southwestern Minnesota. I met FOCUS while I was in my undergrad at the University of South Dakota. I attended a FOCUS conference that is called SEEK in 2013, where I felt a tug on my heart from Jesus – inviting me into a personal, deep, transformational relationship with Him. I asked my Bible study leader if she would teach me how to pray with scripture after we returned to campus and my life has never been the same since. I enjoyed leading Bible studies in college, discipling my sorority sisters and friends, and sharing the Gospel with my classmates. As my senior year came, I knew I wanted to apply to become a missionary with FOCUS. I have loved serving with FOCUS – the friends I’ve met, the places I’ve been, and the change I’ve seen in my own life. My first year I served at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, CO and then I was sent to the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho for 3 years. After Shea & I got married I moved to England to serve in Southampton. After serving the mission in Europe for 5 years. I will be joining staff officially again as a parish misisonary in Clarendon Hills, Illinois. I will be reaching out to other women in the parish.

We met as missionaries at summer training our first year on staff and became friends. Friendship turned into dating and dating turned into love. We credit Our Lady of Guadeloupe as bringing us together and are so excited to share the love Jesus has given to us with others as married missionaries.

When we answered the call to join FOCUS, we made the decision to rely on the spiritual and financial support of mission partners to help us through this mission. We’ve been blessed with the most amazing people who have journeyed with us as we serve on this missiono. If you are interested in partnering with us, please let us know of the best way to reach you and we will schedule an appointment. We’d be honored to share this mission with you.