The school year begins!

 

Welcome to my first monthly blog! Thank you so much for supporting me financially and in prayer as I begin my admin journey with FOCUS. I'm excited to share about what God is doing through our ministry and the part I get to play in that!

August was an incredibly busy month (and September is shaping up to be one as well -- more on that later!). Our Summer FOCUS meetings ended in July as we began preparations for the new school year. 

The women of UTD FOCUS started a tradition of Taco Tuesday hangouts in the summers! As you can see, we're enjoying our "tacos" at the last Taco Tuesday of 2022. I spend a lot of time working in the office, but I always like going out and visiting with students and other staff members when I get a chance.

Say hello to our 2022-2023 FOCUS staff! All 50-ish of us went on a staff retreat in early August at Riverbend Retreat Center in Glen Rose, TX. We listened to teachings from our campus directors, walked and talked together in the mornings, and played games to bond with other staff. Our cabins lost power for several hours after a storm, so we talked and played games outside in the cooler weather. We got to go for a night swim in the pool on the last night we were there! It was a retreat for the books!

At UT Dallas, we have had various events over the past few years for the purpose of reaching different racial and ethnic groups on campus. I helped out with our Black student event during the first week of classes this semester. As a former UTD student, I had never seen so many Black students in the same room on campus! Between 80-100 people showed up to the event to eat dinner, mingle and play games, and listen to others share about their experiences as Black students in FOCUS. It was so encouraging to attend! We hope to create more spaces like this over the course of the school year.

I'm official! The UTD staff wore these name tags to the first few large group meetings of the semester. So far we've had an excellent turnout at Friday Night Fellowship! I'm encouraged that our student leaders are reaching out to people to invite them to small groups (we call them "cores") and our weekly fellowship meetings.

Have you been to Mudleaf Coffee? I can give you a few reasons to check it out! For one thing, they have this sweet "pay it forward" wall. At the counter, you can choose to pay $5 for someone else's cup of coffee, and then write down who it's for on a sleeve. Two of my kind supporters dedicated their sleeve to me! I snagged my free coffee and then paid it forward to someone else. Head over to Mudleaf when you get a chance! (If you see a sleeve that says "for a new college student", that one's from me 😊) 

The last thing I want to include in my blog updates is the monthly student testimony! Each month we like to spotlight a testimony from a student or alum from our ministry. Take a moment to read, reflect, and praise God for what he is doing in our students' lives!