February 2022 :)

February was such a good month! It consisted of going on a retreat, helping put on a fundraiser for our students, and getting weekly time with a Cambridge Professor for one of my classes. I'm just too excited to keep summarizing, so I'm just going to dive on in!

Every semester, all the campus pastors go on a week long retreat where we get to reset ourselves, Focus on God, and spend quality time with one another- especially the people who work on different campuses. At one point, I spent a long time up in a tree (funny, I know). I used to climb trees a lot, and it reminded me of being a kid again. In that moment, I was reminded of having child-like faith We spent so much time worshipping, talking about humility, surrender, sacrifice, and self-control. 

Every year, Focus sends students to a leadership conference that speaks on how to be purposeful in campus ministry. This is such a great experience, and I got to go to this (Student Institute of Campus Ministry) back in 2018. Because the trip has so many students, there's a lot of cost that going into this. Focus then puts on a fundraiser for SICM, and this year was probably our best one yet! Two of the girls in my core performed. Sonnie sang Listen by Beyoncé, and Laurel sang Gravity by Sarah Bareilles. Those girls knocked it out of the park! Here's a picture of me with my core. Laurel is in the polkadot dress, and Sonnie is in the black dress next to me. I love these girls, and we were able to raise so much money for SICM!

Last but not least, Rikk Watts from Cambridge University heard that our apprentice class was doing a course over his New Testament Foundations class, so he asked to sit in our class for an hour and answer any question we have for him. He spoke at Winter Camp, and he's well-versed in theology. He is a very kind, Australian man who loves God so much and can't help but share it with others. Below is a zoom call that we had with him, and I was able to ask him questions about the physical temple and the concept that our bodies are the new temple. His thoughts were so helpful, and I honestly wish he'd written a book over it. It may look like we're bored in this photo, but we were all listening to what Rikk had to say. 

Overall, February was a whirlwind, and I loved every moment of it. Here are some things that would be great if you could pray for!

1. Pray for our students who are fundraising for SICM that they can reach their goals.
2. Pray that the apprentices continue to learn a lot of things from Rikk Watts. It's incredible to hear from him, and prayers that we continue to be faithful with the questions we prep for him.
3. Please let me know how I can be praying for you! 

Thank you friends!