Ah! It's been so long!

Hi,

The school year is over, I have moved from the concrete jungle they call New York City to Champaign, IL for 5 weeks of training, and now onto Crested Butte, CO for a week of vacation with my family and my teammate, Leah.  I got out of the city just in time, for I'm sure if I hadn't left when I did, I would have turned into a nut.  A crazy nut.  But now, after 8 weeks of being away... I'm almost starting to miss Manhattan.  Whaaat?

What a year!  God is doing so much at Columbia!  Some highlights:

• 10 girls strengthened their relationship with Christ through my weekly Bible Studies.
• Two girls, Rosie and Annabelle, grew deeper in their faith and began learning how to share their faith with others through weekly mentorship.
• One student went to Confession and began coming to Mass again after 3 years of not practicing the faith.
• A group of 16 students and missionaries encountered Christ in the poor and vulnerable on a mission trip to Haiti.  One of those students entered the Catholic Church at Easter.
• 9 students were equipped with tools and strategies for sharing their faith with their peers at college through participating in a national FOCUS Student Leadership Summit.
• One student, after being resistant to idea that the Catholic Church holds the fullness of Truth, has decided to become confirmed in the Church this year!
  
• Countless other stories of Christ touching people’s lives through me and my work with FOCUS.

And I'm pretty sure God did even more in my heart!  I'm very excited about next year - Leah and Michael will be staying at Columbia with me, and I will take on the position of Team Director (eek!  pray for me!!).  We will also be welcoming Niru, our new teammate!

The new Team Columbia!

Below is a short video Michael made a of some highlights of our team this past year... it's pretty great.

Now, it's time to do some fundraising!  Pray for us!