It's (gunna be) may

 

                               

RICHLAND COLLEGE PARK DAY 2021
Normally every year we will have a lil weekend retreat at the beginning of the school year to get the students away and bond but with COVID we were unable to do that. Now that things are opening up a bit more we had a park day in April. Park day is almost like an adult version of field day in elementary school but with worship and small group discussions. We had lunch together, played games, and shared how we saw God work through this community this past year. We got to spend time casting a vision for what finish  the semester well could look like for them.

Some of the girls I've gotten to spend time with this past year!
from left to right: Me, Bridgett (apprentice), Mari, Haylee, Sayuri, Erika, and Rensi!

This is Katelyn! Her mom helped start FOCUS and she's a freshman in the ministry this year. I have seen God work through Katelyn by making her face her emotions and choosing to mature in her faith. This summer she is doing an internship with the teen ministry at our church (which is kind of a mini 10 week apprenticeship). My prayer is that God use this time to enrich Katelyn and that she would push into deeper intimacy with our creator. Please be praying for her as the internship will begin at the end of this month.

We had a little girls day out to celebrate the end of the school year! We took them to the bishop arts district in Dallas, ate good food, and enjoyed each other's company. One of my favorite things about the Richland ministry is that they love spending time together. They could (and have) spend hours on end just sitting and talking to one another. They really value community and don't take it lightly. At the beginning of the year, they were just getting to know each other and wouldn't spend much time throughout the week with each other. Now they I have to kick them out of restaurants because they didn't realize it was almost closing time. God has been so faithful, even in this strange year, the students at Richland have a deep desire to be in community and love up on their people. 
Please pray they they would grow in their depth of relationships. I am starting to see them ask more spiritual questions and praying for one another, but I think there is so much to spiritual friendship they are trying to learn.


My co-fa Sayuri has been such an example to our community (pictured below).  Sayuri's friendship has meant the world to me. When I started Richland I was pretty nervous. I had no idea how I was going to get to do campus ministry at a college that was completely closed. I remember Sayuri running up to me on our Corefa prep day and being so kind and welcoming. I had been praying that we would have a good relationship and she surpassed my expectations. She loved our girls fiercely and was faithful with our ministry. I'm so proud of her.
Please be praying for her as she transitions to university. 

               

This is my buddy Mari. We have spent the past school year meeting weekly and studying scripture together. Spending time with Mari really reminded me to not say people's no's for them. God is teaching Mari to rest in him and to let him redeem her brokenness. Please pray that Mari would find a community of believers wherever she transfers. This past year a friend really pulled her in and I pray that there will be someone wherever she goes that will be faithful with inviting her into their lives. 

qt girls at lunch during our dallas outing! 

The 2020-2021 Richland Leader Team!! I'm so thankful that this group choose to do ministry is such a crazy year! 

ice cream d8 nite!!

This is Siena, we co-lead a small group at UTD last year she's graduating and going on staff in the fall. I'm so proud of her! 

PLEASE BE PRAYING!! My sweet friend Lailah and Renee are coming onto FOCUS staff through the FOCUS apprenticeship. Lailah came to know God a few years ago and her lift has had a radical 180. I am so excited for her to have the opportunity to do campus ministry and want to help her get fully funded!I am asking my current ministry partners to consider partnering with them next year since I am transitioning off staff. If you feel lead to continue to support campus missionaries, please feel free to reach out! 

This scene from the cheetah girls perfectly describes my current state. FOCUS has been such a huge part of my life the past 8 years. Getting to go on staff really was such a testament to God. Time and time again he gives me such good gifts. Going on staff was a good gift that I just saw as a big challenge. While this season has had a tremendous amount of growth, it has been such a sweet gift that I couldn't have anticipated. I'm so thankful to FOCUS for giving me the opportunity to serve, the students for allowing me to lead them, and you for making the way through your prayers and generous giving. 

THANK YOU!!!!

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The sun is shining!

 

This past month has marked our one year anniversary with covid. We've been separated, some alone, trying to find a new normal, forced to slow down, finding new hopes, settling down with the spirit. There's been a lot of pain, and surprising moments of pure joy. We have gotten to see God moving in the midst of something horrible. We've gotten the chance to love our neighbor. I've seen how important connection is. I feel like I have a new love for God's people after this year! 

MARCH 2021 for yah! 

mask snuggles during a very chilly leader meeting! Sayuri just applied to Tech and UTA. Please be praying that she will be awarded in state tuition (and scholarships) at UTA. She really wants to go to a school with FOCUS in the fall. 

Welcome to Richland pre-spring break impromptu dance party!! This year has been so strange but lil moments like these are my absolute favorite. After our ventilated masked FOCUS, we go hang out and have dinner together. I told everyone it was time to go home and next thing you know we had a hour long dance party in the parking lot. Our students just love being together. They'll say good night and then start up a whole other conversation. 

I got vaccinated!! Praise God! I'm seriously so thankful for the opportunity to get vaccinated. My friend J had a baby during the pandemic and now that I'm vaccinated, I get to hold bb P! I love being around people. IT gives me a lot of hope that we re getting closer and closer to be all together again! 

Our fearless leader Sirak giving us the word at Thursday Night Thunder! 

 

over spring break I had the opportunity to go to the beach with some UTD girls (and my roomies, who are also utd girlies!). It was so special to get to go on this trip with them! Meg, Emily, Jordy, and Siena are students at UTD, Kylie and Andrea are on staff at UTD, and bridgett is at Richland with me! it was sweet to just soak in God's sun and giggle for a few days! 

        

just catching that golden hour before TNT (Thursday Night Thunder). I love that our students enjoy being together. They are really starting to explore community at a deeper level! Please be praying that God will continue to grow this in them and that they would be people that could cultivate community for others. 

NEXT YEAR: After a lot of praying, I had decided to transition off FOCUS staff when my contract is up May 31st this year. It was a hard decision to make but I feel called to work with high school students. I am currently in the process of an alternative teaching certification to teach high school speech. I am planning on being a youth worker for CTF (the Wylie Northeast Church's youth ministry). I was helping with CTF before I went on staff so I'm excited to go back. Being on staff with FOCUS has been one of, if not the, greatest blessings of my life. God has continually pushed me to change and become like him the past two years. FOCUS stuck out with me through my college years and loves me hard the past two years. I am in awe of all that God has done in my life and those around me through this ministry. Thank you for your partnership and love the past two years. Your investment has made this journey for me possible! 

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2021 nice to meet you!

 

THE NEW YEAR IS HERE, YAY!!!!!!! January came and went but that's okay because that means we are BACK AND IN ACTION! We kicked off the new year with our staff retreat. Doing staff retreat this year was optional due to COVID so about half of our staff stayed home to tune in online. I choose to go in person and it was so sweet. Getting to do campus ministry full time is one of the biggest blessings in my life, but I'd have to say working for this specific campus ministry is a close second runner to the work we get to do! This year we spent some time reflecting on our story, from the story of FOCUS, to how each staff member got involved with FOCUS. Our ministry started in 1997 with a guy who just wanted a campus ministry at UTD and God has been so faithful with that vision. Now we are at 11+ campuses and getting to meet students from all walks of life. After hearing each staff member share how they got involved, there was a common theme, someone saw them. Someone noticed them and invited them into their lives. Nothing crazy or ground breaking, just something as simple as befriending someone. Someone befriended them and passed the vision of what God could do in their lives and on their college campus. 

The power of the gospel has such a simplistic aspect to it that makes it so powerful. That God wants us. That's it, he doesn't want some impressive mega Christian, he just wants you. 

my sweet roomie Ky. Love this girl BIG!!

Hannah, Emily, Shayla, and I went on a hike during one of our afternoon free times. 

We zoomed in the rest of our staff during the sessions. 

my staff retreat road trip buddies!!

our first meeting of the year we had to do it on the good old zoomie zoom due to me and another staff member having a COVID exposure (thankfully we did not get it). I was a little nervous and honestly pretty bummed that the first meeting of the school year had to be on zoom but I was so impressed by them! they were so engaged and excited to be there. We tired to make it as interactive as possible with a worship questions in the chat while Sirak sang over us and small groups discussions throughout 

 

Our first in person core of the semester!! Katelyn and Mari have been faithful to core this whole year and I'm so excited for this upcoming semester with them!

Katelyn and I played around with my (FB marketplace STEAL humble brag) Cricut machine and made some water bottles!

Praying for the upcoming year:

- please pray that we will be able to have stuff together in person

- please pray for the vaccine to become more available so hopefully we will get to at least walk around campus before the year is up!

please pray for boldness for our students. Boldness to reach out, to do hard things, and to choose God over fear.

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Goodbye Felicia aka 2020

 Goodbye Felicia aka 2020

I’m sure I’m with everyone when you can lovingly blow 2020 a kiss goodbye. 

While 2020 was an incredibly hard year, so much good has come out of it. We’ve gotten to reflect a lot, grow in our capacity to love, practice grace, and develop an even deeper care for one another. I grew a deeper love for God’s community and being with one another. I pray that you also had a growing introspective year. 

Before we jump into 2021 and the school year starts, I want to catch you up on what’s been going on around Richland! 

1. Santa clause came to town! We had a Christmas party for our students that my buddy Bridgett and I had the honor of planning! We had so many students show up (well so many in a covid year) we were able to accommodate spacing to have a safe party! We had a special service that we were able to invite some of our students to partake in planning. Sayuri has been wanting to participate in worship so she put a little choir together (it was so fun to see how excited they were!). We asked a few students to share a worship thought about the birth of Jesus and they did an incredible job! They stood in boldness and ministered to one another! I was so proud of them!
2. We wrapped up Core’s for the semester and the apprentices did their sermons. They did an incredible job sharing the gospel has impacted their lives. These stepmoms are testimonial and it always amazes me how one story can find it’s way into the hearts of all people. That God loved his children so much, he made himself available to us. 

   

   My roomie got engaged!!

   
   

   

   I turned 26 (crazy) and a few gal pals hung out around a camp fire with me! 

   
   
3. While our students are gone we get a two week break for Christmas to reset before the semester starts again. My break was so incredibly restful, and on brand with 2020, very reflective. I spent time praying and thinking over the semester. I ended the semester feeling a bit overwhelmed at some of these different areas of growth that I have, how some of my girls are struggling still benign vulnerable, that no matter how bad I want something for someone in ministry they have to want it for themselves. This reflection time allowed me to see how God was moving in these things. Kind of reminds me of when you pull out into a birds eye view and are able to see the whole Forrest instead of just a single tree. I got time with old friends and just rested in the slowness. 

   

   Christmas with my sweet cousins!

I’m so excited for this upcoming semester! Please be praying for our students as school is just around the corner. Richland is closed again this semester so please be praying that God will do his thing in connecting us to more students. We’ve been working on partnering with the student life office to find ways to meet new students. Please pray for our students to continue to find opportunities to minister to one another and to grow in boldness. 

I’m so thankful for you💓

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spooky szn

 Hello! October came and went like a ghost. To be honest that was way funnier in my head. I don't know about you but with COVID, my roommates and I put up Halloween decorations up the last day of September and out Christmas stuff up as soon as Halloween was over. Who needs holiday rules!

These are some of my core girls. We recently went to downtown garland during core because we thought they had state fair food, only to find out that was something they did 2 months ago. In a way, it was kind of sweet for our girls to have the chance to just hang out and be in a different setting. I think sometimes I forget that God can work in mundane things like walking around the Garland square. 

When this school year started, it was so different than what we knew. So much of our normal day to day was so different but God has been so faithful! The other week, randomly, Richland sent out an email telling the students about our organization and we had a bunch of new people reach out to us! 

If you could also be praying for me, I was in a wreck last week. I'm okay, the other car is okay, but unfortunately, my car is totaled. I didn't meet my fundraising goal of $3000 a month by August, so I am already on a pretty tight budget. I am kicking back up on fundraising and trying to raise another $1000 a month, if you know anyone who is passionate about college students knowing God, please let me know. If you feel lead to increase your giving, I would love to talk to you more about that. I would not be able to do this job if it wasn't for your support, I am so thankful for that and I hope you know that! 

Here's a snapshot of this past month! 

My roommates and I dressed up as Wizard of Oz and won the group contest at our church's kid's fundraiser. It was so sweet getting to support our Jam kiddos and help them raise money for camp this summer! 

We had a masked Halloween party after TNT last week and it was so much fun! Our students sang karaoke and ate treats and just laughed together. 

This is my buddy, Katelyn. I've actually known her for years from when I was doing teen ministry. She grew up in the Northeast church and is now in FOCUS. Her mom was one of the people who was involved when FOCUS first started! I Love being her friend. 

This is my buddy Dayo! He is a student at Richland and is also attending UNT. He loves God and has been pushing himself to reach out to people. Dayo can let fear get in his way of reaching out but God has called him to surrender that fear! So proud of him and the way he is pushing himself to be like Christ. 

This past month I had the honor of being in my friend's wedding! This wedding was so special to me because not only is Sarah Beth (the bride) a good friend of mine, but her husband Colton has been like a brother to me. We all met in our youth group and have been close friends for 7-8ish years now. We've done a lot of growing up together and have experienced a lot of difficult things. They both love God and I'm excited to see how God continues to use them. I love them a lot! 

Prayer request 

- School is so different for our students, they are completely on their own, they don't even get video lectures. This is making getting their school work very difficult. Many of our students are international students and have to keep up a certain GPA to maintain their scholarships. They are pretty stressed and most of them are early in their college careers and don't know how to study well. 

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In an online world

Hello! I feel like at the beginning of every month, I'm shocked at how quickly the previous month ended. In some ways, time flies in campus ministry, and in other ways is slower than molasses. 

I've finished my first month at Richland. It has been so exciting for students to be back in a more official capacity! But I'd be lying if I said August was all peaches and rainbows. While we've had to transition a good chunk of our ministry online at the beginning of COVID, there was a part of me that believed this would all go away by the time school started back up. We all know that hasn't been the case. Richland announced at the end of the summer that they would be completely online and that the campus would be closed. How do we do campus ministry during a pandemic when the school is completely online? I asked myself this question over and over. How do we meet students? How do we get them involved in core? A few of our students don't have transportation, how can they get to core? So much was unknown. 

I started praying, God let your will be done. If just 3 people come to FOCUS, you want those 3 people to know you just as much as the 100 we might have met getting to be on campus. We had an online welcome week where a few new people came to different zoom events we had. We reached out to a few hundred people on Instagram and showed up to any online event the university had. It felt discouraging at times. Our student leaders are awesome and time and time again, the staff found ourselves so encouraged by how faithful these students have been. They are so excited to be leaders, and most of them are first-year leaders. They are willing to do anything and everything to reach out to students on campus. They have caught the vision for what it can be like to share the good news on their campus and they deeply want to facilitate a family environment within the ministry. 

I am seriously so thankful for them. 

I recently read an article in Christianity Today and I found this quote (and the article) to be really helpful, 

"The COVID-19 crisis merely confirms what Christians should already know: Ever since the Fall, life has never been “normal,” and the days have always been unnaturally evil (Eph. 5:16). Satan, this world, and our sinful flesh continually conspire to distract us from God’s call on our lives. Yet his grace still empowers faithful Christians—inside and outside of classrooms—to seek God’s companionship, to know his mind and designs, and to accomplish His purposes in this world."

https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2020/september/coronavirus-learning-times-crisis-perry-glanzer.html

The article left me thinking, what's something you have you stopped pursuing/ grown in because of COVID? What is God wanting me to learn that I am missing because I'm so focused on myself, my fears, and blaming it all on COVID? I encourage you to sit and ponder this question. 

The 2020-2021 Richland Leader Team! 

from top left: Erika, Bridgett, Sayuri, Dayo

from bottom left: Sandra, Me, and Sirak

we had a social- distance back to school kick off at a park near the campus. We had so many students from last year show up! it was an awesome event! It was really encouraging to see how gear our students were to be back together again. While COVID is making everything different, something I think it has had us do is slow down and practice intimacy with God. I keep being encouraged and reminded that this year might just be teaching that to our students. to slow down and just be with God, be with his community. To commune with him and his word. 

Here are some more sweet pictures from that event! 

We had our first "real" Thursday night fellowship nights, or Thursday Night Thunder, as Richland calls it and it was equally encouraging! When having an open sharing time, many students talked about loving FOCUS's family feel. It was really exciting to hear referring to the ministry as a safe, family style place so early on in the year! Once again, God is breaking down my expectations and replacing them with something even better. 

I continue to hear him say be faithful. 

be faithful. 

- Please be praying for outreach. With Richland being all online, we have to get really creative. Please pray for boldness for our students, they they would rest in the freedom of the spirit when they reach out to their classmates online and not the fear of being awkward. 

- Please be praying for our cores (small groups). These small groups are a big part of our ministry and we are trying to do these as safely as possible. Please pray that our small group leaders will be bold and be faithful with God has given them. It's easy to measure success by numbers. Please pray that they would see success as following God's will and never by trying to be impressive. 

- Please be praying for the safety of our ministry. We are having our students social distance, wear a mask, and follow other CDC recommended guidelines so we can still be together. 

- Please also be praying for the emotional safety of our students. So many of them are alone and don't have much interaction with the school being closed. Most of our students live at home and might not be able to come to any of our in person events. God created us to be communal beings. We were made to be together. Please pray that they will be quick to move their feet and talk to one another. 

- Please pray for the girls that I am meeting with this year. That they would come to know God and be shaped by him

- Please pray fo ray fundraising! I am $400 a month away from my minimum goal of $2500 a month! God was so faithful and I believe he will provided the rest. If you know anyone who would be interested in partnering with me in ministry, please let me know! 

I'm so thankful for your partnership and I am excited to share with you the neat things God is doing at Richland College! 

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Welcome to the home of the Thunderducks!

Happy July!! I hope you had a great and restful Fourth of July weekend! I spent it with my roommates in the sun and being very very emotional watching Hamilton for the first time.

N E X T  Y E A R
On another note, I have some exciting news for this upcoming school year.
I'M GOING TO RICHLAND COLLEGE!! I will be joining our Dallas ministry staff team as a campus minister at Richland College! I am seriously so excited!
UTD was such a special place for me. I was challenged in so many different ways- from the students and the staff. God really used UTD to push me out of my comfort zone. Looking back at my core, we had a pretty diverse group of girls, ranging from different church experiences, temperaments, ethnicity, and even just interest. At UNT, most of the people I interacted with had almost all the same interests. I had to learn to push past my comforts in so many ways at UTD. I will miss that school and the students so much. I am so proud of them.
I am so excited for the chance to get to work with this team and the students at Richland.  I really discovered God when I was a student at a community college, so I have always had a soft spot for our community colleges. In some ways too I feel like I will get to experience some of teen ministry again. Richland has a high school program so we will not only reach out to college students, but also teens. God has been doing really cool things at Richland over the last few years and I am so honored I get to join in on what He is doing there!

This is from Winter Camp last January. The two sweet humans in the back are my new co-workers/ besets buddies! Sirak, the campus director, will be my supervisor so we will meet weekly throughout the year and Sandra runs the woman's side of the ministry and kills it! I'm so excited to get to work with them in the fall! 

This is Richland at Fall Camp this past year! I'm looking forward to getting to work with these students!

This past month was filled with all the zoom, FaceTime, and social distance dates! We are still live streaming FOCUS every Thursday nights and we have campus specific zooms our students can join for small group discussions. Campuses are slowly trying to figure out what they are going to do in the fall. this is such an interesting season to experience.

 "So You Want to be like Christ" by Charles Swindoll states that to have intimacy with God, we must have discipline. A few girls and I have been reading through this book during our weekly time together. I feel like God is asking me to be faithful with him in this time. The area of discipline feels harder and harder as time goes with being stuck at home. As I have been going through this book with my girls, I recognize some of the beauty of being at home more, getting more opportunities to practice these spiritual disciplines and commune with God. Just getting to spend more time with the girls I meet with in scripture, really mulling though what God is thinking about things. There's a beauty there. One that is so easy to miss. This intimacy with God we are all craving. As I try to rest in the stillness, I invite you into it as well. There is a sweetness of just being with God.

Thank you so much for your support! I am still fundraising and honestly have been struggling. I know God is good and has set out before me. If you know someone who would be interested in partnering with me in ministry, I'd love to share what God is doing at some of our local colleges!

As the schools are deciding what to do in the Fall, please be praying for our students. God created us to be together in community and some of student's are really struggling. Some of them live alone, live with complicated family relationships, or just miss their christian community.

Big hugs!
Ash

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