February Update

 Happy February! 

    I hope January treated you well and was a month of refreshment. As I sit down to write this I'm reminded of what Paul says in Philippians 1:3-5: I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

    Truly I am so thankful for you, your partnership is such a source of encouragement and a reservoir of reminders of God's heart for college students coming to know him! Thank you for your steady and faithful partnership. 

 At UTA the school year is definitely off to an exciting start, some of the more exciting news this month is that so many students have wanted to get baptized! 

Baptisms

    The first one I want to share with you is Lizzy's baptism! Lizzy and I led core together a few years ago and have lived together for the last couple years, so this was definitely particularly special for me. Lizzy grew up catholic, but had a break through in her personal relationship with God when she came to college. Joining a non-Catholic ministry was a bit jolting for her, and was causing her to process and rethink some of the ways she grew up. Baptism being one of those things that she had been rethinking since joining FOCUS as a freshman. She recently decided to take the leap and be re-baptized as an adult outside of the catholic church. So exciting!!

    This is Haven, she is a freshman in our ministry this year! This picture is from when we went to get Korean corndogs together haha. She recently asked me to talk about baptism and is going to get baptized this coming Sunday! She shared with me it has been something on her mind for a while, since even before coming to UTA. However, she never really had a community and didn't know how to even get baptized before college. What a neat gift that our ministry gets to be that community. 

    The third one is Sam! She is one of our first time corefas this year. She also recently told me she was interested in getting baptized and is going to get baptized on the 18th. She was baptized as a seven year old but didn't really understand the choice she was making, so she wanted the chance to be baptized as an adult and serious Christian. 

    Join me in prayer for all three of these girls that this would be markers in their family tree, that all who come after them would know and love God deeply as a result of their decision to devote their lives to Jesus. Pray with me that all of these girls would internalize the truth that the Spirit of God rests on them and they get to clothe themselves with Jesus' death but also his resurrection! What an amazing truth and turning point to witness this month. 

Last Thing: 

 I just wanted to leave you with a picture of our whole community. This is from our last TNF, we met at a local coffee shop which was really fun! Please pray for our staff and student leaders to continue to be faithful partners with Jesus in all the works he begun last semester, pray that we would finish well and be faithful with what we were given! Until next month, 

Sophie