An "On" Weekend

Each weekend in a FOCUS campus missionary's life is indicated as either "on" or "off". 2 of each per month. This weekend was is "on" for me.

This Friday afternoon the FOCUS UMD team began its first "Upper Room" season with a stellar talk by teammate Ali Kopreski on the first clause of the FOCUS mission statement, "To Know Christ Jesus". The Upper Room meetings bring the FOCUS student leaders together bi-monthly for a little fellowship and additional formation to supplement discipleship with missionaries or senior student leaders. Our curriculum is shared throughout the FOCUS network, so the program is run similarly on several FOCUS campuses. Our first meeting went very well. Ali gave a fantastic talk on the imperative of truly knowing our Savior in a personal way. When we consider the Cross, His Passion and Death, what He did for us individually, how can we not come to Him? "We cannot trivialize the Cross" was a message she insisted upon. We cannot toss off light, inauthentic prayers and think it sufficient for relationship. The Crucifixion actually happened, and it happened for each of us individually.

I had my guitar-led praise and worship debut. When I was home in October I grabbed my dusty hammer and brought it out. I've been practicing since then and by the grace of God we'll have some good prayer through music this semester.

After Upper Room, Raul and I went home to get our house ready for it's 3rd annual 80s party. I was in charge of the turntables (a pair of speakers and an ipod), so I got my approximately 3 1/2 hours of 80s music ready. We had several of our students over, the whole Naval Academy FOCUS team and some of their students, and approximately 75... or 80 (if you will?) others from Catholic circles in the DC area. The dancefloor was crowded at 9 and didn't cool down until about 1am. From all the song requests and 80s party discs that were offered for my use, my 80s music library almost doubled.

We got a few hours of sleep, then met students at 8am mass, and went to the local abortion provider to pray for about 2 hours. I've come home now to call some fellow missionaries to get help with a few of my responsibilities for the Eastern Regional Interview Weekend. I've also been uploading pictures from the last few days and doing laundry, then tonight I think we're going to head to Annapolis with some students to get dinner and something to drink. Tomorrow we'll be superbowl party hopping.

Praise God for this incredible work that FOCUS allows me to do as a missionary. And I thank all of you who support me and help me to be present to the students here. God bless!