Jesus is the Reason for the Season

Merry Christmas everyone! Hooray for baby Jesus! My Christmas has been wonderful. I flew back to Oklahoma on the 17th and fly back to Tempe on the 31st. I've really enjoyed being home and have had a wonderful time. Several exciting things have happened since I've been home:

1. I met with Archbishop Coakley. It was a wonderful meeting and I asked him if there was anything he'd like the people of Oklahoma to know and he said: "I want them to know that I support FOCUS (the Fellowship of Catholic University Students) 100% and I would love for them to be on every campus in Oklahoma." AWESOME! FOCUS is currently at OU and Tulsa University, with high hopes of being at OSU this coming fall. 
2. Prayer celebration for me and my mission at Saint Teresa of Avila's parish. My hometown parish put on a benefit night for me and it was so amazing. The choir sang beautifully and I had amazing support from Saint Teresa (Harrah), Saint Vincent de Paul (McLoud), and Saint Benedict's (Shawnee) parishes. Thank you to everyone who came! I was able to share in detail what is going on at ASU. If you missed it and want to know more, feel free to email me at anna.brzozowski@focus.org. I can send you a copy of my talk and a video my bible study girls made for me. :) 
3. FOCUS  was ranked #7 in Catholic Vote's Top Ten Reason's for Hope in 2013!!! This is amazing and an incredible honor for the phenomenal organization I work for. Check out the video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWx4GEFJOlQ&feature=player_embedded

Exciting new things happening on campus for the Spring 2013 semester:

1. Mu Epsilon Theta. I'm starting a Catholic sorority at ASU this Spring! I'm so excited because I was apart of this beautiful sisterhood in college and I can't wait to share it with the women at ASU!
2. Bible study will be up and running again with several more added on lead by students!
3. I will be training about 15 women how to lead their own Bible study in the fall.
4. SEEK, or national conference on January 2nd-6th in Orlando, FL. I will dedicate a whole blog to this when we get back. :) It will be a life-changing experience for all of the students who go. It changed mine as a student. 
5. I will complete my 1st year as a missionary in May! SO COOL!

I'd like to end with a really cool dream I had 2 nights ago. I have been worrying a lot about this upcoming semester and all the things that I have to do, but my dream totally helped with all of this. My dream:

I was at a party and Blessed Pope John Paul II showed up. He was standing in a corner kind-of glowing, but no one was paying any attention to him. I walked up to him and fell to the ground and started kissing his hand. He knelt down beside me and kind-of wrapped his arms around me. I immediately just started confessing all of my sins and telling him how sorry I was. He listened and then just full on embraced me in this big hug. He told me to stop worrying, that he knows I have a very pure heart, and that God has great things planned for me. I looked up and smiled. He then blessed me and I woke up in a sweat and tears falling down my face. Needless to say it was a pretty phenomenal dream and it felt more real than I can even explain. 

God is so cool. I love my job, I love the women in my studies, I love the opportunities God has given me, and I just love my life. Thank you 2012 and Jesus for making it pretty darn great! In Jesus' name, Anna.

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Beauty in a Breakdown

I officially haven't done a fantastic job at blogging the last two months, but a lot has been going on! SEEK, our FOCUS national conference, is quickly approaching. ASU has 52 students who are going on the conference, which is awesome. I  was in a Catholic sorority in college, Mu Epsilon Theta, and I am bringing it to ASU in the spring! This is an amazing blessing and I am very excited to rush 30 women into this beautiful sorority that changed my life. Bible study is finished for this semester. Words cannot explain how radically these women in my studies have impacted me. They make me laugh, cry, love, grow, and love my job more than I ever thought I would. I'm truly in love with each and every single one of them. They are so strong and such great examples of God's love in my life.

About 2 weeks ago I had my first emotional breakdown as a missionary. I can't remember the last time I cried so much. As a missionary you're constantly surrounded by people, but it's one of the loneliest jobs. I'm finally figuring this out. I had Bible study the night of my breakdown and for the first time I honestly didn't want to go, but I've heard that you grow in virtue when you do something that you don't want to do...especially when it will bring you closer to God. My girls immediately knew something was wrong because I looked like a total mess. I decided to open up to them because they're always opening up to me. They were so wonderful! I haven't felt that much love in a long time. One of the girls had even brought me a present (she had no clue I was even having a bad day)! I discovered that I've been trying to do too much on my own. I wasn't opening up to anyone and running myself down. The women were fantastic and they said that they want to start hearing my prayer requests. They said it wasn't fair that they get all the prayers and that I never ask for anything. They're so wonderful and it was great to see them turn into little missionaries themselves!

Here's some idea to what else has been going on:

Thanksgiving Dinner! 

Students could come up and write when they thought life begins.

Where does life begin?
Conception! :)

Marisa, one of my girls in Bible study, sharing her testimony to about 50 students after Mass one night!

Melissa and Evan, 2 FOCUS students, leading music in the church after Mass.

Mona, one of my girls, took this lovely picture on campus one day.

Getting drinks after Mass one night!

Celebrating a great Mass!

20 student missionaries learning how to lead their own Bible studies on campus one Friday night!
PS. I'm on the couch and I made dinner. :)

Ice skating with my girls!
We went ice skating after Mass for Mary's Immaculate Conception!

Caelen and I ice skating!

Ice skating!

Ice skating!

Ice Skating!

Eating yummy food after skating up an appetite!

I had my 1st In-N-Out burger! It's a huge deal in AZ.

Vigil Mass for Our Lady of Guadalupe!
We bought her flowers. 

The Church for Our Lady of Guadalupe Mass!
It was so old fashioned and gorgeous. 

I had never attended Mass where the Priest's back was to the congregation the entire time. It was so old fashioned and beautiful. I'm also incredibly dumb though and sat in the very front row, so when Communion came around I was the first person to receive. Okay, so see the railing in the picture above, yep, I didn't know you had to kneel to receive Communion. This may be obvious to many of you, but I was oblivious. I walked up and held my hands over the railing like an idiot and before I knew it Jesus was being shoved in my mouth. Oops. I was embarrassed, but oh well. I figure Jesus really didn't care too much. I tried. :)

Happy feast day! 

A Mexican dancer for Our Lady of Guadalupe's feast day!

Some other exciting news: At our conference, SEEK, one first year missionary gets asked to share their testimony and I was chosen! There's about 150 first year missionaries, so it's a huge honor. I'll be sharing it in one of the smaller workshops. FOCUS has estimated that it'll be to about 800 students (6,000 are attending the conference). The main focus of the workshop is to inspire the students to become a FOCUS missionary. I absolutely love my job and being a missionary, so I totally agreed. I'll try to get someone to film it, so that I can share it with you.

One last thing: In Bible study we've been going over Theology of the Body and modesty a lot recently. It's a topic that a lot of girls struggle with, so I went around campus interviewing men on women's fashion. Many girls are oblivious to what men actually think! Here's the video if you want to take a look: 

Thank you for all of your prayers from afar! Wishing you a Merry Christmas, Anna.

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Jesus is the Best.

I can't believe it's November! Time has flown by...I've been a missionary for almost 4 months. Crazy. I'm loving what I'm doing. God just keeps placing amazing opportunities in my path. I found out this week the entire golf team is Catholic, so pray they want to have a Bible study because I'm sure going to! I have 7 Bible studies total now. I'm constantly on the go, prepping for study, or meeting up with girls one on one. My life will never be the same after this experience. I never thought I wanted to be a missionary and now I'm starting to think that I will never be able to walk away from it. The women are truly beautiful and have an amazing desire to know the truth. Many have a relationship with God, but many don't. I hear stories of heartbreak, despair, frustration, or fear on a daily basis. Just yesterday 3 girls cried to me about different issues in their life. Some of them have contemplated suicide, abortion, or just walking away from God all together. I feel so blessed that God has chosen me to help guide them. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for supporting me. I could not be here without you and I know the women really do appreciate it (I plan on making a video where some of them share their stories). 

Last week was abnormally busy. I met with all of my freshman and sophomores for a one on one Bible study. I walked them through what FOCUS calls the Discipleship Road Map. It's a map that helps you decide where you are in your faith life and where you want to be. It was incredible to see my women open up to me and be vulnerable. Many of them are desiring to become great for God, but they don't know how. I was able to help them evaluate their life and to set goals with them. I'd say about 70% of them cried during our meeting. I was so emotionally drained by the end of the week, but so thankful that they entrust me so much. I consider them all blessings from God and I know He is placing them in my life for a reason that I cannot even understand. Out of 33 meetings, I had 18 women say that they want to lead their own Bible study next fall!!! 18 student led Bible studies would change campus in a way I cannot even imagine! In the spring, I will mentor all 18 of these ladies and teach them how to do what I do, so that they have all the tools to lead their own study in the fall. I'm beyond excited. They can reach students I never can because they're able to meet students in classes, in clubs, and in dorms. I'm limited to a certain degree, but with their help, we're going to evangelize all of campus! :D

Here's what else has been going on: 

We held another Abortion Poll on campus.
It was sad to see how many people wrote on the "yes" side, but it was great to talk to them! 

This picture was taken at 12:40 pm. We changed the numbers every 10 minutes.
The numbers came from Allen Guttmacher Institute. 

Brunch with Sister Mary!
Some of these women had never met a Sister before! 

I visited Sedona! I also fell in love with it.
I prayed for everyone in this beautiful Catholic church in the mountains.

Inside the Church...it was gorgeous.

Devils bridge in Sedona! God is so cool.

Students in the back of a truck, on our way to hike!

Oh just climbing mountains. 

Christina climbing mountains!

Hailey and I at the top!

Students over Fall break hiking Camel Back. 

Getting ready to tailgate. 

Playing Minute to Win it games after Mass and Adoration one night!
Ha-I made them eat pies. 

Me in Sedona with some pretty red rock.

Baking slumber party with one of my Bible studies!!

They wanted to eat all the cupcakes lol.

They were experts at frosting.

Happy birthday Mona!

Some of the women at the slumber party!

Watching a scary movie...they were such chickens.

Handing out cupcakes on campus!

Jesus loves you and so do we, so have a cupcake for free!

Olivia handing out cupcakes.

Pretty Marla just eating a cupcake. lol

Some of my girls from Bible study helping hand out cupcakes!

We handed out cupcakes on campus as a sign of Christian love. Many Christian groups yell at students as they walk by and condemn them to Hell. No lie. It's really hurtful and has made some of my women cry before. We decided to battle right back by telling everyone how much Jesus actually loves them, so we baked over 250 cupcakes and they were all gone in less than 45 minutes! Everyone LOVED it. We plan to do it again at Christmas, but bake close to 1,000! We also had 4 women sign up to join a Bible study during the time we were handing out cupcakes. Jesus is the best. 

Halloween Partaaaay! I'm a rubix cube.

Franco from New York and I. He's strange.

My pretty friend Liz! 

Me and some of my girls!

James, my boss, as a girl. It was scary.

We threw a Halloween party for the students from the Catholic center. It was a great success and lots of students came. I had lots of fun dancing in my sweet rubix cube costume.

Last weekend we also held a retreat for students called the Spiritual Bootcamp. It was a small retreat focusing on the impact of the Holy Spirit and understanding His role in the Trinity. The students really loved it and received a lot of healing from going. It was also nice for me to get away from campus for a bit and spend time with our Lord. We had 5 hours of Adoration! You guys got LOTS of prayers. :)

I always say this, but I am so blessed. Thank you, thank you, thank you for your support. Student's lives are being impacted in more ways than I can explain. You're helping them learn about Christ and for that I am eternally grateful to you. All my love, Anna.

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