I Have Called You By Name

I'm into my 3rd week at FOCUS training! I can't believe it. The time has really flown by. I've been so busy, but full of blessings. A lot of questions have been coming at me, so I'm going to do a little Q&A. :)

• Where are you?
• I'm in Champaign, IL at the University of Illinois for new staff training.
• What do you do all day?
• My days are jam packed! My days vary a little. Some days I work out in the morning and some days I have my Holy Hour (an hour spent praying in front of the blessed sacrament) in the morning. From 9:15-12:20 we have class. We mainly learn about the mission of FOCUS, about the Bible, and how to handle difficult questions that may arise on campus. After that we pray a rosary and then lunch! At 3, we have more classes usually on how to raise our financial support. At 5:15 we have Mass and then dinner. Our evenings are sometimes free, but usually we do things with our college.
• What's a college?
• It's a smaller group of women who spend time praying together, talking about being a woman, playing games, and just doing fun stuff. Our college's patroness is Saint Gemma. She's legit. 
• When will you be on campus?
• August 16th, but classes don't start until the 23rd.
• Are you going back to Oklahoma at all?
• I'll be in OK all of July and part of August.
• Where are you going?
• Arizona State University. Go sun devils!
• What do you do on campus?
• Lead Bible studies, 1on 1 mentorships, reach out to students on campus, hold fun activities for students that don't involve drugs/alcohol/bad stuff.
• Are you excited?
• Ohhhhh YES! :)

Here is what else is going on:

This is our Chapel at DAILY Mass. It's gorgeous! Look at those beautiful Sisters of Life!

Going to Mass here is amazing. The chapel barely holds all of us! Today we had 10 priests celebrating the Eucharist with us. I'm incredibly blessed.

New friend Julie!

New friend Mayra!

Old friend Maddy!

L'Angelus came to play in Champaign! They're a band from Louisiana and all the members are siblings and strong Catholics. They were AMAZING and so much fun. We danced the night away. Literally. I danced from 8-12:45. My feet were about to fall off.

We got soaked on our way back from class!

Jesus decided to bless us with some rain today right when we got out of class. Too bad none of us had an umbrella! We were soaking wet, but being the good missionaries that we are, we offered it up for all the souls in purgatory. Hooray!

I continue to love training, but it is a struggle at times. I've shared with several people that I feel God more present in my life than ever before, but I also feel the presence of Satan stronger than I ever have before. God lifts me up in times of struggle and is so loving, but Satan is just dumb. Satan likes to make the simplest things frustrating. He keeps messing with my phone, so prayers for that. I was struggling today in Holy Hour and I looked down and saw a piece of paper on the ground. It said Isaiah 43 on it, so I'm sharing: "But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine." God has called me by name to FOCUS and I could not be more blessed. I love Him and I know that He loves me.