Living Water

Bible studies are SO amazing! All my studies are up and running and I love them! The women are so wonderful and seem dedicated to growing in their faith. The 1st week I chose to do my absolute favorite study, The Samaritan Woman (John 4:4-42). Many of the women had never read the study, so it was great to hear what they had to say about the parable. I recommend all of you reading it! It's so great. If you'd like to go through the study yourself, I'll post it at the very bottom. :) The 2nd week we covered Genesis 2:15-18 and 3:1-13. The main purpose of the study was to go over temptations and especially ones that college students face. We also went over how all of us have a purpose in life and talked about how we can fulfill God's purpose for us. It was awesome! 

Life has been crazy since Bible studies have started! I'm constantly meeting up with girls, prepping for study, or getting ready for an event. It's such an amazing job and I feel blessed to do it every single day. 

One night after Mass and Adoration we played shaving cream whiffle ball with our students. It's exactly like baseball except you play with whiffle balls and fill them with shaving cream. Once you hit the ball, the shaving cream flies everywhere. It's possibly the greatest game on earth. We played in the middle of campus at night, so other students could join in if they wanted to play too!

I had so much shaving cream on me!

Me creating the teams for shaving cream baseball.

Praying with Fr. Muir after the game.

 My Bible studies chalked campus last Monday night. We took chalk and wrote messages of love and encouragement on the sidewalks of campus. They loved it. A lot of students stopped to ask us what we were doing, some helped us chalk, and some we even presented the gospel to! I wrote: "If you are who you are meant to be, you will set the world on fire." by Saint Catherine of Sienna and these 2 guys stopped and talked to me for awhile. They said that they were having a deep conversation and that the quote really spoke to them. It was so cool to see them open up to me and for me to share a little bit of my faith with them. 

The world would not be the same without you.

You're here for a reason.

Some of the women who helped chalk campus.

After Mass and Adoration this past week we had a luau themed dinner for students. We grilled chicken, decorated the basement of the church, and had cool music playing in the background. 

Playing with the confetti on the tables. :)

Some of the students.

Confetti from the tables. It's our club look.

My team director, James, goofing off while cleaning up.
His dream is to become a model.

We also held a Pro-Life Poll on campus. Some of our student leaders went to a training on how to speak to people who are Pro-choice with the hopes of changing their mind or enlightening them about what it means to be Pro-life. We had a sign that said: "Should Abortion remain legal?" People could come up and sign their name on the "yes" or "no" side and write their reasoning. We were there to ask them about their decision and hold a conversation with them. It was simply amazing. One girl even scratched her name off the yes side and changed it to no! So cool! The majority of students said that yes, they want abortion to remain legal, but many of them didn't know why or know any facts behind it. We also had brochures that had pictures of what an aborted child looks like, but we'd only show them if they wanted to see one. I honestly had a great experience with it. I didn't know all the answers to the questions I was asked and I only got yelled at once (she thought I was stupid for not wanting to abort babies who were conceived through rape)! 

Our sign.

Some of my Bible study girls helping out.

More Bible study girls. They all did so well!

On Friday night some of the women from my studies and some of the men went to pray in front of Dream Palace. It's a strip club located very close to campus. It actually made me really sad. I've never been very close to a strip club and the whole scene was just degrading. I can't believe people actually go there. We prayed a rosary for the women inside, the men entering, for the owner, and for the club to be shut down. Hopefully at least 1 man turned away that night or 1 woman chose to leave. 

Walking to the club.

This weekend I decided to take some time off and have fun. I've been so focused on starting Bible study, meeting women, and planning/doing events that I've had very little time for myself, SO I went to the GRAND CANYON!!!! I fell in love. God is so awesome. It was totally the best trip EVER.

Ahhhhhhhmazing!

Zach(weirdo with his shirt off), James, and me at the Grand Canyon!!!

I would love to just sit here and pray every day.
FYI: I totally climbed out on a ledge to take this. I could have fallen into the Grand Canyon.
It would have been an okay way to die.

I know this was very long, but so much has been happening! I'm more in love with my job than I ever could have imagined. I already love so many of the women in my studies and I know it's only going to get better! Thank you for going on this journey with me. :) Anna

Here's the study if you'd like to go through it yourself! Do it. It's my favorite. 

• Is there a certain verse, word, or phrase that stands out to you? What touched your heart while reading this parable?
• Why is it strange that Jesus passes through Samaria?
  • Jews and Samaritans didn't get along
  • Originally there was 12 tribes in Israel. A war happened and they split. 10 Northern=Samaritans, 2 Southern=Jews
• What is Jesus doing?
  • Taking a risk to share the gospel
• What time of day is it?
  • Noon
• Why is this significant?
  • Hottest part of the day. The woman doesn't want to meet anyone at the well. All of the other women go in the morning when it's cool and they socialize. The woman is shunned.
• What's symbolic about Jesus sitting?
  • Always sits when He teaches. He's about to teach the woman something. The Pope also sits when he teaches
• Why does he start the conversation about water?
  • An invitation; relatable. He's also the Living Water
• Why did Jesus meet her at a well?
  • Symbolic of wanting to dig into a deeper relationship
  • He doesn't meet her at a spring
  • Jesus is the only one that can fill our need for love.
  • yet, we keep trying to fill the void with other things. He's the Living Water that truly satisfies. Jesus is the only answer to everyone's longing love.
• How many husbands does the woman have?
  • 5
  • What's this symbolize? -The Samaratins worshiped 5 gods...symbolic of those gods
• Why were the disciples amazed He was talking to a woman?
  • discuss. Not traditional for men to talk to women
  • I think it's funny the disciples still even questioned him
• What's significant about the woman leaving the jar behind?
  • Leaving her old life. She's now filled with the Living Water
• Did you notice the course of her conversion?
  • Sir (v 11) Prophet (v19) Messiah (v29)
  • sir-ordinary man
  • prophet-great teacher
  • Messiah-savior of the world
• She left her old life to proclaim the gospel. Can anyone think of a time when you were living the wrong life and then came back to Jesus?
• What did she do when she ran into the town?
  • Gave her testimony
• What's a testimony?
  • Personal journey with Christ. Can also be your conversion story. 
  • A form of the gospel!!! Can share and possibly bring someone else to Christ. 
  • Many people can relate to testimonies. 
  • We're all called to share the gospel, so we're also called to share our testimony.
• Challenge: Start thinking about what your testimony is. Everyone has one. 1/2 through the semester my women are going to have to share their testimony with the group and to at least 1 stranger. 

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Climbin' Mountains

My Bible studies start this Monday!!! I'm so excited! I have been working super hard to meet women, invite them into studies, plan, and now it's almost time to hopefully see some of this hard work pay off. I'm leading studies on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. I'll have a total of 6 studies with about 40 women (I think). Women keep emailing me and I keep getting more and more, so it's great. I'm not going to lie, 6 studies is A LOT and that's a lot of women to keep up with, but I figure if Jesus were here, He wouldn't wimp out and do any less than that. He'd probably lead studies for 12 hours straight because He's just that great. I'm not like Jesus, but I will do my best to make Him happy. :)

I love to journal. It's something I've always done and it really helps me in my prayer life. I am always writing down my prayers, whether they be for me or someone else. I actually have a prayer binder, notebook, and journal. Crazy, I know. Anyway, it's so fun to look back and see how God has answered my prayers. He always does, but maybe not the way I expected Him to. It's helped me a lot in my life and it makes it very easy for me to see how He is working so strongly in my life. I want to give this gift to the women in my Bible studies, so I have made them all a journal! 

The front!

I bought regular composition notebooks from Walmart, decoupaged the front with scrapbook paper, and then decoupaged this beautiful picture to the front of each book! I absolutely LOVE them.

I made a lot of books....this isn't even all of them.

On the back of the books I just patch worked the scrap pieces of scrapbook paper.

The inside front cover.

On the inside front cover of each book I included some prayers that I like and a mental prayer guide. So many people struggle with mental prayer, so I really wanted to include something that could help them. We'll also be going over this throughout the year in study. Let me know if you want a copy and I'll send you one. :)

Back cover

On the back cover I included a Confession guide. Confession still makes me nervous, so I compiled this a long time ago and have used it ever since. I love sharing it with people who aren't used to going to Confession. I'm going to challenge my ladies to go every 2 months. 
I also wrote a letter to all the women explaining how happy I am that they're in study. I really want them to enjoy Bible study and to feel comfortable to come to me with any concern or need. Something I'm also doing is creating an invitation to all of the events I want to do throughout the semester. Here are some of the activities I have scheduled:

• September 17th-Chalk Campus (writing messages of love and encouragement all over campus)
• September 21st- Pray in front of Dream Palace (it's a strip club) and then go to the movies
• October 6th- Go visit the sisters!
• October 20th-Pray in front of Planned Parenthood
• October 30th-Cupcake Raid (hand out cupcakes on campus as a random act of kindness)
• November 17th-Pray in front of Planned Parenthood
• December 1st-Visit the Sisters!
• December 6th- Man Panel Event (a panel of virtuous men answer various questions from an all female audience)

Many of you may wonder why I am scheduling these events on top of Bible study. Well, I want my women to actually live out their faith and sometimes even in a radical way. I want to push them and to allow them the opportunity to do something they would never actually do on their own. I'm also a very goal-oriented person, so here are my goals for this year:

• Mission: To build a sisterhood of women with Christ as their first love, who understand their unique beauty as women, and are able to spread it throughout society.
• Goals:
•  Each woman should have a relationship with Christ that is at the center of her life and be a true daughter of God.
• Be able to view themselves as a missionary
• Understand the dignity and beauty of women
• Build virtuous friendships
• Hold each other accountable
• Develop and understand how to have good relationships with men as brothers in Christ 
• Understand how to build a culture of life with women
• How to have fun and make life beautiful

 In other news, here's what else I've been doing:

Just some of us ladies hanging out!
We were at the boy's house...hence the ugly flag in the background.

I love this...we were caught laughing.
Ugh..that flag.

This is Franco not wanting to take a picture with me.
He's from New York, so he's naturally grumpy. :)

Some of the guys. This is such an odd picture. 

I hiked a mountain! It was so beautiful/early/tough/totally worth it!

Katie and I at the top! 

I can't wait to update you all on how my studies go this next week! Please pray that the women actually come, enjoy it, and are excited to learn about our awesome God! Bring it on week 1! :D

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The Missionary Life

Newman Center Staff!

I am finally starting to adjust to being a missionary and fall outreach is almost over. I never fully understood exactly how much work goes into it. Here's some insight into my crazy schedule:

• 8:30 am- Leave the house
• 9 am- Team Rosary
• 9:20-10:20- Holy Hour
• 10:30-10:50-Team Meeting
• 11-1pm - Table and Evangelization out on campus (I will explain what this is later)
• Eat lunch somewhere on campus...this is a great opportunity to meet students
• 1:30-3 or 4- Meet with students, make phone calls/texts to students, paperwork, plan events, or finish arranging bible studies (this is more work than you think)
• 4-5 Work out at the Student Rec center
• 5:20-6:20 Clean up for Mass
• 6:30-7:15 Mass 
• 7:30-? Hang out with students, throw or go to events, go out to eat, be on campus, etc.
• 11pm- Hopefully be home....probably not. 

Of course my schedule isn't exactly like this every day, but it's pretty close. My schedule will change a lot once my Bible studies start. I plan on having them up and running next week. I have about 40-50 women who want to be in my studies! We'll see who actually commits, but I am entrusting the Lord by praying for these women every day. It is looking like I'll lead 4 studies total. I can't have studies on Wednesday night because that is our big Newman center night. Mass is at 6:30, Adoration follows, and then at 8 we feed all the students and have a big get together. That leaves Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday for Bible study! Friday is kind-of pointless because many students will go home for the weekends.

Our 1st Newman night was this past Wednesday. We had a great turnout and had lots of fun. I failed and forgot to take pictures, but it was awesome! After a beautiful Mass and time with Jesus in Adoration, we had a BBQ for the students. It allowed the students a chance to get to know us and each other. I am the ultimate party planner (or at least I think so) and hung Christmas lights from the ceiling of the room we were in, projected music videos onto a wall, had picnic blankets all over the floor, and placed chips and cookies in the middle of each one. The students LOVED it! It was like having a picnic under the stars, but way cooler. I even met some new students who are now interested in joining Bible study! yay! 

The Sun Devils had their 1st football game this Thursday (we won)! We kicked off the game with a  tailgate for students. Lots of people came and we had a great time. I also played a lot of corn hole. Its a really popular game. You pretty much just throw bean bags into a hole. It doesn't sound that fun, but it really is. 

Some students at our tailgate. I'm over by the water jug. lol

Table on the Mall is something else that we do to reach students. We have it every Tuesday and Thursday on campus. Basically we have a table out on campus that provides information about the Catholic center on campus and provides them information about FOCUS. Many students come up to us with questions, want to know when Mass is, or sign-up to join a Bible study. We also have a white board that we'll post a question on. It's a great conversation starter for students and it even gets them thinking about their faith and what they believe.

Katie (a student) and I at Table on the Mall!

Here are some pictures of other things I've been doing: 

My team!
Zach, Me, Matt, James, Sheena

Some students and I volunteered at a local food bank. We sacked pinto beans for needy families.
I know, I look really hot. 

Some students and I hiking! Hiking is no joke here. You literally climb up rocks.

Hiking view!

Me and some crazy girls dancing at Toby Keith's Bar and Grill

Being a missionary is a lot of fun, but it can be really scary too. Going out and evangelizing is terrifying. I have to go up to random people and invite them into a life of Christ. CRAZY! Not many people have this in their job description. Here are 2 of my stories so far: 

1. Emily: James (my teammate) and I were walking around and we notice a girl sitting by herself. Perfect. We approach her and tell her who we are and what we do. She doesn't seem too excited, which makes me a little nervous. She's not religious at all and grew up Jewish by culture. She can't remember the last time she's been to church. We start talking to her and asking her simple questions. She slowly begins opening up after we explain the love we feel from Jesus in our lives. She starts asking us questions and even asks where the Catholic church is on campus! Please pray she stops by!

2. Hunter: Same scenario as before. Hunter is a sophomore, he grew up Christian, and his family recently became Catholic, but he isn't...yet. He had already came to college when his family went through a conversion. He said he really never thinks about going to church or being involved in his faith. He said he just has better things to do. We asked him what he feels like once he leaves church and he said it's a good feeling, but that it doesn't compare to everything else that's going on. James and I both shared part of our testimonies with Hunter and presented him with the gospel. It was so awesome! As soon as we shared our personal walk with Christ, Hunter began to open up. He also asked where the Catholic church was and even got James' phone number. Please pray he starts to develop a relationship with Christ!

Your personal testimony is incredibly powerful. When you're doing the work of Christ, He is with you. The Holy Spirit totally gives you the right words to say. People can see how genuine and happy you are. EVERYONE wants to be happy. Everyone wants the joy that you can only receive from Christ Himself. I think this is what Emily and Hunter saw in James and I. People want to have a purpose in their lives. They want to be loved and to love, but so many of them don't know where or how to find it. I challenge all of you to be open about your faith, to love as Jesus does, and to share your walk with Him. Don't ever be afraid to help lead someone else to Christ because what if you actually do?  

Love, Anna

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