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.