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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