1 City. 7 Days. 16 Shows.

Spring Break 2012 found me traveling with 13 others from MIT to Pittsburgh, PA. The MIT Christian a cappella group, the Cross Products, shared our hope with many wonderful people. We spent the week traveling around the city singing to men and women of all ages from 3 years old to 103 years old. Some of the locations we performed at included hospitals, homeless shelters, nursing homes, daycare centers, schools for people with developmental delay, and rehab centers. It was a grace-filled week and such a beautiful experience. Not only did we have the opportunity to sing for the community of Pittsburgh, but we were able to get to know many of the people and share our lives with them.

One of the highlights occurred right at the beginning of the week when the Cross Products were able to spend time at Carnegie Mellon University with another Christian a cappella group, Joyful Noise. In fact, both groups sing an arrangement of the song "Baba Yetu" which is the Lord's Prayer in Swahili. It is truly remarkable that two groups with about 30 people combined all come from different backgrounds to share in the same message for their hope in life. Another moment of providence lead me to stumbling upon a FOCUS women's Bible study on the campus of Pitt. After an exciting reunion with another FOCUS missionary, myself along with 4 MIT students were given a tour of the Newman Center on campus where CMU and Pitt share fellowship, worship and celebration of the sacraments.

It still amazes me how life can bring so many moments of peace when we simply open our hearts and minds to the love God has for us. Everyday I am humbled to be serving as a missionary with FOCUS. I especially see real love in the form of the families and individuals who support me through prayer and finances to make this mission possible. Thank you all!

What Are You Waiting For?

Classes are underway at MIT as students blanketed the campus on Wednesday, September 7^th. My teammate Ashley enjoyed taking pictures of some of the students on their first day. This had me reminiscing on first-day-of-school pictures that were often taken as a youngster. One student at MIT, Elizabeth, was very eager to get to her first class of the day as evidenced by the picture below.

FOCUS Missionary, Sam, finishing out her
soccer career at UConn.

Elizabeth is actually from Columbia, Missouri and attended Hickman High School. It was very nice to find someone in Massachusetts who can understand my roots and Elizabeth and I like to talk about how awesome our home state is. These conversations usually include topics such as Mizzou, Shakespeare’s cups, mutual friends, and how the Tigers are way better (and classier) than the Jayhawks.

Regarding college athletics, I was pleased to spend last Sunday afternoon attending a soccer game with my teammate, Ann. We walked over to Harvard which is only about a 25 minute walk from where we live in Cambridge. The Harvard women were playing UConn, which is where another FOCUS missionary, Sam, will be graduating from in December. She will be serving in Texas as a Varsity Catholic missionary working with the athletes there. It was great to see her missionary leadership coming through on the field. She leads some of the women on her team in prayer and works hard to motivate them throughout the game.

It was quite an experience to be walking around the campus at Harvard. The institution truly exudes an extremely collegiate vibe and I felt a bit more intelligent for the day. Perusing around the campus and exploring the buildings was quite interesting. Being of such rich historical significance, Harvard was definitely an intriguing place to be. I especially delighted in seeing the Harvard Coliseum, which evokes even more history as it mimics the Roman Colosseum. The only difference between the two is that we find college men battling it out on the football field as opposed to gladiators battling it out with some lions.

As a missionary, I have the opportunity to meet new students every day. This often leads to very interesting conversations about life, faith, food, sports, academics, etc. Just this past Friday my teammate, Joey, and I were walking around campus and ended up having conversations with some really great students. Most of the intentional interactions I have with students stem from questions surrounding  life. Have you ever stopped and asked yourself what the meaning or purpose of life is?

I have learned from various people including my FOCUS teammates that no matter what one views in regards to what their life means, faith must be present. It takes faith to believe that Christ died for our sins. It also takes faith to believe that He didn’t. It takes faith to believe in the truth in science and it takes faith to believe in religion. If you find yourself faithless, you aren’t searching for the purpose and meaning of life. And it is finding what we believe in that drives our purpose and our meaning. Some students I met seemed to think that this question would be better answered towards the end of their lives. It is as if when we get older, it will become more important to examine what our meaning is as we naturally approach death with age. However, no one knows the point at which their life on earth will end. And if we wait to find our purpose and meaning, then we could miss out on what true living really means. We could miss out on being fully alive. Our lives can become more, and they can become more at this moment – right now.

Every day I strive to learn more about my faith, so that I have a greater purpose and meaning for living. I challenge you to examine what your purpose is and to start living now. What are you waiting for?   

Coming Alive

It is complete! We finally have all 4 FOCUS missionaries at MIT. Our teammate Ashley was able to get in Tuesday, August 30 after having to reschedule flights due to Hurricane Irene. Last week was spent in meetings preparing for the Student Leader Retreat and classes to begin. It was great to continue learning more about our team dynamic as we each bring such different strengths to the mission field at MIT. It was also great meeting our chaplain, Father Richard Clancy who is a great man and a wonderful resource for our team and students.

My birthday cake!

Thursday was a very blessed day for me as I turned 22. After a day of working (which included breakfast at The Miracle of Science Bar and Café) my team surprised me with a picnic in the Boston Commons. They were very strategic in their planning as they tried to design the evening around “Levi’s Favorite Things.” Such things consisted of being outside in a park, listening to free music, and eating lots of cheese. The Boston University team also came and baked a cake for me. These are the times in life that do not allow me to believe there isn’t someone, something, an ultimate force that has crafted each and every moment we experience. How can I believe this? Well, I graduated college a year early, left my family to travel over 1,200 miles away to serve students, and here I am being cared for by people I am only just getting to know. I believe that is love, and it must come from God. Before we left to head back to Pearl Street, we listened to a man playing a beautiful song on guitar. The beauty of the night, music and fellowship can only be captured by the most descriptive of words, those of which are beyond my grasp. It was an amazing day and I enjoyed concluding it by opening a package of gifts my mother sent me from Missouri.

The weekend came with full force as it was the first time we could really interact with new students. The Activities Midway took place on Friday and we met many new students and freshmen. Part of being a FOCUS missionary means sharing your life with the students and engaging with them where they are. It is also important for each individual missionary to be taking part in what truly brings them to life. For me, one thing that does the trick is music. Therefore, I found myself signing up for a cappella auditions. No, I have never been in an a cappella group, but have always found it interesting. I also signed up for the Hawaii Club and will be eager to be a part of intramurals with the students. 

Saturday arrived and along with it I had lots of preparation to do for our student leader retreat. I also had two auditions. The Chorallaries and The Cross Products are two very talented a cappella groups at MIT and I enjoyed meeting many students and auditioning. I got called back on Sunday with The Chorallaries but had to respectfully decline because I already had commitments with students. However, The Cross Products (which happens to be the Christian a cappella group) asked me to be a part of their group! God truly knows how to speak to the desires of our hearts in the most fitting ways. I will get to spend time each week learning music and more importantly, getting to know students and share our faith with each other. The cool thing about this group is that they strive to share the Gospel to many different people including MIT students, schools, churches, homeless shelters and more.

MIT Student Leaders in Adoration

On Sunday there was a Tech Catholic Community BBQ for students and Monday our FOCUS team held a day-long retreat with 16 student leaders learning more about prayer, evangelization, Bible studies, and sharing the Gospel. Classes begin tomorrow and I can’t wait to continue meeting more students. Life just got better.