April Reflections

Have you ever gotten to the end of a semester, a school year, or your first year in a new job and thought, “Man! I am finally getting the hang of this!” Well, that’s how April was for me. I feel like I just got the hang of this job! What a whirlwind. Gosh. I am blown away. I seriously feel like I’ve just now gotten the point of it all, and that God has spent the year prying open my heart to let the light in and the shells have fallen off to welcome relationships, soak in the lessons of the years, and look ahead into what’s to come. This apprenticeship has been so hard but so humbling and nothing that I could have ever expected, but thank God He gave me the chance to do it. Now onto the endgame (ha).

Lame jokes aside, I’ll save the other mushy stuff for the last blog. Join me in looking back at April!

Worship at our church, Wylie Northeast, this past month. 

Spring Showcase

I love Spring Showcase. It is such a wonderful event and this year’s was no exception. Every performer CRUSHED it (shout out to my roomie, Kylie) and we had a ton of fun.

One of the things I love about being on staff is getting to see and be a part of the preparation for the show - our staff works so hard! I wish I could videocam it and show you guys how much effort is put into making this thing work. It was an honor to be a part of it and help put this event together to send our students to Washington.

And of course, Did you even go to Showcase if you didn’t take a picture? I think the photo booth at Spring Showcase is always a main attraction. We (as in FOCUS) rarely ever have events that involve dressing up so it’s always a fun opportunity for students and staff to throw on our nice-ish clothes and strike a pose. I hope you enjoy all these photos of our Collin folk!

(left to right) Jordy, Matt, Kylie, and William jamming to Paramore's "Still Into You"

The Preston Ridge women's core! LOVE THESE GIRLS.

Of course, a COFA (Core Facilitator) pic with my girl Raven

My beautiful roomies (plus our honorary roomie, Devan)! 

Fundraisers Fundraisers Fundraisers

I don’t have any pictures for these events because I either 1) helped put them together or 2) was too focused on the food they were serving but boy, oh boy is it fundraiser season.

Every Thursday night, instead of our typical “go to Whataburger and hang out after FOCUS”, our staff has helped students fundraise the rest of their goal for SICM. We’ve had fundraisers with pancakes, ice cream, cartoons & cereal, and more to come.

It’s a joy to serve our students this way and I have zero complaints about eating cereal past 8PM.

I honestly don't know when we took this, but it's here. #GoCougs

Vroom Vroom

Now that we’ve come to the end of my blog, I think it’s a worthy time to say thank you to my good friend, Devan, and all the other people who so graciously helped me survive my “no car” situation by lending me their vehicles. Sadly, my sweet car (its name is Eugene) is reaching the last leg of its life and overheated multiple times. If it weren’t for friends like Devan, the Sustaitas, Brad Davis, and Erika & Garrett Davis, I don’t know how I would have done ministry this past month! Granted, I did my fair share of electronic one-on-ones but these people made such a huge difference in my life. Ugh. I am so blessed that I don't have to worry when things like that happen. Thank you!!

Ways to Pray

• Pray for our students as they go into summer

• Pray for incoming and outgoing staff! We have many staff leaving and joining our team

• Pray for our students and staff can finish well and make the most of these next weeks

• Pray a prayer of thanks for the way God has changed the hearts and minds of our students

• Please pray for me as I go into this next season. I have no idea what the future holds!

Thank you for reading about my April! I’d love to hear about yours. Don’t be shy!

In Christ,

Sam