Welcome Week at Collin!
Hello everyone! I am so pumped to share about the amazing Welcome Week we had at Collin with y'all. For those who are unaware, Welcome Week is the first week of school which is the prime opportunity to welcome nervous and anxious freshmen and also invite the upperclassmen to know Jesus. There's a lot to cover so let's get it!
Corefa Prep Day:
The Saturday before Welcome Week, we had a Corefa prep day. Corefa's are short for Core facilitators and they are our student leaders that run our small groups which are called Core's. We like to have a day to mentally and spiritually prepare them for leading the small groups and give them outreach training for Welcome Week. During that day, I was so thankful to see them all there willing to give 10-15 hours of their week dedicated to bringing other students closer to God and cultivating a Jesus-first community on campus. It is just so awesome, it's hard to describe! I am very excited for this next year and know that God will shape them into amazing disciples. Here's a picture of all of us at the end of the day:
Welcome Week Outreach:
So this year I am stationed at the Wylie Collin College campus. Here's our schedule for this past week:
It might be a little hard to read, but that is the outline of what we did.
Monday
The first day we were giving out Starbucks ice coffee. Starbucks generously donated five gallons of their cold brew for us which was a huge blessing! This was popular with the students and many of them grabbed a cup of joe and sat with us for a while. We had a prompt of, "How excited for the semester are you?" just to get them talking and see where they are at. Many of them, especially the freshmen, replied that they were nervous and did not know where any of their classes were. This was a perfect opportunity to walk with them and help them find their classrooms. This gave us ample time to talk and introduce ourselves. It was a great first day! I forgot to take pictures of Monday, so sorry.
Tuesday
Taco bout Taco Tuesday! Chiloso generously donated 200 breakfast tacos to us for free. You read that right, 200 free tacos to give out to the students! This was by far the best turnout we received all week because it would be an audacity to turn down a free taco. The craziest part of it was before lunch, they were all gone. This was great because our corner outside of the Student Center was buzzing with students. It became a great place to eat, hang out, and meet new people. I met a lot of great guys that said they have not made any friends at college yet, freshmen and upperclassmen, and were so interested in joining a community. Here are some pics from Tuesday:
Wednesday
This was the last day of free food at Wylie, we got another generous donation of bagels from Dunkin Donuts, which I did not realize that they sold bagels until now. It was a lot of fun, all the bagels were demolished extremely fast. By this time of the week, students were now aware of our presence on campus and would come by to chat with us. I started seeing the same students over and over; which allowed a small friendship with them to begin. Fast forward to Wednesday night, we invited all the guys and girls whose numbers we got from Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday to come hang out with us at Marble Slab for a fun hangout. That was a great way to see the students who were interested in community and a fun outing for the night. Here are some pics from Wednesday:
Thursday
This day, all the staff members were at the Plano campus giving away bad tattoos to any student that was willing to trust our drawing skills. We used body markers to draw whatever the students wanted, this is by far my personal favorite activity we did. It not only allowed us to talk to each other and create a quick bond, but it also was hilarious at how bad the tattoos looked. We also had our first Thursday Night Fellowship (TNF) event later that night which was so amazing! 108 students showed up! We ran out of chairs and had to go find some throughout the campus which is a great problem to have. Needless to say, it was such a blessing to see all those students wanting to fellowship and learn more about God. Here are some pictures from TNF:
This was our small group breakout session Worship time
Friday
On our final day at the Wylie campus, we did bad tattoos like we did at the Plano campus the day before. Once again, it was a blast. Lots of students liked the idea of getting my masterpiece, a pirate ship sailing the seas, temporarily on them. We then ended the day by playing Uno and other board games with the students. Here's a pic from Friday:
All in all, the week was a blast! I was surprised at how many students wanted to be a part of our community. I was also surprised at how many students did not have any real friends at all since they've been at Collin. The freshmen not having friends makes sense, it's the first week, but so many other students said they have only their high school friends to hang out with. This shows how desperately in need of friends, community, and Jesus these students are in need of. Hopefully, they themselves can see that need.
Thank You
I am so thankful for all of you who have supported me financially and/or by prayers! I could not have been on campus this week without your gracious giving! I am truly blessed to be at Collin inviting students to know Jesus and the community. They have the chance to completely change their life and seek the truth rather than the lies that the world throws at them. Your generosity is what keeps FOCUS alive! Thank you!
Prayer Requests
I ask for prayers regarding all the students that are on campus this Fall. That their hearts are open to Jesus and looking for the truth rather than being bogged down by all the lies being thrown at them. I also ask for prayers for all the students that we encountered this week and that they are willing to give FOCUS a chance and are eager to hear what the Bible says.
Here is a student testimony from one of our students at UNT. His story is an example of how Jesus can change the life of anyone. Your support is directly impacting students like him.
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