September 2023 update:

 Howdy, all! 

This month's student testimony is special as it comes from one of our guys from UNT, Azael. I've gotten to know him over the last 6 months and his story is truly heartwarming. He's a humble guy who has been changed by Jesus and Jesus' people believing in him. Check it out: 


Prayer requests: 

- please pray over our staff! Reagann is a new mom navigating ministry, Darby and Drew are within a month of giving birth to their son, Ryan and his wife Nicole are expecting their second, and please pray for all of our immune systems! 

- pray for UNT and TWU to be changed by Jesus

- pray for sustained energy for our corefa team (our student leaders)

- pray for Fall Retreat, our upcoming retreat where so many new friendships are bonded! Please pray that students will desire to go and that it would a nourishing and life-giving time to them 


Some photos I took the last month:

I had the honor of hosting a birthday party for Allison, one of our sweet gals who is a huge blessing to our ministry! 

Cheering on one of our student flag football games! Kinda hard to tell what's going on, but the important thing is that our students won :)

Becca, one of our staff with Victoria, one of our student leaders at TWU! This picture is from our time of development for our female leaders. We all got together, ate pasta, and then had some time of development. Shoutout to my sweet husband, Grant, for helping me make dinner for these gals. 

Latin Jazz night! One our seniors, Isaac, is part of the Jazz Program at UNT. He performs in a couple different bands on the drums, one fo them being the Latin Jazz band. They had a concert one night in the student union and so man of our students from FOCUS came to listen and support him. A very special evening! 


Grant and I were able to host a Labor Day cookout for students who were still in town. Anna, pictured on the left in the red dress, is from England! She had a very American time which according to her is a good thing :) 



Thank you guys for everything! 

Shayla 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

June 2020 update

Image
Happy summer! Man did it get HOT all of sudden. I honestly don't mind the scorching heat, I would pick that over the cold dead of winter any time. I'm excited to update y'all, it's been a while. I want to start off with our May and June student testimonies. The May student testimony is actually really sweet to me for a couple of reasons. Markia is the younger sister of my friend Cierra. I met Cierra in FOCUS in 2013 when we were both students at UNT. When I found out Markia was going to TWU, I knew I wanted to study the bible with her and befriend her. She has been a consistent blessing to me and the people around her at TWU! When Markia and I were studying the bible together, I remembered the summer of 2015 I volunteered with our church family's Teen Camp. I remembered that Markia and I actually did a walk and talk and prayed for each other at that time about friendships and the future. When we both remembered, we were both like "Whoah!". How cool is ...
Read more

March 2024 update

Image
Hey, everyone!  This month, I want to feature one of my ministry partners and FOCUS alumni, Adam Chaibainou.  Adam was a freshman at Collin College the first year I started working with FOCUS full time back in 2016. He went onto UTD, did the FOCUS Apprenticeship, and is now a high school English teacher. He and his wife Clarissa are good friends of Grant and I as well and they've partnered with me in ministry, just like you.  Last year, Adam released a self-published book called I am a Child of God . He's also teaching in the public school system and the school administration decided to use his book for recommended reading. In his book he shares his deep grief, pain, and God meeting him through other people like his grandmother, his friends and mentors in high school, and college ministry (FOCUS).  In his own words:  "A few years ago, I transitioned off of Focus staff as an Apprentice and into the world of education. Since then, I've worked as an ...
Read more

April 2024 update

Image
Hey, all!  I'm excited to update y'all on the last month. First up is our student testimony from UTD. Take a peak and read Darreyl's story.  2nd to last peer team meeting in early April! I took these pictures as we had to "seek shelter" when the tornado siren went off. Luckily, the siren was short lived. Peer team is when Reagann and I come up with spiritual enrichment and development for the student leaders we meet with. We were reading through an article by Lewis Smedes on the Power of Promising. We were also laughing a lot together.  Our last peer team meeting ended with a prayer and group hug! What a sweet group of girls God gave us to faithfully lead and love like Jesus this year. They made such a special impact on our community and campuses.  Playing disc-golf with my homie Grace. She and I have facilitated core together this semester. I've loved us getting to be friends! She's done a fantastic job handling lots of challenges this year and remaining ...
Read more