Boot Camp

Greetings from “missionary boot camp” in the heart of the Historic Carolinas! It’s only been five short days since I set foot on Belmont Abbey College, for FOCUS New Staff Training, but boy, talk about a change in routine! I’ve quickly gone from home-life to dorm-life, poker to prayer and daily meals to daily Mass…and I’m having a blast! With 196 other fun and exciting missionaries right alongside me, we are preparing ourselves to go out and preach the gospel!

As some of you may know, I recently accepted a full-time position with FOCUS—the Fellowship of Catholic University Students. In past years, my involvement with the FOCUS teams at Colorado State University and Benedictine College have reminded me of the incredible need so many of our nation’s college students have: to see people similar in age committed to the heroic pursuit of strong values and virtues as they search to find their identity.

Two years ago I traveled with a group of FOCUS missionaries and students to northern Spain to walk the Camino de Santiago. This walk was almost 300 miles, and I can easily say that it changed my life. Knowing the personal impact that the trip had on my life, I now have the desire to give this same opportunity to other missionaries and students from across the country. For this reason, I have entered FOCUS to work specifically on coordinating the missions and pilgrimages for the entire FOCUS organization.

Today, I can truly say that FOCUS is a front row seat for watching God work miracles in young peoples’ lives. Now, I hope to go and create the same effect through the Mission Programs and Events Department of FOCUS Headquarters as a full-time missionary.

FOCUS takes recent college graduates like myself—trains us, and puts most of us right back onto the college campus where we help bring students closer to Christ and the Church. Sent out in teams, missionaries invest their time in students’ lives through Bible Studies and one-on-one mentorship. The goal of FOCUS is to win students for Jesus Christ through close personal relationships, and then build them up to be peer leaders so that they can do the same for others. Since 1998, FOCUS has helped thousands of students.