For those of you who did not receive a support letter from me, here is a brief summary of what has been going on in my life so far and what I am doing this summer.
The past couple of years have been an amazing journey. I am currently finishing up my sophomore year at the University of California, Davis majoring in Biochemistry and minoring in Religious Studies and Education. In addition, I am currently working with the Plant Sciences department at UCDavis and interning at the Genome center in a biomedical engineering lab. I definitely have had my hands full with school. Thankfully, during this time God has truly blessed me with many opportunities to serve. After attending Kairos my senior year at St. Francis High School, I knew that God had big plans for me. I became the youth minister at St. James Parish and joined an interdenominational Christian fellowship at UCDavis called Campus Crusade for Christ.
As a youth minister and member of Campus Crusade for Christ, the need to effectively share the gospel with lost Christians and non-believers has become very apparent. The fingers on my hands don’t even come close to representing how many encounters that I have had with people who are desperate to learn and receive the love of Jesus Christ. Oftentimes, I find myself trying to explain what God has done in my life and the message just doesn’t seem to get across. With tons of youth asking me questions and going out and sharing my faith on campus, I have been convicted to learn how to share the Gospel effectively, especially for teens and college students.
Fortunately, through Campus Crusade for Christ I have been given the opportunity to learn how to share my faith. This summer I will be joining a team of about 80 students from campuses all over the nation in Santa Monica, California. Santa Monica, known as one of the greatest summer hotspots, will provide me with many opportunities to share the Gospel with numerous vacationers and college students who visit Santa Monica this summer. This will truly be a chance for me to learn how to effectively communicate God’s message in spiritual conversations during and after this summer. While I am in Santa Monica, I will also be able to grow in my relationship with the Lord through small group bible studies and discipleship. I will also be able to obtain new experience in teamwork as I work alongside my brothers and sisters in Christ on summer project.
As of now, I am mostly packed and am really excited about the trip. However, I have finals to think of first.
In Christ
This week I was going to head off to the beach to enjoy my Jesus Night. I was walking down 
ecause of their experiences with unfaithful Catholics. That day, one of the guys went to Mass for the 2nd time in his life and some of the people who were walking back from the beach after the two hours were over peeked inside to see what was going on. I have been VERY impressed with St. Monica during my time here. At the Mass they announced that they had 18 men currently in the process of choosing seminaries to enroll in… 18 men from the St. Monica parish alone have decided to commit themselves to Christ! Hearing that was such an inspiration. I left the Mass feeling totally in awe with the wonders that God is able to do in people’s lives. After the two hours my group met back up and we had a prayer and worship.
