Siena's Ministry Blog

Summer has Started!! And that means, like that, the school year is over. I can't believe how much God has done in my life and the lives of our SMU students over these past 10 months. Because of y'all's financial investment and prayer, students in all stages of faith and in all different types of life circumstances got to experience the love of Jesus through our FOCUS community and took many steps forward in their faith walks. As I fall into new rhythms for the summer, I have had some time to reflect with God about all that He has done this school year. I wanted to share some of the people that came to mind so that we can praise God together and celebrate life change: Sneha , a sophomore girl who was involved entirely online with FOCUS during COVID, joined in person this year and became such a sweet part of our community and formed deep friendships with our small group leaders. She went through the process of making her faith her own and felt called to be baptized this spri

  Spring is in Full Swing! Hey everyone, hope y’all are doing well and are enjoying the springtime weather. Thanks for taking the time to read my blog and hear about what's been going on in my ministry at SMU!  this month has been so sweet as we wrap up the school year, and so I'm excited to share what we've been up to.  Large group gatherings Pizza Theology Pizza theology is an event we host every semester for FOCUS students across all 15 campuses. We spend several hours going in-depth on a specific theological issue and then have a break in the middle to eat pizza all together and talk about what we’re learning.  We had such a great turnout!  This semester, we covered a very important topic within our cultural and political realm of today- how do God and the bible view our bodies in contrast with our culture? This question, which may seem unimportant at first, leads directly into conversations about homosexuality, transgenderism, and abortion. Some of the questions our so

Another Month Gone! I hope y'all have been doing great with the beautiful spring weather coming in (which, unfortunately for me, includes spring allergies). Thanks again for taking the time to read what God has been doing in my life during the month of March and for your consistent support through finances and prayer. If you missed last month's blog, I wanted to let you know that I have officially committed to staying on staff with SMU FOCUS for three years!! I will be the head women's pastor next year, which means a pretty big jump in responsibility and leadership.  I have been so thankful for your kindness and support this past year and am excited to start the conversation about how you can continue to partner alongside me in my missions at SMU.  A Look Into Our Leader Team Our staff has been blessed so much by our student leaders this year!! These girls and guys volunteer around 10 hours a week to lead our small groups and do real pastoral ministry with their peers, whi

Hey Y’all! This month has been such a sweet time for my personal friendships and ministry. I’m so excited to share about what’s been happening; get ready for lots of photos!! Some Big News.. I'm excited to share that I'll be serving at SMU for the next 3 years! It's been such a blessing being on staff this year and pouring into the amazing students that we have. I can’t wait to continue the work that God has started at SMU and to be the main women’s minister there with FOCUS. Thank you so much for your support. I look forward to reaching out over the next few months to see whether you would be interested in continuing to support my work as a missionary to SMU moving forward. Now onto how February went! Staff Retreat One of the most fun things that happened this month was staff retreat! We were supposed to go before school started in January, but because many of our staff came down with COVID, we pushed it to mid-February.  All 56 of us went down to Log Country Cove in Bur

I can't believe we're already in February of 2022! It's been a sweet month getting back on campus and working with my team again. Thank you so much for your support; I hope you enjoy my first update of the year! A Chill(y) Start to the Year Since school at SMU didn't start until the 18th of January, I was blessed with a couple weeks of a more flexible schedule while prepping for Winter Camp (more details below) and the start of the semester. During this time, I was able to meet with a lot of my old friends from UT Dallas as well as spend intentional time bonding with my fellow pastoral Apprentices.  Two really fun hangouts we had before school were a girl's Apprentice night in Arlington and whirly ball (a game that combines bumper cars, lacrosse, and basketball) with the whole Apprentice crew. I loved getting to know all of them better and bonding over these fun experiences. All the Apprentices had such a fun time playing whirly ball!  A really sweet movie night wit

  Welcome, 2022! Can you believe that it's already the new year??! It's crazy to think that I'm already halfway done with the Apprenticeship program... Thank you so much for your support in my development as a minister and in what God has been doing at SMU this year!!  I hope you had an amazing Christmas with your friends and family, even in the midst of rising COVID cases. This is a great time to reflect on all that God has done this past year and start praying about what He has planned for us this upcoming season.  Apprentice Testimonial Sermon One major thing that happened in December was that I gave my first sermon to the other FOCUS staff. The topic of the sermon was "This is my Gospel," which stems from 2 Timothy 2:8-9, where Paul talks about the truth about who Jesus is and what he has done. All of the Apprentices were able to share the aspects and truths of God and the gospel that have most profoundly impacted them in their walk with Christ. For mine, I ta