Ministry Blog for February

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 Burnet, TX for four days for some spiritual refreshment and time to connect with each other. I spent my time playing games, hiking, and hanging out in the abnormally warm weather with some of the sweetest and most thoughtful people I know. 

I had so much fun hiking, worshipping together, and playing volleyball! (We accidentally sent the ball in the water, so we had to get it with a paddleboard)

Me and my friends Sophie (above) and Becca (below)

We also had a couple of our senior staff lead sessions for us over specific spiritual disciplines, including humility, surrender, self-control, prayer/intimacy, and sacrifice. These times of reflection struck my heart and revealed to me areas I still wanted to control in my own life, giving me the chance to release them to God. 

I felt so ready to go back and minister with all of my heart after this retreat!

Thursday Night Fellowship (TNF)

Every week we have our large group gathering, TNF, to have a place where all of our students gather to worship God together, listen to a thoughtful message, and spend time in fellowship afterward. 

A beautiful photo of TNF taken by one of our students

We started off the semester doing a series called “Don’t Waste Your Life,” which called our students to live for God instead of pursuing what the world pressures them to, especially in college. 

I had the opportunity to wrap up the series by teaching over why we do campus ministry; I loved being able to share my heart on why I am passionate about what we are doing at SMU and to challenge our students to “catch the vision” of making and maturing disciples where they are at. 

Ministry and One-on-Ones

This month we had a lot of sweet events where I was able to bond with the girls in our ministry and grow closer to them. 

One of the girl’s nights we hosted was a Galentines night, which was soo fun and sweet!! We all got to dress up and make cute crafts together (including a make shirt photo area). (Photo)

Also, my one-on-ones have been going really well! I got to start FOJ (Focus on Jesus), the Bible Study we do with students, with a girl named Brianna. She grew up in church but stopped taking her faith seriously in high school until she came to college; now, she is learning to love Jesus again and leave her old life behind. I am so thankful that I am able to help walk her through and encourage her in this process. 

I also have really been enjoying our student leader meetings Monday evenings. We get to worship together, share how God is working, and be challenged to look more like him through different discipleship topics. Also, we all eat dinner every week together! It's such a sweet time of fellowship.

Our leader team celebrating some March birthdays

SICM (Student Institute of Campus Ministry)

It has been exciting to study the Bible with Suvwe, another freshman, and see her make her faith the center of her life and grow so much throughout this year! She wrestles well with scripture and allows it to affect and change her heart. Because of how committed she has been to her faith and to our ministry, I got to invite her to our summer leadership conference! SICM, or Student Institue of Campus Ministry, will be a week-long training where Suvwe and around 90 other students get to learn the foundations of being student missionaries at their campus. 

Suvwe ranking the rocks I collected from Staff Retreat before our Bible study

I am so pumped for her and a couple other SMU students go and catch the vision of why we are on campus giving the chance for others to encounter Jesus. 

As a way to raise money to send our students to SICM, we had our annual benefit concert, Showcase, late last month. Thank you if you attended or donated to support! The two shows were amazing and we ended up raising over $26,000!! This will go towards cutting down the cost of our leadership conference by a couple hundred dollars for each student. 

I loved going with my SMU crew and getting to spend time with them!

Our classy crew at Showcase

Prayer Requests

Please be praying as our SMU students fundraise themselves to be able to attend SICM! The cost is about $900 per student, so it can be scary to try and tackle that. I know they can do it, though!

Also, I would love prayer for my transition as the main women's staff at SMU; Amber, our lead female staff this year, is transitioning off, which means I will have a lot more responsibility this upcoming school year. 

Thank you so much for your support, I hope to be able to connect with you over the next couple of months!!

In Christ,

Siena