December!

 Hello all!

Merry Christmas (or day after Christmas)! I hope the holidays have been restful and you have been able to spend some good time with the people you love in your life. More importantly during this Advent season, that you have been able to reflect on the sweet gift that is Jesus. I think for me, I have been sitting longer in the quieter characteristics of God, things like His peace, humility, or comfort. Recognizing that He came quietly as a baby and that He understood He must follow God's plan through a quiet prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. I often find this week between Christmas and New Year's to be much calmer than the weeks before, so I hope to continue exploring these characteristics with God. 

We had our last small group meeting early this month on the 4th, because finals started the next week at UT Dallas. With so many students in my group experiencing their first college finals week, we were able to find other ways to meet and release stress from the week like studying together as a group or going to get dinner to celebrate certain exams being over. With many responsibilities on campus slowing down, I have been able to pick up my one on one discipling with students during the break - especially the ones who live in the Dallas area, sometimes meeting twice a week. The 'Focus on Jesus' study that I will do with these students takes 10 weeks to complete, but they are not always consecutive. We have the freedom to speed it up or slow it down at certain points, so I was able to use some of the open time in my week to progress further in these. I am still individually studying with seven people, but I hope to complete one or two of these before school starts again to start equipping new students who have joined our growing group!

On December 6th, we got to have our Christmas party! One of my co-workers on staff have parents who volunteered to dress up as Santa, so we got to take pictures with them all night lol! Additionally, my family and I took our own Santa picture this year. This has become a Christmas tradition each year, with the first photo dating back to 2003. I will include some past years below. 

Everyone on staff with FOCUS at UT Dallas. I love my team!

Some of the guys in my small group. It is so cool watching them all become good friends.

My own Santa picture with my family. From left to right: Me, Vince, Joe, Dad, Santa, Mom, Isabel.

Santa photo from (maybe??) 2007. I was born in '01, so I look at least 6 here.

A lot of time was spent this month preparing a sermonette as part of my internship. The prompt was simply "What is your Gospel?". I got to share to everyone on staff about who Jesus is to me and some of the big things He has taught me or currently is teaching me. I loved getting to hear the stories of all my classmates as well.

Recent photo from our Christmas party of my classmates going through this internship with me at other college campuses. I love these guys!

Starting January 2nd, classes will start back up for me. The biggest of this semester will be a New Testament class, Eschatology (study of the end times), Preaching, and financial stewardship. We are also getting closer and closer to our Winter Retreat (January 17th - 20th). Looking forward to January, I see a lot of planning and preparation that will be going on in the two weeks before students arrive on campus. I just finished reading the Gospel of Luke, so it kind of reminds me of the parable with the fig tree in Luke 13. The vinedresser (understood to be Jesus) put in time and energy to "dig around and fertilize the tree", asking the owner for one more year to see if the tree bears good fruit. I believe in our desire to have the same mindset as Jesus, our ministry is stepping into a few weeks of careful and thoughtful planning for the semester to come, praying that it will all be fruitful.

 Will you please pray for all of us who are preparing our Winter Retreat and for the students who are planning to go? We know this can be a great time to build community between our campuses, but more importantly for God to move as students dive into a college level understanding of certain topics. Will you also please pray for our ministry as we start back up this next semester that relationships continue to strengthen so that our witness at UT Dallas can grow. 

Also, a small but really exciting update on the initiative we started to inspire our students to read the Bible. Our students have logged over 800 hours of reading! Of course this is not only about tracking numbers, but it is a cool marker of how our community is growing in their interest for Scripture. 

Stars game with some new and some old friends!

This is Brandon, my mentor and supervisor this year! I have loved getting weekly time with him and learn so much from him.

Huge shoutout to my girlfriend, Jaryn. She took the first of four exams for her CPA license! She is forreal an academic weapon this year.

I am thankful for this moment around the holidays to rest with my family and friends, but I am excited to start back again next week. Love you all! Let me know if there is anything I can do to help you out. It takes a village in this world, and I am glad you are part of mine. The songs of the month, if you are curious what I am listening to, are "Nothing New" by Brandon Lake and "What Mercy Did for Me" by People and Songs. Let me know what you think.

With love,

Paul M