One Down, Four to Go!

Week one of FOCUS NST (known unofficially as Purgatory Week) is over, and I am worn out!

As most of you know, I'm fairly outgoing (haha!), and I rarely desire to spend time alone. (I think this is a good quality for a missionary, seeing as my job will be to invite others to live in a radical way for the Lord.) That being said, after a week of New Staff Training, even I could use 24 hours by myself.

One of my goals this summer was to keep in touch with people who I care about, and I have not done too well this week (which has felt like a month). They have nearly every waking hour methodically scheduled so that we can get the formation we need before we hit campus in August.

Last night, the first year missionaries received their placements. The three Auburn graduates who came here with me, Ginny, Michael, and Caralyn, will be missionaries at Ave Maria University, Georgia Southern University, and the University of Louisiana- Lafayette, respectively. I am SO excited that we will all be in the same region, and that they are staying (relatively) close to home.

In addition, Team Auburn has two first year missionaries starting this fall, Michael Senderling (graduate of Arizona State University)... and well... me! I am SO excited to have another first year on the team. Even though I am a student at Auburn, becoming a missionary at Auburn will be a challenge, so I'm glad we will get to experience the ups and downs together. Please pray for Michael, he is coming onto a team with the four of us who already know each other well, and also, we're all ridiculous, so I'm sure he would appreciate your prayers for him.

Please also pray that the Lord will give me opportunities to invite people to join my mission support team. Mission Partner Development is one of the most challenging and rewarding aspects of missionary life, and I can't wait to give God's people the opportunity to come with me on this crazy adventure to evangelize the South and to win souls for Jesus Christ!

I've been thinking of and praying for you (my blog readers) this week, and although I didn't have time to blog at all, I made you a list of one adjective per day to describe how I was feeling.

Monday- excited
Tuesday- overwhelmed
Wednesday- exhausted
Thursday- emotional
Friday- privileged

When I have time to look through some of my notes, I will add some important quotes I wrote down during class or holy hour. Right now, I need to go to Mass. Please pray for me!

Saint Joseph, the Worker, pray for us!