Spring Update!

This semester has been sweet, simple, and - as every one seems to - gone by more quickly than the last! It feels like just a couple weeks ago we were kickstarting 2023 at our Winter Retreat! Above is a picture of all of our Collin Students that attended this year. Renee and I failed to get a picture with our core, but we had about 5 of our girls come and we had a great time with them! We spent time in nature together, worshipping, playing games, and getting to know one another more deeply.

The picture above is everyone who attended Winter Retreat across all of our campuses! It's crazy to me just how many people are impacted by our ministry year to year. Our theme for retreat was 1 John, so we worked through a theme from the book during every session. I've been really encouraged by the way our students let the retreat spring them into the semester and continue to synthesize what they took away from our time together.

Before starting anything this semester, our entire staff team went on a retreat to connect and rest. I love the culture we've developed on our team - we feel like family! I had tons of fun learning new games and playing with people I've known both for years now and who have only just joined our team.

Two of my teammates, Renee and David, are hosting what we call Discipleship Class this semester. Every Friday, students are invited to come and engage in a class over the book of Mark. Each week covers two chapters. I've loved attending and seeing our students so excited to learn. The class isn't a typical "class"; instead students are given a space to ask questions - easy, hard, confusing questions. We discuss and explore themes that pop up and Renee and David do a great job of making it fun.

A few weeks ago, all of the girls on our corefa team got together to bowl! We had a great time together and I'm really thankful all of these girls have such sweet and intentional friendships with one another. They are great examples to the students they are leading.

In February, our one of our staff members from UTD put together a showcase to celebrate Black History Month. A handful of students and pastors from our community along with invited guests came together to put on an incredible show! I'm thankful for our leadership valuing diversity and desiring to educate our students about different cultures in this way. I definitely learned so many new things at this event! I know the picture is hard to see (we were in the back because the auditorium was packed out) but the group on stage is an African Drum & Dance Ensemble. They were so engaging and at the end of their performance invited people on stage to teach them a traditional dance. It was such a great night and I look forward to more events like this in the future!

Prayer Requests

• There is only about a month of the semester left. Pray for students and our staff team to finish well. Pray we would be thoughtful about how we want to end this school year.
• Pray for our students fundraising for SICM (Student Institute of Campus Ministry). We typically have a giant showcase to fundraise for them but decided not to do that this year. Students are currently fundraising and preparing to head to Washington state mid-May.

Thank you for reading and partnering with me in ministry! I really appreciate all of you.

With love,

Jacy Garcia