Summer Update!

Reminiscing on the beauty of Washington from our visit just over a month ago.

Happy summer! I hope all of you are enjoying, escaping, or not having to deal with the summer heat we are currently embracing in North Texas...whatever your preference might be! The summer has been one of lots of rest and connecting with people I don't typically get to see during the busy school year. I've really enjoyed getting to spend extra time with friends, catching up with former students, and settling into our new home.

Something our Collin staff team is doing this summer is taking extra time to learn and practice loving the Lord with our minds. Each one of us chose a book of the Bible to dive into and study as well as an additional topic we think would be useful for ministry. I chose the book of Romans and a book on mental health since it is so prevalent among college students. We've also been able to spend some time bonding and doing more lax things together since most of our touch points throughout the year are work related. Last week we got up really early to beat the heat and learned to play pickle ball together...needless to say we are all better off in our current career than pursuing professions in pickle ball, but it was so much fun and I love getting to connect over random activities.

Things are significantly slower paced, but a couple weekly things we have through July are our summer Thursday Night Fellowship services for all of the students in town for the summer and a student one on one training for our Collin students that will be around next year. Every week we cover a couple topics in a one on one Bible study resource we give our student leaders to walk through with their peers. I've been encouraged by the turnout and excitement from our students to show up, engage, and learn new ways to help communicate the gospel to people they will meet this fall.

Please be praying that our team would experience real rest this summer and have purposeful time with God and others. Please also be praying for us as we consider what students we want to ask to be core facilitators this fall. We've got great students returning this next year, so I have no doubt God is pulling together an awesome team, but pray for us as we discern who should be paired together and how we can lead and love our student leaders well throughout this process.

With love,

Jacy