My First Year

Being a missionary is hard.  You are asked to go to a brand new place to work with a team of three or more people that you do not know to talk to students you do not know about someone that they may or may not know (Hint...it's Jesus).  Being a missionary is awesome.  You get to travel to a new campus, receive new brothers and sisters in teammates, build life long friendships with students and strengthen your own relationship with Christ.  So, being that this is my last week on campus of my first year as a missionary, I thought I would hit on a couple key highlights from the year.

THE MISSION

When I got to campus, I was scared to death.  I am the ultimate introvert and now I was being asked to meet students that I did not know with the intention of building them up with Christ.  OK take a deep breath Josh. It's going to be alright.  You can do this.  And lo and behold I did!  I got the opportunity this year to work with many amazing men that, over the course of the school calendar, really started to understand and begin to form their own personal relationship with Christ and His Church.  I watched boys become men right in front of my very eyes, and that has been a gift that I could not have received without taking this job.  I still remember the first Bible study and after I asked a question, all I heard was the sound of crickets.  But in our last book study of the year, I could ask a question and let the guys run with it.  And even though, I will not be around in the coming years to watch the continued growth, I could not be more excited to see how those men set the campus on fire!

THE DATING FAST

For those of you that don't know, all first year missionaries are required to go on a dating fast for their first year on staff.  Yeah, I was not cool with that.  I remember praying about it and telling Jesus, "Lord please make this dating fast go away."  But, it was never a prayer that I wanted to be answered immediately, because I knew that during this fast I was going to learn something that was worth knowing. I struggled at first.  Oh boy did I struggle!  I felt like I was falling for every girl I met on campus and emotional chastity was being tested extremely hard.  But I got through it.  I kept fighting the good fight and to be real honest, this fast has been the biggest blessing of my first year on staff.  I have learned more about women than at any other time in my life.  I used to look at all women as a potential soulmate instead of looking of them as first a sister in Christ.  And as the dating fast comes to an end, I have learned invaluable lessons and gained the tools to make "the dating game" a lot less scary.

THE RELATIONSHIP WITH CHRIST

I thought I had a pretty good relationship with Christ when I got to campus.  I went to mass multiple times a week (when I could).  I prayed on a regular basis (when I could).  Yeah, I would say that Jesus and I were pretty tight.  I had no idea what I was in for this year.  I had never prayed holy hours on a daily basis and never went mass every day until I got to training and then to campus.  Jesus blew the doors wide open again.  It was almost as if I was a 20 year old kid sitting in front of the Eucharist at conference just a few years back.  Jesus showed to me wounds that I thought were healed and revealed himself to me more than I ever could have dreamed.  My personal relationship with Christ has been strengthened so much and I have come to know him better than I ever have, and that...that is something that I can take with me not just to my campus next year but to the relationships that I continue to make and will continue to build throughout the rest of my life.

Missionary life is almost never easy.  You get pulled in a million different directions everyday.  You fundraise your own salary.  The comforts of your past life get reduced to very minimum.  You give up a lot.  But you receive so much more.  You gain brothers and sisters in Christ, the tools to have those tough conversations about the faith, and most importantly a renewed love for Christ and His Church.  So my PSA to anyone in college that is looking for something after graduation or who wants to make an impact on the world, think about FOCUS.  Discern it!  Prayerfully consider applying for staff.  And if you are fortunate enough to get the call like I did, don't turn it down. It will be the best decision you could ever make.  It was for me.