Life with Christ is a wonderful adventure!
-St. John Paul the Great
Gee, I’d say.
On January 2, 2019, just 360 days after moving to Rome, Italy, for 4 months, I am moving to Tempe, Arizona, for 4 months to be a student missionary on the Arizona State University campus. The University of Mary has had a satellite campus on the ASU campus since 2012, but this is the first semester that ASU students will be able to take UMary Catholic Studies courses without paying extra, which means that UMary students can now take courses at ASU without paying extra as a part of this brand-new domestic exchange program. I don’t know a lot of what we will be doing down there, but essentially, we are starting this pioneer program at Mary College (UMary) on the ASU campus that is meant to build community among the Catholic students as well as other students at ASU.
I committed to this about a month ago, after hearing about it all semester. People kept talking about this new program and I thought “Wow, that’s a cool thing…for someone else to do.” I had finally settled into UMary, I was living with some great people and building new friendships, I had two jobs come spring, but on the Thursday after Thanksgiving I watched that all crumble in front of me. The Lord was straightforward and asked if I would be willing to serve UMary and to serve Him as a student missionary at one of the biggest public universities / party schools in the nation. I could think of a million reasons not to—I knew nothing about the program, I didn’t even know if it would work with my classes, and I certainly didn’t know if I could afford it—but the one reason to do it trumped all of the reasons not to: the Lord desired this for me.
This started a whirlwind of a month that required figuring out my spring classes (which is still isn’t done, oops), packing up my apartment, finishing my classes, working almost 60 hours in less than two weeks at Hy-Vee, and saying far too many goodbyes.
But why? Why would He ask this of me? I don’t fully know the answer to that question, but I do know this: I have been very blessed to experience an awesome Catholic community in both Rome and Bismarck. I have had the luxury of living and growing as a Catholic among so many beautiful, virtuous people. I have received so much that I desired to give back. The students at ASU may or may not know what it’s like to live in a Catholic community like the unique one at UMary, and the Lord desires for us to share that good thing with others—it was never meant to stay in Rome or Bismarck.
I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.
-John 10:10
When I was trying to decide about whether or not to commit to this, the director of the program (who was also our residence director in Rome) said to me “It’s hard to leave something good to do something great,” and it struck me. Clearly, if I am meant to leave the University of Mary and all the goodness and beauty there, then I am called to be a part of something greater, at least in the eyes of the Lord.
Maybe I’m just too much of a pushover when He asks me to do things 😉 Either way, we’re going! #DeusVult
Please pray for me, the other six students, and our staff!
Sts. Francis Xavier and Thérèse of Lisieux, pray for us!