STUDENTS ARE BACK!
College campuses feel like desert wastelands during the hot summer months. The long corridors and expansive buildings are empty, waiting in anticipation for August to come around.
On August 14th, a breath of new life was breathed into the dry and lifeless campus. The dorms, dining halls, and plazas resurrected with fresh energy and new stories.
As thousands of freshmen moved in and upperclassmen returned from break, the campus was bubbling with anticipation, eagerness, and vitality.
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| Lines of students and families waiting in the Texas heat to move into the newest dorm on campus! |
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We rallied all hands on deck to serve and greet these new students, hoping to help positively shape their first impressions of college! FOCUS staff and our student leaders helped with move in and passing out ice cold water bottles.
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| The ones in orange tees are 4 out of our 27 student leaders, all of whom helped families move in! |
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We wrapped 3,000 water bottles with our ministry's name, website, social media, and QR code to get connected!
.jpeg) | Here is a glimpse of the behind the scenes, gathering together to wrap the bottles!
After everyone moved in, we hosted events all throughout the week to welcome people in!
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Our first event was bringing lawn games to a park on campus and inviting any and every student who passed to come play with us! Afterwards, we piled into cars and got icecream! The lobby of the Braum's icecream shop was packed out with over 100 students!
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.jpeg) | | Late night lawn games on campus! |
.jpeg) | Icecream with students, some of whom I met an hour prior, but now are integrated into our community!
I loved seeing how many new students showed up to church the Sunday after move in! |
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We continued to meet students throughout the week - through attending UTA-sponsored events and hosting our own, such as a petting zoo and a Bob Ross Painting Night!
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| Movie night in the park! We met so many students at this event! |
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| We held a United Worship Night in the park on campus with the other UTA campus ministries! |
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| Hosting a petting zoo was a big hit! Students loved meeting the goats, sheep, bull, donkeys, and rabbits! |
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| One of our FOCUS pastors, Graham, who graduated with an art degree, dressed up as Bob Ross. 220 students showed up to this event! |
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We passed out free iced coffee and water every day the first week of school!
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| Our first on-campus service was packed out! Our staff and student leaders kept having to stand up and sit on the floor because more and more students trickled in. I love that we got to worship the Living God with all our new friends from the first week of school! |
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| A local church generously paid for us to take our students bowling after our first worship service. 170 students came! |
Gosh, I have so many more stories! People are unbelievably open to having conversations about faith, even those from Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, agnostic, and atheist backgrounds. Here are some pictures of more students I got to know this week:
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| New freshman who has dealt with a lot of adversity in her life and has not had many peer friendships that have been loving and godly. I am excited to see how she blossoms within God-centered, loving relationships. |
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| Buying a Bible with a student who comes from a Buddhist Hindu family but wants to start learning about Jesus. We started a weekly one-on-one Bible study last week! |
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| Reunion with my neighbor growing up who is a UTA student! |
Thank you guys for praying for me and for these first few weeks on campus. I am so grateful for the support and love from all of you. Please be praying for deep roots as we start inviting each of these students to be discipled one-on-one.
Much love, Veronica
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