Fall Outreach

UMW Balloons at one of the Freshmen Orientation events!
http://www.umw.edu/news/2012/08/27/incoming-students-experience-traditions-new-and-old-at-umw/

FOCUS calls the first few weeks of the semester, "Fall Outreach." It's probably the busiest time of year for a missionary because it involves meeting a lot of new people all at once. The days are long and hectic, and they have mostly left me incredibly tired by the end of the day. At the same time, the days can be extremely rewarding. The freshmen moved in 5 days before classes started, and 4 days before the returning students, so most of our outreach efforts were to reach the new freshmen and bring them into the community at the Catholic campus center.

For example, one of the main events we invited incoming freshmen to was a Saturday evening barbecue. We had flyers that advertised for the BBQ on one side, and for Sunday's "Welcome/Welcome Back" Mass on the other. It felt like we had handed out a million flyers and met hundreds of people in the days leading up to the event, with no idea of how many people would actually come. When Saturday rolled around, it just started to pour out. It hadn't rained in Virginia until that day, but that day it rained with no sign of stopping. We thought for sure all our efforts had been wasted.

But God is good! Around 4:00, when we started to set up tables and things for the BBQ, it stopped! We prepared for about 75 people to come, but had really only expected around 45. We didn't quite make 75, but we did have over 50 people show up, many of whom were people we had met earlier in the week and personally invited to the event! It was such a rewarding night, to have so many new students gathered together, starting to form a community amongst themselves. It was such a great witness to how God can take our expectations and totally turn them around!