Overjoyed in October

This month was jam-packed and full of events! Event after event after event... Let me tell you a bit about each of them: 

Noche de Baile

Noche de Baile is a dance event that Andrea and I hosted at the beginning of this month to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. We wanted not only the FOCUS community but also Latinos across UTD to be able to come out and celebrate Hispanic culture through dance. We learned bachata, merengue, salsa, and cumbia -- not just the dances themselves, but a bit of the history and origins behind each one as well. My personal favorite is merengue because it's simple to dance and fast-paced. A lot of people really seemed to love Cumbia. 



Piñata Making

Our second event for Hispanic Heritage Month was piñata making! Everyone was given free reins to be creative and make whatever they wanted. I made a flag of Honduras. Others made things like popsicles and boots. I especially loved walking around to see everyone's creativity in action and fielding song requests that helped build and maintain the nice and cozy atmosphere of the entire event. 



Día de Los Muertos Festival

Día de Los Muertos Festival was not an event that Andrea and I hosted or set up ourselves; in fact, it was something hosted by the city of Dallas. Thus, we took a field trip downtown and ended up having the time of our lives. There was an amazing parade that awed me -- the costumes, low riders, music, etc. I have never gone to an event like that before and absolutely loved it and the opportunity to learn more about Mexican culture. 



My culture/heritage is something near and dear to my heart and a very important part of my identity, so all of these events meant a lot to me. When I first came to UTD as a freshman back in fall 2019, there wasn't a large Latino presence on campus so I didn't feel like I could relate to anyone / anyone could relate to me. I couldn't just speak Spanish or have Hispanic food regularly like I was used to doing back home in Houston with my family. FOCUS also didn't have a large Latino presence back then either. It is slowly growing, however, so last school year (my senior year of college, when I was still just a student) Andrea and I and some of the other Latino students in FOCUS decided to create a community for Latinos at UTD -- the FOCUS subgroup now known as Mi Gente! My vision for Mi Gente is twofold: 1) creating a space for Latinos to share their culture and feel like they belong, and 2) for FOCUS as a collective to learn more about Hispanic culture. I don't want any Latino students to step onto campus and feel the way that I did as a freshman. Would you please pray as I continue to minister to Latinos across UTD, that our events would continue to reach more Latino students and that they would feel welcomed and at home as a result? 

Keep FOCUS Growing

It's nearly November again! You know what that means -- time for Keep FOCUS Growing (KFG)! KFG is an annual campaign that FOCUS leverages to raise additional funds to cover all the costs of doing ministry outside of staff salaries. To learn more, please visit https://anyfocus.org/kfg/ and please consider donating on Giving Tuesday (Nov 28th)! 



Thank you all! I could not do this without your continued support. Please let me know how I may be praying for you as well. 

-David 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Adjusting in August

Image
Transitions !  Change After Change I started my apprenticeship with FOCUS! Now, I knew being a pastor with FOCUS meant doing one-on-one, interpersonal campus ministry, but I forgot about the other half of my apprenticeship: classes! One of the classes that I am taking right now is a course on the Old Testament, in which we not only discuss the books in the OT, but also have to read each one over the next few months. During the first week of August, I read Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. I read more that week than I have for the rest of the year so far (anyone who knows me would not be surprised, but for those who don’t know me as well, I must confess that I am not much of a reader). I hadn’t read some of those books before, so it was an eye-opening experience. I am slowly learning to love reading. For those who may not know, FOCUS has ministries across several college campuses across the DFW. This year, I am back at UTD, my alma mater — but not as a student this
Read more

Settled in September

Image
The craziness of the first few weeks of school is finally over. Time to settle into a routine.  First thing up: Core!  Core has been so fun and a blessing! Jadon, my cofa, and I have around 10 guys in our core who are all different and unique in their own way. There’s… Jeff, a sophomore studying Mechanical engineering and also one of my roommates (far left) Rahul, a Hindu PhD student exploring Christianity (yellow shirt) Seth, a sophomore studying film who was also in Jadon's core last year (4th person from the left) Emmanuel, a sophomore CS major who was also in my core last year (graphic white t-shirt) Noah, a freshman CS major who loves to play golf (white t-shirt) …and more! That’s just a small sample of some of the diversity in our core. We love watching Thursday night football after core along with playing some board/card games. Please pray that core would be a place where their faith is challenged and strengthened throughout the school year. Another monumental event that occ
Read more

Nurturing in November

Image
Another Month, Another Blog! Thank you all very much for the support so far. It has been great and I really appreciate it. This month's blog will focus on FOJ and classes. FOJ (Focus on Jesus) is our one on one Bible study. It’s a 10 session-long study that focuses on what Jesus teaches and does in the New Testament. The topics covered in FOJ include sin, grace, baptism, and more. I first studied and completed FOJ my junior year with one of my then-corefas, Luke. Luke pushed me to be more like Jesus and invest more deeply in community. I started taking my faith more seriously and becoming more active in the community. FOJ was one of the primary reasons I ended up becoming a corefa (small group leader) my senior year. This year, I am leading three FOJ studies. I meet with two freshman, Joshua and Prajit, and one junior, Chris — all of whom are also a part of my core (small group). I go over the same content with each of them, but each study is unique and different to best serv
Read more