NST Craft Night - Memory Plaques

Look what we (the FOCUS women) made during our recreation time last night...

I'm not really sure what you call them, so I'm going with memory plaques.  

Basically we gave the women wooden plaques, threw about scrapbooking supplies and told them to make something that will remind them of this summer.

Our hope is that they can hang these in their homes when the return to campus as a reminder that they belong to an amazing sisterhood of missionaries who are all working towards the same goal of launching college students into lifelong Catholic mission.

Many of them incorporated their small group college and its patron.

It's beautiful how each plaque captures the many different personalities of the unique and awesome women of FOCUS.

I love crafting for several reasons.

1. I love creating things that are beautiful. We were made to do this, it reflects the beauty of God.

2. I love the history of crafting. Since the beginning of time people have been creating things. During the romantic era women were always embroidering, pioneer women sat around and quilted, and our grandmothers gather to knit.

3. I love how crafting fosters thought and conversation. When you are working with your hands you are often doing something that forces you to sit and be. It makes you slow down and it gives you a chance to process life in your heart of with others.

We are hoping to make this the traditional way in which we end recreation each year at NST. Then each missionary will have a reminder of their summers spent in training.

(Here's mine!)

Aren't they beautiful?!

The Champions

A highlight of New Staff Training is men's and women's recreation. The men play soccer EVERY week, the women... well, we have a hard time agreeing on one thing, so we do lots of things, like play kickball (all 120 of us... and there are only two teams... we play with 10 outs per inning... it's a blast) or go on a scavenger hunt or have a craft night. (More on that later, it was a neat one.)

Praying before a game.

To help foster community the missionaries are broken up into groups of 8 men or women that form a "college." It's kind of like a cabin at summer camp. Each men's college pairs up with another college to form a soccer team for the summer (except for the married men who have enough married guys for their own team). At the end of NST the men have their end of the season playoffs between the colleges and they determine a champion in one night. LAST NIGHT WAS THAT NIGHT.

The history of The College of St. Thomas More (the married men's college) is not a pretty one. In previous summers, it's a good night if someone scores a goal. One year they didn't win a single game.

But last tonight, history as we know it changed. The College of St. Thomas More, or "Indissoluble" (in honor of the indissolubility of marriage, St. Thomas More's martyrdom for the sake of marriage and their ability to not be destroyed) reigned victorious and brought home the championship title defeating the previously undefeated biz-cas (as in business casual) team (they go to a thrift store and buy oxfords and ties for their jerseys... it's a tradition).

Notice: They are holding up their RING finger to show "we are number one"... because that's the finger their wedding bands are on.

Since we wives were all at our own rec event, we missed it. BUT we did get a 30 minute explanation of the entire seasons highlights as we celebrated on the married floor with Coors Light and Pink Strawberry Champaign from our thoughtful hubbies. They made it through three playoff games tonight and won in sudden death PKs in the final game.

The supportive wives. (kind of Captain Planet-ish)

We were all very proud of our men and can't wait to see their championship t-shirts. There is already talk of making a traveling trophy in honor of the event.

New FOCUS Campuses for 2011

Drumroll please....

...here are the new campuses that FOCUS will be at next year...


1. Columbia University











Location: New York, New York
Undergraduate Students: 7,934


2. James Madison University (where Kevin attended college for two years)


Location: Harrisonburg, VA
Undergraduate Students: 17,281


3. University of Texas

Location: Austin, TX
Undergraduate Students: 28,168


4. Boston University







Location: Boston, MA
Undergraduate Students: 31,766


5. Arizona State University







Location: Phoenix, AZ
Undergraduate Students: 70,440


6. Ave Maria University











Location: Ave Maria, FL
Undergraduate Students: 1,200


7. University of Louisiana – Lafayette

Location: Lafayette, LA
Undergraduate Students: 15,564


8. Southeast Missouri State

Location: Cape Girardeau, MO
Undergraduate Students: 8,977


9. Winona State University

Location: Winona, MN
Undergraduate Students: 8,631


10. University of Mary

Location: Bismarck, ND
Undergraduate Students: 3,000


Overall FOCUS stats:

FOCUS is present on 58 campuses in 28 states throughout the United States (for all of the other campuses)
Total # of Missionaries: 264
New Missionaries for 2011-2012: 105
Number of people who have pursued a religious Vocations since FOCUS began: 336 (approx.)


What campus are you most excited about?

How to Properly Welcome Jeff Cavins

On Monday Jeff Cavins was in the house, I mean dorm. It was pretty much the most anticipated event of the summer. (Unless you count the talk on the rules of the dating fast which all 1st year missionaries go on for one year. Yes, people willingly sign up for a job in which they aren't allowed to date for one year.)

So incase you have Jeff coming to an event in your hometown, here is what to do.

First, create a Jeff Cavins Committee. These people will be in charge of all of the important details. The gentlemen above were definitely on the committee.

Next, make signs letting everyone know he is coming. It is good to use one of his puns on the poster, so people are aware of what they are getting themselves into.

"Mannana Bread" is what Jeff says the Israelites made using Manna... it's like Banana bread. As a bonus, present Jeff with some banana bread during a break. We did this, however I failed to take a picture. I am so disappointed in myself.

Adding a hand drawn halo and information on what to wear on your poster is helpful. We suggested everyone were a blue shirt. Last year the 1st years spent 24 video hours with Jeff going through his Bible Timeline DVD series. They decided that most of the time he wears blue, hence the "Wear a blue shirt!" suggestion.

The next thing you want to do is prepare posters to wave during Jeff's introduction. Any time you can incorporate Chuck Norris you are on the right track.

Creating a poster where you can take a picture with a fake picture of Jeff, who is also physically present, is also really cool, but also kind of creepy.

A poster explaining to your audience when it is appropriate to applaud can be a really useful tool for the introduction as well as during the presentation. (Notice, blue shirt.)

Simply assign one person to hold the poster up each time Jeff delivers a pun. This way nobody has to feel awkward if they did not pick up on the pun, they can simply wait for the poster cue. Just make sure the person in charge of the applause poster is privy to Jeff's favorite puns.

Next, when Jeff is introduced, wave your posters wildly.

This is what it looks like live...

Well, I hope you have found these tips helpful. Posters, blue shirts, banana bread, lots of yelling. You'll do great.

The 1st Ever FOCUS Equip Conference

For the past 5 days we had almost 40 student leaders join us at New Staff Training for the 1st ever FOCUS Equip Conference! The aim of the conference was to take these eager students deeper in their faith and role as student missionaries. Kevin, along with his good friend Steve, came up with the idea and FOCUS said, "Great, run with it," so they did.

Look how legit it was too! Steve made a sweet banner...

and...

t-shirts! What's a conference without t-shirts?

This fabulous group are the history makers and guinea pigs of the conference. Some of their comments at the end included: "I don't want to leave," "I wish it were longer," and "This has been amazing."

I think even without the printed items, the conference was legit.

They spent lots of time in class learning all kinds of things from how to deepen your prayer life, to the vision for evangelization (straight from our President, Curtis Martin), to how to be a better bible study leader and discipler (from Steve and Kevin).

For the picture above I told them to look forward and laugh like someone had said something funny, but they weren't the best actors.

There was also tons of time for fun and hanging out with the missionaries. Here they are line dancing at the hootenanny, which also featured a watermelon seed spitting contest.

Then there was the L'Angelus (they'll be main-staging it in Madrid for World Youth Day this summer) concert outside at a nearby bar. They always put on a great show. Some locals who joined in could hardly believe that so many people were having an incredible time at a bar and no one was drunk. Glad we could show them it is possible.

I was also blessed to spend part of Sunday with just the ladies for a talk on authentic femininity and afternoon tea.

And finally before they left they spent a day going through the Bible Timeline with Jeff Cavins. Jeff's visit deserves it's own post, so be looking forward to that!

So they did it! The 1st FOCUS Equip Conference was a success and will likely turn into an annual event. Now we both just need to catch up on some sleep!

Steve + Ruth = Love

A few weekends ago we left our mansion (the dorm we have been living in) for a very special wedding between two very special friends. The bride, Ruth, was one of my Resident Assistants when I was working as a Hall Director at Benedictine College. The groom, Steve, was in Kevin's FOCUS bible study and eventually Kevin began formally mentoring him through discipleship.

When the two we beginning to date Steve was often asking Kevin's advice on the process, which was so fun to me since I has so much contact with Ruth! Despite the travel in the middle of FOCUS New Staff Training, we couldn't miss this wedding!

Elizabeth, another RA of mine, was there as well, so we had a mini McDonald Hall reunion. Best RAs ever.... that was the team motto... and they were right.

We also had a chance to see Great-Grandma. Just love this pic of them all laughing!

And we went to mass on Sunday morning at my dad's childhood parish. 

When he was too sick to work for pay he spent his time volunteering for a new initiative called Project Moses. There objective is to keep the 10 Commandments in the public eye as court houses are taking theirs down. The one outside my childhood parish "randomly" arrived the day before his funeral and the Archbishop was able to dedicate it the next day after the service.  Despite our frequent moving there has always been a Project Moses 10 Commandments statue outside of each parish we have joined. It's always a great reminder to me of my dad. 

Veteran Staff Training

Before you is one good looking group of Jesus lovin' FOCUS missionaries, and I spent all week with all of them. About 90%-95% of our on-campus missionaries (there are over 250 of them) gathered for a week of training. It was the first attempt at such a feat and it was awesome.

FOCUS is 13 years old and several years ago they grew too big to gather everyone for every summer training, so the decision was made to only have the 1st and 2nd year missionaries come in for the summer. Which works great, but it also means that some staff members hadn't been to a summer training in years. To remedy this everyone gathered to hear recent improvements and bond the organization together. 

We also decided to invite all of our campus chaplains and over 25 of them joined us.

Mass is pretty sweet when so many wonderful men are present.

There were gatherings of schools, regions and friends around the clock.

These lovely people either served at, or graduated from our Alma Mater, Benedictine College. In fact 10% of the FOCUS staff graduated from Benedictine. FOCUS was started there, so the program is flourishing and huge. We hired 13 new FOCUS missionaries from Benedictine this year.

I also was able to meet with many of our FOCUS wives! I love these women. There is something about sharing in a similar mission that makes you instantly bonded. 

Of course there were several classes as well. Here is Kevin addressing the staff on his latest project, a website for our students. The site is still being created, but the response to his presentation ranged from, "I was tearing up" to "I wanted to jump out of my seat I was so excited." No joke. He rocked it and I'm proud of him. We'll be sure to let you know when it is officially launched.

Here's Paul chasing a kid at the local petting zoo.

To top it off we spent the weekend hosting a married couples retreat with some great friends of ours. No pics, I decided to stop being the creepy woman who is always trying to take a group picture. But, it happened and even although we gave some of the talks, Kevin and I have some great things to talk over these next few weeks!

Well, that pretty much sums it up!

NST - Team Assignments

(Dear Blog, I know it seems like ever since I arrived at NST I have neglected you. I still like you, but I am quite busy, please understand. Sincerely, Lisa)

Above you is a room full of very nervous people. Perhaps you can't tell. They are getting ready to find out where they are moving to for the next year, they are getting ready for their team assignments. 

Each missionary is given a letter which contains a welcome from their new team director. Many of them take their letter to the chapel to open them. The anticipation is quite intense. They could be off to North Dakota, New Jersey, Arizona or one of the other 25 states FOCUS serves in and it all depends on what lies in that little envelope.

Once the letters are open, current veteran staff anxiously await for their new teammates to find them. Many teams wear their school's logo to help locate their new team.

And then there is the ever so important donning of the logo shirt for themselves, followed by many photos.

Where matching shirts can't be found, posters take their place. (Go Jayhawks)

Here is one of my favorite teams. Two married couples, comprising the entire four person team. All four of them have been friends for years and now they will serve side by side as a team... cool.

10 new campuses are anticipated to receive FOCUS teams this year.... cooler.

106 new missionaries said yes to the call to give their lives to serving and evangelizing college students... coolest.