Spooky Season and Sweet Memories

Hi to all!

    Man, initially, when thinking through this month's blog, I was having a hard time remembering what all I did this past month. However, when I started going through my photos, I realized that there was a LOT that occurred this past month. Much more than I, in fact, first thought too. Between Fall Camp at the beginning of the month and our Church Retreat at the end of the month, it makes sense why I feel a need and craving for rest and a Sabbath. In no way does it take away the amazing things God has been up to, but writing this blog post definitely helps me understand and realize why I've been so tired lately, and why I need to take more seriously taking stock of my time. I don't know if anyone else can relate, but either way, October was beyond a sweet month for memories and community!

1) This is a photo I took while I was on a walk with Connor. Why I wanted to include it is because, before we went on this walk, we had some conflict come up from misunderstanding each other and hurting each other's feelings. Yet, we still chose to spend time with each other, which is different from how we would have handled conflict at the beginning of marriage. We even decided to put a pin in the conversation we were having and, after walking and talking more, readdressed what happened with a fresh perspective rather than clinging to our emotions. Genuinely, I think this continual growth has been from Jesus and his Spirit because I know this is not how I normally act when I feel hurt or misunderstood. So, lately, reflecting on how we've been rebounding from small clashes with each other has been a huge point of worship and praise for me. 

2) For anyone who knows me personally, they know I have a slight obsession with birds. Well, my sweet co-worker Renee found this at a garage sale one day and decided to buy it for me! It isn't an actual bible, but, instead, is a collection of over 700 North American bird species and their bird calls. She gave this to me after a staff meeting, and I immediately started crying. A lot of people will give me things that have some sort of association with birds, but very rarely do people give me bird things that are useful in the way of growing my knowledge in them. To me, this gift meant so much more because it wasn't just something I could use, but something I could use for my kids one day (when Connor and I decide to have some) and even my friends now.

3) Our apprentices, Katherine and Kevin, planned and executed an outreach event on the Plano campus as an assignment for their Evangelism class! They came up with a "fall fest" idea and invited students to decorate cookies and play board games. Here's mine and David's cookies we decorated (I'll let you guess who is who's). This was such a sweet event, and so well planned by them!

4) These next few photos are from our Fall Camp at the beginning of the month! Fall Camp is a 24hr retreat in which students in our ministry from the Frisco, Plano, and Wylie campuses all get together and spend time as a community. We played big group games, board games, painted, worshiped, listened to a sermon by Garrett, and ate a lot of Chick-Fil-A. As a student, this event was so pivotal for me in feeling a part of this ministry. Before Fall Camp, I barely knew anyone in my core (small group), but after, it felt like I was able to say that I knew more people than before, and was able to call this ministry my own. Over the weekend, I could see that happening for several students as well, which really made me so joyous and glad.

4.a) This is Garrett, our regional director of Collin FOCUS. Please don't mistake him for a student, it'll just hype up his ego even more.

4.b) This is Juniper, Garrett's daughter! Jacy and I got to watch her and color with her the Sunday morning of Fall Camp. She is definitely a fiery and energetic child, but it seriously is so sweet watching her be so creative and goofy. I'm excited to see what Jesus does in her as she grows up.

5) At the end of this month, we had a church retreat over the weekend. At this retreat, Matthew decided to get baptized! For those who don't know, Matthew was in David and I's core last year. He came into the school year not really knowing Jesus, but dang, did this boy act like Jesus. Back in the Spring, he decided to become a Christian, and over the weekend, decided to be baptized because he desired to call our church family home. It's crazy what God can do when we're faithful to those around us.

6) This year, we have been having our Thursday Night Fellowship at the Holy Nativity Church in Plano. They have been so gracious to let us use their space, and have even partnered with us to provide food for our family dinner nights. This past month, the church offered to help put on a Fall Fest event for our students to get to know the Persian Refugee church they also host. This was such a sweet and fun opportunity! Here pictured are the sack races Renee put on for our students, which was definitely an interesting experience to say the least. One student even dove 6 feet to try to make it to the finish line!

7) This year, we've been experimenting with outreach on our campus. This one particular week, we did another round of asking students if they had prayer requests. However, David took it up another notch and decided to throw in the question 'Do you think prayer works?', which led to so many cool conversations! On top of that, at this particular outreach, all of David's small group ended up coming and participating. This genuinely was so encouraging because, more often than not, outreach usually looks like just David and I showing up and running the event planned. So, for students to take initiative was really an answer to prayers that week.

8) Here's Laiya and I's core! Once a month, we've been trying to have an 'after event' for the girls after core. This is essentially to provide a space and time for them to hangout and goof out outside the core setting. So, for October, we decided to paint pumpkins while watching Coco. What I thought was so sweet and encouraging to me was watching all of them goof off before we engaged in painting pumpkins. Majority of these girls are pretty quiet, and so seeing them break out of their shell around each other really warms my heart.

9) David and I also planned a spooky movie night for the students during the month! While not a lot showed up, it was sweet getting to eat pizza and watch Monster House. Our sweet host, Eileen Gratkins, has been such a blessing to the Wylie ministry in opening up her house to the boys core and events like this. She really is an answer to prayers this year whether she realizes it or not.

10) Every semester, FOCUS has an event called Pizza Theology. This event engages student to think about theological topics and their faith at a more college level. We want students to leave thinking more about how to think about their faith rather than what to think. So, this semester, we're going through Revelation and questions students have about the book! To prepare for it, David and Katherine planned a TNF After Event where we ate pizza and read Revelation out loud. We honestly were pretty skeptical about what the turnout would be, but we were pleasantly surprised! So many students came and were so engaged with the conversation.

11) Here's David trying to mock Adriana by wearing her sunglasses and pretending to be her on her phone. I think I wanted to include this one because of how much it makes me laugh, but also, because I think it highlights the light hearted nature of our staff team. We love to laugh! We also love to treat each other like family, and that's made me really grateful to be part of this particular team.

12) Okay, here I want to highlight this sweet treasure of a student. This is Sophie, and she's a corefa (student leader) at our Frisco campus. This girl has SUCH a heart for people and God, and it really has been such a blessing to be on the receiving end of her grace, love, and humor. Next year she plans on transferring to TWU, and while a lot of us at Collin will miss her, Denton FOCUS is getting an absolute star in their ministry. Every week, Sophie makes cookies for our peer team and leader meetings, which is like core for the corefas. One particular week, she made teal sugar cookies, and these were some of the BEST cookies I've ever had. This girl really knows how to bake!

13) Here's another student I want to highlight! This is Briana, one of the freshman in my core. Here we were meeting at our favorite coffee shops and doing FOJ, a 1-on-1 bible study FOCUS offers. I have known this girl as long as I've known Laiya due to them both being a part of our teen ministry CTF. This girl LOVES Jesus with all she has, and that's so evident in each of our conversations. Lately, she's been wrestling with the idea of loving God in ways that aren't the most comfortable to her, which, I think, is a lesson all of us go through. Meeting with her is always an encouragement to my week.

Those photos are only the tip of the iceberg for all God has been doing this past month! However, I hope they give you a window into the ministry I've been able to experience in this time frame. As we go into November and the holidays, please be praying for students as they go home. Sometimes being home for the holidays isn't the most pleasant for most students. So, please be praying for them to stay connected to community and people as we go into that season. Also, if you could continue praying for Connor as he is still on the hunt for a job! He's been working diligently in applying, but it's been harder to hear back and get interviews from companies.

Thank you all again for you continue prayers and support from all ends! Love you all, and praying for you each as we enter into the holiday season.

Love, Orion Clements