That's a Wrap!

 Hi to all my ministry partners and more!

To some, you might be noticing this blog is a little late in the month. However, I purposefully did that!

In May, we tend to wrap up the school year and start the transition into summer. So, this means a lot of lasts-especially for me this year as my contract is now officially up as of today. So, for my last and final blog post, I specifically wanted it to be special in it's content and thoughtfulness as a thank you to each of you for all your support, prayers, and encouragement these past two years.

At the end of this blog post, I'll be including ALL the photos of everything that's been happening in April and May. In the meantime, I first want to say a special thank you to all my ministry partners, specifically the ones for this year. Thank you for allowing me to be in this job during one of the most difficult times of my life. Over and over again, I kept being reminded of the blessing it was that I was able to be on the Collin staff team working with other believers to not only make the gospel known to students on our campuses, but to also find personal refuge in these friendships as I navigated financial struggles, my first year of marriage, some personal family losses, and all the other craziness in between. It truly was a gift to be able to lean on my co-workers and welcome the students I was ministering to into my grief, joys, and hardships. I was nowhere near deserving of y'all's support or God's goodness in these times. Yet, out of his pure grace and y'all's generosity, I was able to minister and be ministered to over and over again this school year, and I don't think 'thank you' can suffice for how grateful I feel for what I've been able to experience. When I signed on for one year, I knew part of it was because I needed some sort of stability as I navigated transitions and change in my life. That was something I felt God communicating when I was making that decision. However, now being on the other side of it, I am in awe of how good of a Father God is, and how he uses his kids to bless others in that process. So, thank you thank you thank you. From the bottom of my heart, your support and care for me really is one of the biggest graces and blessings I've experienced this year. 

Now to the photos! I'll be including different stories and thoughts for each one. However, feel free to skip those if you would just like to look at the photos! I just like to provide context and the sweet stories associated with them to give y'all a glimpse into the Collin ministry. Enjoy!

Here's a photo from our Family Night in April! Every year, we have a night where we invite family and friends to come check out FOCUS and hear from students and parents on how it's been meaningful to them. This night is soooo fun just because of families being introduced to one another and, personally, I love getting to watch parents be introduced to their child's friends for the first time.

Here I am at Easter holding a goat! This truly was one of my highlights this semester. I absolutely love goats and would love to have a farm one day.

All goofiness aside, our church had a potluck and petting zoo on Easter, and it was so sweet and fun to get to participate! This was my first year getting to spend Easter with my church family, and I had a blast doing it!

This photo was taken during our prayer at our last official TNF service. Watching these group of guys embrace and care for one another this school year really had been such a blessing to watch. Like, seriously, what college students do you know would love each other this deeply to want to pray over one another like this? These kind of moments I'm definitely going to miss from campus ministry.

This was one of our last outreach events from the semester as well! Truly, outreach has been one of my favorite things this semester. Mainly, this is because of watching one of my core girls, Avi (the one giving a thumbs up) really take initiative and ownership over outreach, along with our student leader, Cedric, who has asked straight up if he could lead outreach some weeks. Beyond that, I've just been really touched as well by how many students have been regularly coming around, even if they don't believe in Jesus. So, please be praying that these students can come to know him and see how deeply loved they are by God and by community. They evidently have gotten a taste of what it means to be accepted and cared for, I just pray that they also taste and see that the Lord is good.

Here's Laiya, my co-leader, at an event her and I were hosting! We originally were trying to create an event to get girls at Wylie to mingle with each other...but no one showed up. Honestly, neither of us were discouraged because we knew God had it handled and was going to make the most of the situation. Even then, about an hour into the event, a girl who had been in and out of FOCUS showed up, and it was so sweet to watch Laiya really love on her and seek to know her. In all honesty, I have been so encouraged to watch Laiya grow as a minister and friend to people, and my prayer for the girl who came is that she continues coming around and gets to know again who God is.

Two of our core girls, Molly and Sarah, are graduating high school! So, Molly's mom organized a grad party for Molly and invited the core. Everyone showed up, even with some parents, and we all had such a good time. Molly's dad is also in a band, and so we listened to their show as well (that's who's playing). Between BBQ, cake, UNO, and just hanging out, this really was such a meaningful memory from this school year! I really love how, as a small group, we got to love on and celebrate Molly.

For our last peer team, we had a picnic in the park! Here's just a photo of us goofing.

We also had a staff vs student kick ball tournament for our student leaders. The students won, but we just like to say that we let them win. In all honesty though, this is one of my favorite things that we do with our leaders, and I'm really going to miss not being able to next year! I really appreciate how relational the staff/student dynamic is at Collin and how easy it is to do events like this in good spirit and fun.

Speaking of kick ball-here is our amazing director, Pedro, getting face paint all over him because he didn't open the bottle correctly.

Our corefas!

Every school year, we have a group of students volunteering about 15 hours a week leading and befriending other students on their campuses. The Collin ministry would not be functioning if it weren't for these students making that commitment to work along us staff. This group was so fun and encouraging to work with this year, and I'm so excited for what God is doing in each of their lives after this.

Every year, we send a group of students up to Washington State to participate in the Student Institute of Campus Ministry! Here, they learn what it looks like to live out the Great Commission as disciples on their campuses. In a lot of ways, this is how we train our corefas. Out of Laiya and I's core, Avi and Briana were invited. So, I had them send me a few photos to show you guys from the days they got to tour Seattle!

Here are some of our Collin girls at SICM!

And that's a wrap! Again, thank you all so much this school year for all your support! As I transition off FOCUS staff, I will be going to work for a women's ministry in the DFW area. Please be praying as I make this transition, and please be continuing to pray for Collin as the staff prepare for next school year! Please be praying that hearts are reached, and that Wylie Collin specifically is able to grow. That ministry will always have a huge piece of my heart, and I'm so excited to see what God is going to do with it.

Love always,

Orion Clements