Hey y'all! It's so good to meet you. I am stoked to be able to say that I am spending my summer working as the Diocese of Superior Intern! As the intern, I get to work closely with the Totus Tuus missionaries and the parishes they will be traveling to throughout the summer, help facilitate Extreme Faith Camp, and I'll be working on other various summer programming for youth and young adults in our diocese.
After reflecting on the past few years of my journey, it has become profoundly clear to my heart that God providentially placed this opportunity in my path as He has been using the Totus Tuus program to transform my heart over the past 10+ years of my life. I remember attending Totus Tuus at my parish, St Francis Xavier in Merrill, back in 2008 when our diocese held this program for the first time. My first experience of Totus Tuus holds a special place in my heart as it was the first time I experienced young people who were joyfully in love with Jesus (thank you Fr David, Fr Adam, and Fr Patrick for your witness!!). I even remember saying, "when I am older I am going to be a Totus Tuus missionary." Little did I know, that dream would actually be fulfilled years later. After I had my reversion back to the faith my sophomore year of college at the University of Wisconsin- Stevens Point, the Lord so strongly put a call on my heart to apply to be a Totus Tuus missionary the summer of 2017. That summer was by far one of the most transformative summers for my heart and soul. I grew in holy friendship with my teammates, I fell deeper in love with Jesus through the catechesis I was learning as well as learning to establish a consistent prayer routine, and I experienced what it meant to be a radically available vessel for the Lord to build His Kingdom on earth through. My heart was so transformed by Totus Tuus that God asked me to give Him a second summer serving as a Totus Tuus missionary in 2018. During that summer, the Lord was cultivating an even deeper desire in my heart to continue living out His mission to be radically His and invest in others so as to "make disciples" and build up His Kingdom. After graduating from UWSP in 2019, I gave God my "yes" to serve as a missionary with the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) at Wayne State College in Nebraska from 2019-2021. After another transformative couple of years serving as a FOCUS missionary, I felt a deep desire in my heart to trade the rolling hills and cornfields of Nebraska for the lakes and green trees in northern Wisconsin.
So here I am! Back home in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. And I am loving the opportunity that I have to continue investing in young adults, building them up to be disciple-makers themselves as well as allowing myself to fall deeper in love with Jesus while living in the place that truly has my heart. Please keep myself, the Totus Tuus missionaries, and all the youth and young adults that will be impacted by our summer programming this year in your prayers. If there is anything that I have learned over the past few years of being a missionary, it is that the grace of prayer is what makes this work possible.
