My Beloved Mission Partners,
Thank you for all your prayers, love and support over the past nine months of this mission year. God has truly blessed me with knowing each and every one of you. In just this short amount of time, he has already shown me so much and I know that this is only the beginning.
As I look back, I’ve realized that there is a common theme for the year; it’s called “change.” Just when I start to get “comfortable,” God shows me that he has different plans and calls me to be “uncomfortable,” or as I like to call it, stretched.
Going into this year, I brought my guitar hoping to learn more chords and to be able to play some songs. And now at the last XLT (a night of Eucharistic adoration) in Süsterseel, I was asked to help lead with my guitar. There have been many other small stretching moments in community life as we learn to love and call one another to holiness. It’s not always easy to hear the truth or the things that I need to work on but by bringing things to the light, it has also brought freedom to our household. There are so many different opportunities to become the daughter of God he has created me to be.
It’s so wonderful that as I continually say yes to the Lord’s will, he provides for the desires of my heart. I’ve been involved in singing in choir since I was 12 years old and this was the first year I wasn’t. One night after attending the local Men’s choral concert, I was invited to sing with the Selfkant choir once a week on Monday evenings. I didn’t have to search for it; God just placed it into my hands. I should mention that I am the youngest member. It brings me so much joy because it reminds me of the choir I sang with at St. Philips in Fullerton, CA.
As of recently, we are now only four missionaries but we’re going strong. Being in only the second year of foreign missions for Life Teen in Europe, we are still very much pioneers. Most our time here has been learning by trial and error, seeing what works and what doesn’t. In this latest Mission Newsletter there is a section that explains everything more in depth.
In other exciting news, after much prayer and discernment, I find that God is calling me to attend the Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio. I’m starting in the fall, and I’ll be finishing up my Bachelors in Theology. God is calling me to dive deeper into our Catholic faith and also to be surrounded by a strong Catholic community. Although, I won’t officially be a missionary, I feel that my time at school will be an extension of this year and I would like to invite you to continue to be a part of it.
Thank you for continually journeying with me on this walk of faith. Without your prayers and love, I wouldn’t be where I am today. Don’t forget to check out our mission community’s newsletter update linked to this email. Please let me know how I can be praying for you by sending me an email. May God bless you and your family each moment of everyday.
Through Christ,
Alyssa Nicole
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