The sum of His Love

Perhaps one of my favorite things about being a Mission Leader at Rutgers is the opportunity that I have to share with the women on campus what the Father in Heaven has spoken to my heart. You see, we live in a culture where a woman is defined by her physical beauty, her grades, her accomplishments, her total number of boyfriends; you know the list. She is what shes does and if she can't do it all, then she better prove to the world that she's good enough.  And on a college campus where lots of different things and people try to inform us about who we are, I have the sincere and utter privilege of witnessing that while we are beautiful, accomplished, and successful; the truest thing abut us is that we are infinitely Loved by our Father in Heaven. We are His BELOVED Daughters worthy of a love and respect that honors this dignity.

In many of my one-on-one meetings with women on campus I have the opportunity to share about how the Lord loves us particularly as women and how He's spoken the truth of this in my own journey to come to know Him. These meetings are privileged times to hear about their life and share about God's plan of Love for them. In these meetings I encourage them to get connected with the Catholic Center Women's community so that they can get built up and affirmed and Loved for who they really are. I wanted to share the highlights with you my dear Mission Partners, friends, family, and colleagues of how we've been building a Catholic Women's community here on the Rutgers campus.It's a great passion in my heart to be able to share Christ's words of life with these women and to be a part of building a community of women who can point to our TRUE identity as Beloved Daughters. 

Our apple picking adventure was a great way to do this with some of the women. What a great way to just be together, laugh, and be goofy! 








What girl doesn't like to take fun pictures in the middle of an apple orchard? We really enjoyed spending time together. Often times, we don't have to even say God's name, but we can still communicate His Love by being really present to one another!







When it comes to building women's community you have to get creative. Star gazing of course! Another way to get to know the women on campus and have alot of fun too!

Thursday is easily one of my favorite days of the Mission week. We gather at the Catholic Center every Thursday at 8pm to have Women's Group. As a team of women's staff we try to plan nights where we can cover topics that will speak to women in particular about God's plan of life for them and the JOY that it is to be a Catholic woman. 

Topics range from things like, surrender, prayer, the lives of the saints, men and women's relationships, emotions, sex, contraception, authentic friendships, worship, image, and beauty. We really pray through what kind of topics will best serve the women on campus. 





And there's no Women's Group without a serious dose of fun! Spa nights, zumba, tug of war, twister; we are never at a loss for crazy things to do together!





I count it a real gift to be able to reach out to these women and help get them connected to a family that wants to reflect the Father's Love for them. Each of us is a matchless treasure and a true gift. Pray for our Women's Staff that we can really reach these Rutgers Women and share with them the Truth about who they are. Would that we all know deeply in our hearts of His Love that is so totally other! At the end of the day it doesn't matter if we've accomplished everything on the to do list, bombed a test, if we were recognized, rejected, if we got the job, if we feel beautiful, or if we're feeling completely inadequate. The one thing that does not change is that we are INFINITELY LOVED by our Father in Heaven. 

We are the Sum of His Love for us... 

And We're Off!

Hello from the Mission field at Rutgers! We are off to a great start of our school year. The Lord has really been at work through the past couple of weeks of outreach. 

I would like to introduce you all to the Mission Leader team. In the top row we have Justin Leach coming from Northeastern Unniversity in Boston along with Rachael Kirk, a fellow Florida State Seminole. Next to yours truly on the bottom row we have Matt Warne, hailng from Michigan State, and Jesse Diaz to my right, also from Florida State. Please keep our team in your prayers!

 

 I want to also thank you for your prayers for the success for our welcome week events. Dorm vistis, Pizza-Q's, Luau's, one-on-one meetings, involvement fairs, campus dinners, Spirit Nights, Women's Groups, and Googa Mooga have been filling the month of September. What a joy it has been to get to meet so many new students! There's just so much to say about what's been happening, but pictures are worth a thousand words! Allow the montage of pictures below to take you through the past few weeks.

 

Leadership Day:

Before classes start, we gather all of our student leaders for a retreat day. We pray together and hear talks to get us ready for the semester ahead. This year, the other Mission Leaders and I gave a talk to help our students develope more meaningful conversations with new students. It was a great day of seeing how the Holy Spirit wants to work through us this year. As you can see below, we have a lot of fun being together!

Pizza-Q on Livingston:

What's a Pizza-Q you ask? Well, it's basically a BBQ out on campus with all the regular games: corn whole, relay races, and frisbee and then a whole lot of Pizza!

We were right next to one of the student centers. A PRIME place to meet students!

 

During the first week of classes, Rutgers hosts an involvement fair. Below is a picture of me talking to a student interested in becoming a part of the CSA (Catholic Sutdent Association) family.

 

Who says Catholics don't know how to have a good time? Check out our Luau we had after the Involvement Fair. Fr. Keith (one of our chaplains) prepared over 30lbs of pulled pork!

This Luau gives us a chance to really get to know the RU students, along with an opportunity to have a killer limbo competition. All for the sake of the Gospel ;)

 Spirit Nights:

Our main meeting every week happens on Tuesday nights at 8pm at one of the Campus Centers. Here we have time to socalize, pray, and talk about different aspects of our Catholic Faith.

Here are some pictures from our first Spirit Night entitled: Survival 101. We played a bunch of Minute to Win it games and two students gave a sharing about what their faith has brought to their college experience.

 And there is no welcome week without a good game of GOOGA MOOGA!

It's basically like capture the flag, but stepped up a couple notches. We play with all of the normal rules of capture the flag, but at night while throwing flour bombs at each other for points.

Charcoal for camoflauge is the only REAL way to play!

 

Such are the adventures of a Missionary at Rutgers! I hope you've enjoyed the pictures as much as I've enjoyed being a part of the God's work in bringing many people to come to know His Love.

 

With such affection for you, we were determined to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our very selves as well, so dearly beloved had you become to us.You recall, brothers, our toil and drudgery. Working night and day in order not to burden any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. 1 Thessalonians 2:8

The weeks ahead will be filled with more one-on-one meetings with students. Just as St. Paul talks about in the 1 Thessalonains Scripture above, my job is to share the Gospel with these women through the very gift of myself. Please continue to pray that the Lord would give me many opportunities to be His Light on the Rutgers Campus.

 

Stay tunned for more Missionary updates! Please send prayer requests to my email: erickaelemire@gmail.com. It would be my pleasure to bring your requests before the Lord in prayer!

 

 



With many reasons to be full of JOY,
Ericka

To Make Him Known

It is with great JOY that I begin my third year as a Missionary at Rutgers University. The past two years of serving the Lord have been abundantly blessed with opportunities to share His Love with the women on Campus and many occasions to come to a deeper understanding of who I am as His Beloved Daughter. 

To all of my friends, family, and Mission Partners I want to extend a welcome to Love is in the Details. It was the hub of my missionary happenings during my first year at Rutgers and I'm looking forward to using it as a way to share how the Lord is working here in New Jersey during my third year here. So stay tuned! I'll be updating the blog regularly again and I'd love to share all of the victories, challenges, and blessings of the Missionary Life with you! 

Being a Mission Leader is easily the best-hardest thing I have ever done in my life! In order to even begin to recount all that He has done in these past two years would perhaps take several novels, a movie, and a series of interviews.  And I think that would just be scratching the surface! So I thought I'd include a little slide show here to give you a glimpse of the privilege it has been to serve the Lord's people!

I thought I came to Rutgers two years ago to do a bunch of great things for God. And he has allowed me to be a part of some pretty awesome things at Rutgers. However, to be His Light and to be His Love would be far more than a bunch of things I would do. It turns out that His call on my heart, to make Him known, was more than a call, it was and is also a gift!  That actually, to make Him known and walk alongside these women as they journey towards Him would allow me a glimpse into the heart of God. He has given me a matchless treasure in being able to love His people. 

With this same trust in His faithfulness I am eager to see all that He does at Rutgers in this upcoming year. Please pray for our Mission at the Catholic Center! Pray that we'll really be able to make Him known to all of the students we come in contact with! 

Thank you for all of your prayerful and financial support! Looking forward to sharing the JOY of making Him known with you throughout this school year!

Because He Loves us First,

Ericka