FOCUS wants to film NDSU?!

I cannot believe that the end of the semester is already upon us and my first year as a missionary is almost over. I mean shoot, I'm still in awe of the fact that I can actually introduce myself to people as a missionary. I often think about the time I was leaving St. Al's after a short update I gave the parish over Christmas break and one of the parishioners came up to me after Mass and said, "I can't believe I know an actual missionary!" I thought to myself, "Yeah, me neither! Oh wait, that's me! Crazy."

Myself, excited out of my mind, talking about discipleship.

We have been abundantly blessed at NDSU with amazing student missionaries. They continually take this campus by storm and share the Gospel with their friends, peer groups and have been asking people into discipleship left and right! It's already been a couple of weeks but we actually reached a new peak for a 4-missionary campus: 100 student missionaries (and counting! The current number is 104...not that it's about numbers, but it just helps to gauge progress)!! What an honor to be here when something like this is going on! In fact, FOCUS HQ was so excited about it that they sent an actual film crew up here for 24 hours last week to interview both the missionaries and a handful of the students about our program. Mark Bartek, our regional director, was impressed with the consistency among our students and their knowledge and understanding of the mission--not just FOCUS' mission, but their mission as young Catholics in today's world. For the most part, the students have a healthy understanding of the fact that they are truly being prepared for lifelong mission! And it's flippin' awesome!

(Pause as I look through my planner to see what's happened over the past few weeks since I've last written...I'm not exactly sure if that's a good or a bad thing.)

I guess I could tell you a little bit about my life, seeing as this is "my blog" and everything (why did I put quotes around that?). Oh, technicalities.

I have been training more consistently for the half marathon coming up on May 19th! It's so close I can smell it! Josie and I have been running more regularly and we even went for a nice jog last Sunday down to south Fargo, about 8 1/2 miles! Niiice. We're going to make shirts for the half and both of us are pretty dang excited.

Last week we also hosted a flash mob on campus at the Memorial Union with Brother Anthony of the Transfiguration and Sister Magdelite, both of the community of the Beatitudes in Denver. They were up here for a few days preceding a one-day retreat they were hosting in Hillsboro for both NDSU and UND students (which I also attended and it proved to be very fruitful! If you'd like stories, just ask) and decided to make the most of their time as possible, so they taught us a dance and advertised it during the Sunday Masses. We actually had about 20-25 people show up to dance with us, and we were definitely able to spread our Christian joy through dancing with Brother Anthony and Sister Magdelite right in the front row, habits and all. If I can get my paws on the video that Jenne took of us dancing I'll gladly post it for you to see. It was really fun, and led to a great prank (pulled on me...grumble grumble...) by Tim and Lucas. As a quick summary of it: they convinced me that the memorial union administration was really upset that we did this without getting it approved and having people sign up for the flash mob ahead of time, because I was nervous that we'd get in trouble and since they are both leaving I'd be the one that has to pick up the pieces next year. Luckily the people in the offices love bisonCatholic and FOCUS so there was no trouble at all. They had me going for a solid three hours though!

Tim being presented with the new bike by Fr. Cheney.

Also, this weekend was the 27th annual St. Paul's Newman Center annual Bike Race! It's the big annual fundraiser for the Newman Center up here and most of the year's funds come from what's raised for the race. We ended up fundraising a new record this year; over $78,000! It's a roughly 40 mile bicycle race vs. UND and somehow they had faster average times and more riders and ended up winning! Shoot. We'll get 'em next year. The top fundraiser wins a sweet new road bike so I decided to give it a shot and start fundraising two weeks before the race. As soon as I started making phone calls, Tim, my wonderful (and newly engaged!) team director decided he'd do the same, just to spite me. For those of you who know me, or don't, I'm really super competitive and reallllly hate losing. What I detest even more than losing is winning out of pity by the opponent. Just as a heads up for anybody that plans on competing against me in the future...! That might not be a very good description, but let's just say that when Kelsey loses ain't nobody happy! Which is all the more reason for me to lose I understand, so I can learn patience, love and humility. Dang you, Christian virtues! Why you gotta be so difficult?!

Tim and I were going neck and neck (or shall I say dollar for dollar, wink) for a few days until I realized that this was just silly, I was spending more time doing that then my real job, and it was beginning to consume me. So I admittedly stopped making phone calls until a few days later when Jean and Tonia, the Newman Center staff members, convinced me to keep going because they couldn't bear seeing Tim win the bike! Ha! They gave me even more names and numbers and I was already a couple thousand dollars behind at this point so I figured there was no point to still go for top fundraiser, until one of the first people I called finally turned in their pledge for none other than $1000.

There was no WAY I couldn't keep trying with that kind of boost! It was just the competitive edge I needed! When it all came down to the wire Tim ended up having about $500 more than me and winning the bike. But combined we raised well over $14,000 for the race alone! With the increasing amounts of student missionaries those funds will be put well to use for the Newman Center next year! And I don't think any steam came out of my ears when Tim was presented with the bike, so we're all good. WARNING: in case you didn't notice, I have a tendency to act like a child at times.

Riding the good ol' Cross-Fit Schwinn in the race was a GREAT time and Josie and I finished in 2.01:57! I was shooting for two hours so I guess we made pretty great time! And my legs are only a little sore on Monday, and ready for a run with Kelly in the morning! I'll write about her later, but for now I'm off! I've got the third book of the Hunger Games series to finish by next week!

Please keep me in your prayers!
You are all in mine,
Kelsey Marie

To Rome and back!

I bet those of you who knew I was headed to Rome for Spring break thought I'd title my next post "When in Rome," because obviously you spend so much time wondering what my post titles will be... or not. I gallivanted around Rome and Assisi for a full week and I've already been back in Fargo for a week and in all honesty, it's been a complete blur. 

All 19 of us in Assisi's main square

Now I'm sure you're all just dying to know the details of my trip, or at least you're a good pretender. For those who are pretending, thank you. For those who actually care, I'll try my best to give a good summary. (If the following proves inadequate, feel free to email or call me any time!) The trip was an absolute blast. Period. We prayed a novena the nine days leading up to the pilgrimage and part of the prayer mentioned something to the effect of "giving courage to all those you have called to be on this pilgrimage." That part struck me in particular because I felt like I made a somewhat hasty decision signing up for an international trip two weeks before taking off (here's a plug for having a passport handy!), but it was consistently revealed to me from the very beginning to the very end that the Lord definitely desired for me to be in that group, on that trip and take in all that we experienced. 

I did not take many pictures, but if you would like to see the ones that I'm sharing you can click here to check out my Facebook album. The trip consisted of visiting holy places, churches, and growing in a deeper understanding of our Faith by learning more of the history of the Catholic Church while deepening our own spiritual lives and seeing some beautiful artwork, statues and examples of lives well lived (aka the saints). The patrons of our trip were Sts. Peter and Paul, and rightly so. It seemed like everywhere we went they somehow had left their mark. Whether it was Peter's chains that bound him in prison, their tombs below the altar or their heads above, we Christians owe a HUGE thanks to Peter and Paul for all of their labors to bring the Faith from Jesus himself to the rest of the world. Although I had visited a few of these places before, it particularly struck me this time just how the Church has preserved so many specific things from the very beginnings of Christianity and how now, in the year 2012, people such as myself can go and visit these places to see and touch some of these relics, articles, etc.

A group climbing the Holy Stairs

One of the more moving parts of the trip for me was stealing away from the group and climbing the Scala Santa, the Holy Stairs. These were the stairs that Jesus Christ himself climbed when he was condemned to death by Pontius Pilate, and even preserved under glass cases in a few of the steps are spots where his precious blood dripped to the ground. The trick about these stairs is not simply walking up them and proclaiming communion with Christ for having climbed these same steps that he once did, but rather climbing them on your knees. There are more than just four or five small steps, too. I counted roughly 27 rickety, worn, wooden steps and prayed through each one while silently making my way up, and although it hurt, I knew the pain in my knees was nothing compared to that of Christ himself as he was beaten, scourged, crowned with thorns and ultimately crucified for me.

The last part of the trip I’d like to gush about, if you don’t mind, was not one of our major stops nor even something as seemingly magnificent as having Mass at St. Peter’s, St. Mary Major or St. John Lateran, my favorite of the main basilicas (as well as the pope’s church, where the Bishop of Rome actually presides—not St. Peter’s as many, including myself prior to this trip, believe). It was simply stopping in a beautiful little church tucked just outside of the hustle and bustle of the busy city known as the Domine Quo Vadis Church, "Lord, where are you going?" A humble Church, nearly filled with our group of less than 25 did not draw me because of the beautiful artwork on the walls or ornate decorations, but rather the story behind it. This was a church built on the spot that Peter met Jesus as he was trying to flee the persecutions in Rome and he asked Jesus, Domine quo vadis? Lord where are you going? And Jesus responded, I'm going back into Rome to be crucified again (because Peter was too afraid to accept it). The church particularly moved me because of this and how Peter, our first pope and a great martyr for the faith, was even afraid to accept his own cross, as I am every day. In essence, I just really loved that place and its surroundings and if I unexpectedly take another trip to Rome in the future I'll be sure to return. But for those of you wondering, I did not have the opportunity to throw a coin in the Trevi Fountain so if I go back it will be pure luck! (Wink)

I have some more exciting updates on the mission here at NDSU but that'll have to wait for the next post! Happy feast of the Annunciation! "Let it be done to me according to thy word" Thank you for your incredible "yes" Mary!! 

Love,
Kelsey Marie

Life is good.

When trying to come up with a post title for this entry, the only thing that came to mind is, "Wow, I'm really happy with the way things are going, life is good." And then that "Life is good" logo came to mind and an obvious Google images search resulted. There are some pretty good images that capture life being good, but I think this guy is my favorite. Big cheesy grin, strummin' the gee-tar, and even has Jesus sandals with a quirky little hat, pretty likeable! Which is funny, because I myself do not possess any of these qualities: I do not play the guitar, have Birkenstock sandals nor, believe it or not, wear quirky little hats, but I enjoy people that do.

Kristen (left), and Jodi (right) with Samantha and I (middle).
Sam and I were both discipled by the same missionary, Gina,
but at different schools and different times! 

The last few weeks have been quite a whirlwind and it always amazes me the potential topics I can include in a blog post after a few weeks...which I suppose is actually a pretty surmountable amount of time for how long-winded I am.  For those of you who received my February newsletter you may have noticed how much I am loooving my job as a missionary. The girls I personally work with, and even those that I've been able to get to know around campus, are growing so much and becoming more and more desirous to share their love for Jesus Christ with their peers.

Whitney, the Lady Bison leading pitcher

Here's an update (although I've never really given you a whole lot of information) on some of the girls in my discipleship chain, although I cannot even begin to describe the love I have in my heart for each of them.

Whitney Johnson, one of the women I disciple, officially started her softball season (and is rocking the HOUSE) and has been on the road Wednesdays-Sundays, but in the few times we've actually been able to meet up her growth in love for Scripture and the Lord have been evident. Kristen Vetter, a senior (and recent star of my newsletter), is currently student teaching and just applied for and accepted a position in FOCUS! We're all very excited for her. Jodi Barth, a senior that graduated in December, will be joining her! We recently went down to St. Paul for an interview weekend and it was fun to spend time getting to know them better, along with the other applicants who are just as excited about the mission. Plus, it was a bonus to reunite with a few of my friends from Madison--both missionaries and applicants--and share some laughs as well as the joys of missionary life.

Jamie bringing the heat, from
the NDSU athletics website

Katie Birkel is still doing rehab from her torn ACL and Jamie Van Kirk, a freshman and the starting point guard on the women's basketball team also recently said yes to discipleship and just tore her ACL this week! Apparently injuries are rampant on the Lady Bison basketball team, losing two of their starting players to ACL tears in just one season. Keep them in your prayers!

Josie Breen and her long red hair signed up for the Fargo Half Marathon in May and encouraged me to join her. It became one of my Lenten resolutions and training so far has been nothing short of F-U-N! I used to run pretty consistently and after I stopped I never really started again and I forgot how much I love it! So we've been running and working out together and it's a total blast.

Josie and I at our finest.

These are the other young women I'm privileged to work and grow with: Victoria Hammond, a first year pharmacy student who recently started discipling Megan, a sophomore, Ginnie Hausladen, a fourth year architect student that just said yes to discipleship and Rachel Freed, a sophomore engineering student who loves working at the rock wall at the NDSU Wellness center and just started discipling Kristen, a freshman.

 If you can't tell, things are going really well for me and my crew here at NDSU. Jenne, Tim and Lucas have equally as many exciting stories, and probably more, and I haven't even begun to scratch the surface of the many blessings I've experienced and received this semester alone as a missionary. 

And the last bit of exciting news from my end is that in only nine short days I will be flying to Rome for a pilgrimage with a group called Young Disciples! The trip was advertised way back in the Fall but I knew I'd be leading a mission trip over Spring break and that I wouldn't be able to go. For those of you who haven't yet heard there was minimal (as in two people actually signed up) interest in the trip so we had to cancel it, and in the process lost a couple hundred dollars in materials, t-shirts, and other fees we had to pay. After having a randomly scheduled dinner with Rachel and her cousin, Msgr. Goering, we found out that it was still possible to sign up and go, so it looks like rather than coming back to Wisco for a week I'll be flying to Italy instead. Not a bad tradeoff. 

I will be praying especially for each of you on our pilgrimage and if I can take any prayer requests with me please send me an email at kkaufman@focusonline.org and I'll add them to my list. 

Many blessings and keep fighting the good fight, in whatever capacity that may be! 
Kelsey

TrueLife: Inside the Mind of Kelsey Kaufman.

Have you ever wondered, what the heck goes on in that girl's mind? Probably not. But I definitely have. In fact, I do nearly every day and only every once in a blessed while do I actually have the opportunity to see an internal process from an external point-of-view. The parts in italics are what I would assume is the voice in my head that always responds when I ask things and ponder curious subjects. Call it divine or a simple version of my own conscience, but I'll just refer to it as my "self #2".

"Wow, Kelsey, you sure haven't posted on your blog in a while. Like, a reallly long time."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. But there's been nothing exciting to write about."

"Bologna! You know better than me that there's been tons of stuff going on that people want to hear about!"

"I'm not so sure, self #2. Being a missionary has been exciting and everything, but people want to hear about über exciting stories, like climbing mountains, big-time conversions, or incredible self-realizations. And you know, nothing like that really comes to my head."

"Oh really?!"

"Well, I guess there is that one girl, and that other girl's roommate, and that girl I had coffee with the other day, oh and bisonCatholic week with the stump the priest panel, oh and my meeting with Tim the other day, and those three new girls I asked into discipleship last week, oh and that Padre Pio movie that changed my life, and the mission trip, and scoring 10 points (!!!!) in my basketball game last Sunday, and that book I just finished, and that scrumptious apple-cinnamon coffee cake I threw together a couple weeks ago, and everything that's happened since I got back to Fargo a month ago!"

"So you thought of a few things to write about, 'eh?"

"I suppose so, I guess I'll give it a whirl. Thanks for putting me in my place, self #2. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"You're welcome, now stop being so dang lazy and get to it!"

As you can see my mind works simply, but tends to be filled with extremely high expectations, misunderstandings or a lot of self-doubt, plain and simple. I got back to Fargo about a month ago after an extremely relaxing and much needed break at home with ma and pa Kaufman--which may be summed up with the following: prayer, going to Mass, reading, watching LOTR with mom, helping dad on a puzzle, watching football, scrapbooking and playing with the dog. Basically a dream. Oh, and that's on top of visiting one of my favorite places on earth: Metcalfe's Market, the grocery store I fell nearly head-over-heels for last year when I decided to pick up another part-time job. Isn't it funny how the simplest things give us the most joy? That's something I think about pretty often, but I digress...

As you just read there have been a lot of very exciting things happening since we all returned to the FOCUS grind at NDSU. Our team took off running with the beginning of a second semester and the second annual bisonCatholic week. A quick and cheap overview looks like this:  booths all week on campus, religious brothers and sisters coming to visit from multiple orders, Mass on campus twice (once with and once without Bishop Aquila of the Fargo diocese!), bisonCatholic t-shirts up the wazoo, Devin Rose coming and sharing his testimony and a talk titled, "If Protestantism is True" followed by a stump-the-priest panel with over 300 students and community members attending, and having deep conversations about the Faith with Catholics and Protestants alike, especially in the weeks following.

Overall life has been busy, but really wonderful. The team helped me realize it's important to have more personal time so I've picked up some old hobbies such as crocheting and scrapbooking, and surprisingly not having cable (though I never did in college either) is very freeing. My main love language is definitely quality time so by crocheting with Jenne and reading books out loud (we just finished The Help) I have just been flying high and Jenne and I have grown even closer as sisters, teammates, roommates and friends, it's incredible.

The both of us most likely don't have adequate time for me to continue rambling so I guess we'll just have to wait until next time!

Thanks for your many prayers, I can certainly feel them and am sending them back for each of you!

In Jesus,
Kelsey Marie