The community I had found in college was beautiful and my favorite part of my senior year. I did not want to leave, but I felt a need to go back to D.C., which was solidified when my dad offered me a job to work with him. In my last few months of senior year, I knew I needed to come up with a game plan for post-graduation. I knew I needed a community. I remember asking God to provide me with something where I could keep growing my faith. I had talked with my sister about a couple of possible young adult groups, and when I moved home, I started trying some out, but nothing was "clicking."
One night, I was driving my friend to the Tenleytown metro and I looked to my left and saw St. Ann Catholic Church. I made a note in my head and when I got home looked it up. They had a young adult Mass and were starting something called Alpha in two weeks. So, I signed up. I decided to go to the Mass that week and felt a strange but warm comfort. That feeling stemmed from the loving reverence with which the Mass was said, something I struggled to find at some other parishes in the area. When Alpha finally started, I liked the talk and thought my table leaders were cool but, most importantly, I felt that people wanted to meet new people. So I just kept going and began offering to serve when I could.
Over the past few years, the ARK has been a place where I have been able to grow so much more than I thought possible. Jesus has used the ARK to call me deeper and deeper into relationship with Him, gifting me incredible opportunities and allowing me to do what I love. This I, especially, attribute to Exodus and spiritual direction. Those tools helped me fight for something with good Catholic men by my side. In college, I trusted that God would take care of me and he provided me with a community of loving, Christ-centered people who would encourage, befriend, and, when needed, push me closer toward Christ.