Jayden Valencia

I learned how to be a daughter of God and I understand now that His love is worth showing up for.

My first day at the Newman Center was popsicle Sunday, and I went because I promised my mom I would check it out. After Mass, one of the Sisters introduced herself to me and then introduced everyone who was around. I knew I wanted to come back to this place with the purple door.

I was born and raised Catholic, so coming to Mass was like coming home. When I first transferred to GCU, I felt like I made a mistake moving away from home. At the beginning of the year, everything was geared toward freshman and I was coming in as a new junior. I felt lost. I missed my family and when I went home, I cried to my parents that I wanted to move back. My parents encouraged me to wait out the year and after I did that, I could come home if I wanted.

I am glad that they didn’t let me leave or I would have missed out on this beautiful Newman family. I knew if I kept showing up, I would eventually make friends and I was right. I have the most beautiful friendships now that I cherish. They had something I didn’t. They genuinely loved God and wanted to be in His presence. I was shocked. Of course, I loved God at the time, but there was so much more I was missing... I was blessed with friends who were willing to teach me about the faith. I learned how to be a daughter of God and I understand now that His love is worth showing up for.
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For those of you reading this, if you’re going through a similar situation and feel lost, I ask you to stick around. Give the Newman center a chance. You will not only meet beautiful people, you will also form a friendship with the one who loves you unconditionally—Jesus.