7/28/2019 February/March 2013 FIU Update

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Finally Tied the

Knot! After 10 months of planning and

preparation I’m finally Mrs. Franchesca 

Sanchez! Armando and I are so happy to

finally be married. The months of 

preparation not only for our wedding, but

for our marriage were totally worth it.

During our engagement we got to learn so

much about God’s faithfulness and

steadfast love!

THE BIG DAY

 

 Armando and I were able to find a 

great apartment not to far from

 work, church and friends. We are

enjoying the space as we share it

 with our cat Houdini. It is pretty 

crazy how many things we have

already learned and its just the

 beginning. One of greatest lessons

I’m learning (amazingly enough) is

how to love. Being married has

shown me that my love is no where

near 1 Corinthians 13 love. Love

that is patient and kind and keeps

no record of wrong. Learning how 

to love in this way is hard, but it is

the way that God love us. So in

short, Armando and I are learning 

how to love, how to forgive and how 

to build each other up. We are so

excited for the upcoming chapters

and we are happy to be sharing 

them with you!

Married life so far

Mr and Mrs. Sanchez! My Dad and I Our ceremony

Franchesca’s Monthly Newsletter

CRU@FIU  FEBRUARY & MARCH

To give go to my ministry @ FIU:  www.give.ccci.org/give/0617539 email: franchesca.melendez@cru.org 

My wedding day was crazy, but every 

 bit of it was amazing and definitely 

memorable. Thinking back on that day,

I’m amazed at what awesome friends

and family we have. So many people

 went out of their way to help us with

our wedding. Friends offered up their

talents to us as gifts, such as playing 

 violin at the ceremony or DJ-ing the

reception. I’m grateful for Armando’s

groomsmen who wiped down all the

ceremony chairs when it rained 10minutes before the ceremony. And I’m

grateful for my bridesmaids not telling 

me that it was raining so I wouldn’t

freak out. We had friends and family 

travel thousands of miles just to be

there and celebrate with us. Our

 wedding reminded us that we are truly 

 blessed.

7/28/2019 February/March 2013 FIU Update

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“You are the light of the world...let yourlight shine beforeothers...”

This year was my second year at Big 

Break in Panama City Beach, Florida.

My staff team and 8 students from FIUtook the 12 hour drive to spend a week

on the beach sharing our faith with

college spring breakers. As we walked

out on the beach the first day I was

taken back by what I saw. I knew that

students would be partying and getting 

drunk on the beach, but I didn’t realize

how heart breaking it would be to

 watch. So many college students that

 week stumbled about the beach drunk

and trying to forget their problems.

College guys were throwing themselves

at college girls and vis versa. In spite of 

all the craziness we were able to

approach these spring breakers and

engage them in pretty deep

conversation. Using a picture survey 

tool called Solarium, I had the

opportunity to talk to a young lady 

named Shelby. As we got to talking she

admitted that she had been ignoring 

God and that she really needed to start

paying attention to him, but it didn’t

seem possible. It broke my heart

talking to Shelby because she was so

 broken and so thirsty for God, but

 wasn’t ready to trust him. My prayer is

that one day soon she would realize

how much God loves her and that she

 would run to him. I had many 

memorable conversations that week

and I can’t go into detail on all of them

here. However, I would like to invite

 you to pray for Justin who is searching 

for truth and hungry for answers.

Please pray also for Michelle who is

skeptical about everything and has

 been hurt by people in the church. Pray 

that her heart would be healed and she

 would know Jesus. All in all, it was a 

powerful week. Over 100 college

students made a decision to follow 

Christ and over 1000 people got to hear

the gospel! I truly rejoice in that. Jesus

spoke about there being joy in heaven

 when even just one repents. Imagine

how much rejoicing there is in heaven

 when over 100 repent and turn to

Jesus. And who knows how many out of 

the 1000 who will eventually give their

lives to Christ. I invite you to rejoice

 with me!

READ WHAT FIU STUDENTS LEARNED @ BIG BREAK

BIG BREAK

To give go to my ministry @ FIU:  www.give.ccci.org/give/0617539 email: franchesca.melendez@cru.org 

LunaGod showed me that as long as I am following him I am not going to fail him. It's not about how 

people respond but about me trying to follow him. He also showed me that it isn't necessary for me

to do always do something. He might use other people and sometimes he wants me to listen

Mark  What I learned was really listening to people. Not trying to come up with something 

to talk about while they are talking. Really listening to their stories and their lives.

BiancaInstead of just looking at them as drunkards who are wasting their lives, I realized that we were

attempting to save these people . If we don't tell them about Jesus how will they know him.

Seeing our students step out in

faith was so encouraging! Students

are realizing the beauty and power 

of the gospel in their lives andsharing it with others.

FIU girls sharing their faith on the

beach. This particular conversation

lasted 45 minutes and at the end the

young woman they were speaking to

 put her faith in Christ.