Mahala Souza

Ministry Focus

Mahala was approved as a Missionary Candidate with Missions Door in August 2023 to serve with Campus Ambassadors at Oregon State University. She experienced what it's like to feel lost in college and what it means to have strong Christian peers walk alongside her, showing the love of Christ through their words and actions. Mahala's focus is to establish Christian community on campus where students can feel safe to come ask questions, learn who Christ is, grow in relationship with Christ, and be built up as disciples of Jesus making His name known! Her hope is that students who come to know Christ will go into the church and experience the community as the body and Christ as the head.

Mahala loves the outdoors and partaking in activities ranging from hiking in the mountains to playing sand volleyball. She also enjoys a game/movie night with friends! On her own she enjoys painting or reading with a show going in the background.

Faith Story

Mahala was raised in a Christian home which split around middle school. From then on she struggled with balancing the identity of a Christian and an identity rooted in the world. Starting college and this new found freedom to choose for herself, she decided she didn't want or need God and that the world was more appealing. As time went on she became more anxious and depressed and continued to turn to the world to medicate this spiral. She became suicidal and felt death was the only escape from the shame she felt, which lead to her roommate reaching out to Mahala's mom for help. Her mom got in contact with her the following day and Mahala revealed the lifestyle she adopted and waited in shame for her mom's disappointed response. To her surprise, she remembered her mom saying “Mahala, I’m sad that you think anything you could do would make me love you less”. She saw God in those words and His unconditional love for us. From that point on Mahala slowly began to seek out God and turn away from her worldly identity. Throughout college She had strong Christian students walking alongside her, showing grace and patience, raising her up in the ways of a follower of Christ and bringing her to be a Young Life leader for other college students. Two years after graduating college and figuring out life, college ministry continued to be a desire in her heart. After praying about what that would look like to pursue, God opened the door to Campus Ambassadors at Oregon State University! Now she gets to walk alongside other students who feel lost like she did and point them to the one who saves and transforms!

Education

Mahala obtained her B.S. in Psychology at Oregon State University and is currently working on her MA in Christian Leadership online through Grand Canyon University.