Hello! My full name is Christopher, but no one ever calls me that – it’s always Chris. I suppose that is my nickname. Secretly, though, I’ve always thought it would be cool to be called ‘Topher. 

I was born and raised in South Florida, but am currently going to school in Gainesville, FL. But this semester, I’m actually in Philadelphia for an internship until May.

I’m a third-year student at the University of Florida majoring in public relations and minoring in Spanish.

Currently, I’m working full-time at my internship for the Philadelphia Union (MLS soccer team). I’m doing communications for the team, so I’m usually in the office wearing business clothes. I actually like getting relatively dressed up every day – it makes me feel like a grown up. I’m not really making much money from the internship, as it’s mainly for the experience I’ll get from it. Fortunately, I qualified for an academic scholarship at my school, and I haven’t had to pay much, if anything, for my time there, so money I made from working during high school has been sufficient for me.

I really enjoy sports, both playing and watching them, with my favorite being soccer. I’m a huge fan of Law and Order: SVU, and I probably spend a little more time than I should watching it – Detective Stabler is the man. I also really enjoy movies. I’ve been on a pretty big Netflix kick lately, and I think I’m slowly running out of ‘instant view’ movies that rank above 50% on rottentomatoes.com. I’m not a huge reader, but I actually just finished ‘The Hunger Games’ series earlier today, and I really enjoyed it. I’m still kinda’ recovering emotionally. If any of you all have read them, I hope you understand.

I really love cereal. I can be sarcastic sometimes, but I am working on more appropriate timing for it. Some things about me that differ from a lot of guys my age, I imagine: I drive a Prius, I enjoy musicals, and I watch “Glee.” I get made fun of for that sometimes, but I don’t mind. I really enjoy spending time with and investing in children. My pet peeve is when a girl refuses to walk through a door a guy has opened for her, or take his seat he offered. I have studied Spanish since high school, and speak it pretty well, although I’m not fluent by any means. Living in South Florida provides you with a lot of opportunities to practice, too. Plus, my brother’s wife is from Colombia, and aside from her, none of her family speaks English. She reminds me a lot of Gloria from “Modern Family.”

I’ve been on a few mission trips before. New York, Bolivia and Belle Glade. All three were short-term missions with my church at home.

I’m really looking forward to Nicaragua. I think staying there for an extended time will be an awesome experience, as I’ve only been on short-term missions before. I’m pumped to speak, practice and learn Spanish more, too, and see and understand another culture. Mainly, I’m excited about being in a situation where a lot of normal comforts won’t be available, reaching out to people, helping show them Christ, and seeing Him better myself in the process. I can feel pretty unconfident in myself sometimes, so I think I’m nervous about getting down on myself for whatever reason at some point, and having that negatively effect what we’re doing. Nervous, but at the same time confident in what God will do.

I’m excited to meet and connect with everyone, too! Really glad we have a blog to start the process of getting to know each other.