Spring break is typically the time that college students use to chill out, party, or just disengage from everything they've been involved with at school in general.

I did the exact opposite: I spent my entire week of spring break in Denton, Texas with a group of friends from my community of Jesus followers at Western Washington University.

Through all of the highlights and difficulties of the trip, I came back to my campus oddly refreshed and energized. At first, that didn't make sense to me: wouldn't I have felt more energized getting to sleep in my own bed, chilling at home, and distancing myself from college life for a bit? But oddly enough, God showed me just how engaging and crucial it is to put myself out there when it comes to evangelism.

While I was on the trip, my duty was to meet students and show them God's Love for them. As well as to connect them with a community of Jesus followers across Texas college campuses whenever they desired to meet up with more Christians. After doing that for a week, I began to realize that, while conversational evangelism isn't easy, it is something any follower of Jesus can do.

When I returned to campus, I was taken pretty aback by just how much potential to love and serve people the Jesus way there truly was.

The defining factor in this: it's springtime!

Strategically thinking: the sun is out, people are chilling in red square and outside all over campus. This is the prime time to grab a buddy, pray, and plan conversation questions and ideas and to go out with a heart for loving and serving others.

That can seem kind of scary and it's far from easy. But, when embarking on conversational evangelism, I found that what I was most scared of wasn't tough questions people would ask about Jesus or the Bible: I was afraid people would say "no."

I think that's a valid concern, especially at Western. Where people can be totally into talking about spirituality and faith, but when Christianity is the topic of discussion, that can bring up a lot of past hurt and conflict for others, students, and faculty alike.

The one piece of advice I can give is that after a full week of non-stop evangelism over spring break: you won't even remember the "nos" you get, you will only remember the "yeses."

Out of all the different times I tried to initiate conversation with university students in Texas, I got probably dozens of people not interested. I'm sure at Western that will be the similar experience. But, we aren't sharing and spreading the love and message of Jesus and his Kingdom so we can feel better: if we wanted to just feel good, we'd sit back, maybe take a nap, or do whatever will selfishly fulfill us.

We have to remember this spring as an opportunity to initiate conversation with students is at its highest it has been all this academic year, that God's mission to save and redeem this world was never about what felt good, and it was never done through the most painless option (just ask Jesus).

But the reward for being bold is this: that we allow God the chance to reach and heal those who need His love and grace the most. To hold that back from anyone just because it makes us uncomfortable is nothing short of selfish.