It feels like a shock to wake up this morning and know that I only have 11 more days until I depart from home and set out on another gap year journey. The summer has been both sweet and hard as I have come against some unexpected internal struggles but have been able to cherish friendships and time with family. This coming year has only felt like a thought in my head until 4 days ago.
4 days ago I got the privilege of going to Gainseville, Georgia, where Adventures in Missions and the World Race is based. The reason for going was to reunite with my latest squad, X squad. We reunited after a summer apart following the 9 months consistently together. It felt right to connect in person again. We spent a lot of time hanging out and worshipping together. By these things alone the Lord refreshed my spirit in a way that I didn’t know I was longing for. Praise God. I got to remember how beautiful it is that I get the honor of discipling and get to be the firsthand witness to God moving in other’s lives in power. In this way I am all the more excited to get to do this again!
In the past few weeks I have been pondering a story that is a great example of what I will be doing in the next year.
While in Thailand with X squad, my team had a ministry that we were a part of but this particular ministry only needed us approximately 3 times. This is life. We aren’t always needed, but we can find the places in which God is moving or where we can offer help. On a particular day in December, my team woke up, shared in a bible study, and hit the streets to share the good news of Jesus. Now to be frank, evangelism is not my strongsuit, but this is what I felt the Lord was asking us to do. We started by praying as a team, and as we received things from the Lord in prayer, we split up into 2 groups based on where the Lord was asking us to go. I went with 2 of my girls to a local park. At this park we found both locals and tourists hanging out on their own picnic blankets. I came in with the thought of, “Everyone needs to know Jesus, so we could talk to literally anyone”. The 3 of us smiled and said hello to a few Thai girls whom we were passing. They caught my interest, so we started a conversation with them. As the small talk amongst the broken English died down, I asked the question, “Do you know Jesus?” I am sure that they were shocked and maybe confused about the question, but at the same time they were extremely intrigued. The Thai girls ended up inviting us to sit and talk on their picnic blanket and even offered us the snacks they were sharing with each other. I was touched by the act of hospitality. The girls told us they were students on break from the school day. We connected with them about their lives where they shared that they come from Buddhist families. I was neither shocked nor surprised as that is the cultural religion of Thailand. What I WAS shocked and excited about, though, were the questions to follow which they asked about christianity. The girls shared what they were taught growing up, but felt so hopeless about the Buddhist message that they asked us about what we believe. They shared that their religion is extremely works based in order to receive anything good, but we got to share with them the hope, truth, and love of Jesus. As I would get excited in the conversation, I would get ahead of myself and almost overshare when we weren’t in that point in the conversation yet. My girls who I was ministering with would stop me, and I got to trust their judgement in that. Toward the end of the conversation, one of the the Thai girls said that she wanted to become a Christian but since she was still living at home, she had to honor her parents and stay in the Buddhist practices. We shared a little more of what the Lord had placed on our hearts, took a picture together and parted ways. Almost the whole interaction was done through google translate, a gift from God. Each of us felt encouraged at how the Lord was moving. For us, it wasn’t about converting those girls, but it was about truly seeing them and sharing the hope and love we have in Jesus. I also left the conversation with a new realization that what I believe is truly so special.
It is not every day that I have precious gospel conversations like this one on the race, but when we put ourselves out where the Lord is asking us to go opportunities arise. Yes, I am going out to share these things with people around the world, but I think this story is also a good example of what it looks like to be out WITH those I get to disciple. I got to both show them how to listen to the Lord and obey while also giving them the opportunity to do so. As they were being convicted, I got to show them that I trust that. We carried each other and depended on each other’s various strong suits within the conversation. It is not just disciple-er to disciple-ee, but it is also a give and take in partnership for the Kingdom of God.
All my love,
Sadie Show.
