Two weeks down, 3 weeks of training camp to go! It’s crazy to look back and realize that somehow, I have survived sleeping in a tent for 2 weeks! This is especially crazy considering that I have only slept in a tent for a full night one time before coming on this trip. Tent life really is not that bad, and honesty, I really have all I need. While it rains I stay dry and when it is cold I have a sleeping bag to snuggle up in. And when I feel lonely, I have lots of friends to go to. Looking back, this week has been so full and crazy that I don’t even really remember what we did on Monday! It has involved many sessions with incredible teachings, squad wars, crazy scenarios, leadership role training, evangelizing and baptisms!
Some of the sessions we had involved learning how to hear God’s voice, practical tools for evangelizing, God’s plan for missions, and many more. One of my favorite sessions was learning about how, from the beginning, God’s plan has always been for redemption for the whole world, not only for the Israelites. Sometimes I think that we are God’s second choice for some reason. That if the Israelites had just followed His plan, He wouldn’t have brought redemption to the whole world. I’m not really sure where this idea comes from, but hearing and seeing evidence of God’s global heart really encouraged me. Another session I enjoyed was the practical tools for evangelism. During this time, the speakers explained how evangelism is really just a fancy word for allowing ourselves to be interruptible every day. Rather than just living life for ourselves and not looking for opportunities to be God’s hands and feet. When we are in tune with the Holy Spirit and listening for His voice, we are able to evangelize even in the mundane. Maybe this looks like just smiling at someone on the road, but it could also look like getting a meal for a homeless person and sitting with them, listening to what they have to say. It doesn’t have to be big and intimidating, but simple obediences that can have a huge impact.
I am so thankful for all the tips they gave us because on Friday, they sent us out very unexpectedly to go evangelize. The area of Gainesville they sent us to was a part called Little Mexico. As you can imagine from the name, it is a very hispanic area where some of the people don’t even talk English. To begin with, I wan’t very excited to go, but once I found out that I could use my Spanish, and also get some horchata, one of my favorite Mexican drinks, I was excited to go. When we got there, we were looking for places to go and landed on a quinceanera store. We walked in and were bombarded with so many dresses. But there were also some kids there who clearly were family members of the owner. We ended up playing with the kids for a while. And as much as I loved playing with the kids, I just felt like we could be doing more, and felt a little awkward, I wanted to go do more. But we just kept playing with the kids. Towards the end of our time, I asked if there was anything we could pray for, and we were able to pray over the owner as she was having trouble recovering from a surgery. Honestly, we didn’t see much fruit and I am a little discouraged from this experience, but am also excited to go back out sometime and try again.
Throughout this week, we also had multiple scenarios that we participated in. One of them was a marketplace setup where we had to go in and get dinner amongst the chaos and all the “locals” and “tourists” (staff members). It was so chaotic and all I could think about was getting our food. I didn’t really even think about ministering to any of the people, many who looked like they really needed Jesus. I was so goal oriented and uninterruptible that I didn’t even stop and look at people. This really convicted me and showed just how selfish I am, how much I long to fulfill my momentary needs when I could be providing an opportunity for eternity in heaven for someone else. This may partially be because of the culture I, and most of us, grew up in, looking down on the poor and homeless and not really thinking they are worth anything. But I also think it is because I have put myself higher than them and think that I deserve to have my needs met and they, for some reason don’t. The Lord has showed me how selfish I am and I desire to be more generous and interruptible as I continue on this race. The other scenario we had was sleeping in an underground church (part of the training center) and riding in vans to get there. We just had to bring stuff for one night, but many of us just decided to leave our sleeping pads inflated so we wouldn’t have to pump them up again. That was a bad idea because we ended up having to fit 35 people into two 15-passenger vans bags along with all our inflated sleeping pads. It didn’t work out that well, but we made it to the church and we had a good night!
Another big thing that happened this week is that we all received our leadership roles. So within our squad, there are teams and each team member has a different role. The roles are hospitality, worship, storytelling, beauty for ashes ( a women’s ministry), and treasurer. There is also a larger leadership role called logistics, which plans all the travel days and also debriefs. Honestly, I was open to receiving any role, but was glad when I got the role of treasurer and logistics. In these roles, I will be managing the money for my team, keeping track of it and making sure we are using it wisely. On the logistics side of things, I will work with two other squad members to plan out our travel days, transportation to hosts, and also lodging for our debriefs. These roles bring a lot of new responsibilities, but I am so excited for the Lord to stretch me and grow my leadership abilities.
One of the biggest things from this week was that I got baptized! They presented this opportunity to us on Wednesday, and as soon as I heard we could get baptized, I knew I wanted to do it! Although I was baptized as a baby and did profession of faith in 5th grade, it’s been a long time since I recommitted my life to God. He has worked so much in my life since I was 12 and I wanted to celebrate that and remind myself of the commitment that I have already made Him. Being baptized was so refreshing and filled me with a new spirit. Although I do not feel completely transformed, I know the Lord is working in me.
Prayer Requests:
- Guidance and discernment as I step into a new role of leadership for logistics and treasury
- That I would not get distracted by worldly things but stay fully focused on God, not letting anything distract me
- For the teams that have already left for their trips, that they would have safe travels
- Rest and strength. Although I am sleeping good at night, I still feel tired all the time and have a small cold, which really takes away my energy
If you have any questions you would like me to answer, please leave them in the comments and I will try to respond to you as quickly as possible.
