Blog Post 03/05

Hey guys! I hope all is well, our squad just got to Eswatini (Swaziland)!!! It was quite the trip, It took us about 3 days, we left early Thursday morning and arrived later saturday  night. Though, it really wasn’t too bad. The only thing we really had happen was we almost missed our connecting flight in Newark😂 But we got there just in time haha, praise God.

personal relationship with Christ: Already, I have felt that there is a pretty strong spiritual presence here. Honestly, I enjoy being vulnerable with y’all about the ups and downs of this longer lengthed mission trip, and one of those downs is that sometimes the enemies use it to inflate things we’re already struggling with. With that being said, already in the last 24 hours of being here, my mental state has been hurting a lot. I can’t even pinpoint exactly what’s causing it, but i’ve just felt really down and depressed, my insecurities have been inflamed, and i’ve even questioned my necessity of being here. However, because of the promises the Lord has given us, i know that the enemy has zero authority in my heart, and i’ve brought all these struggles to God. Sometimes He helps the tension in my chest go away, but other times He just lets me know that He’s with me. That can be either through feelings, scripture, or through the people around me. Without even knowing it, they cheer me up daily. Also, I just finished reading a story called “Bruchko” by Bruce Olsen and that was an insane testimony of the way the Lord provides and answers prayers. Just reading that story alone encouraged me so much in my confidence in the Lord and just more proof of His goodness and faithfulness. WOW, i can’t get over how good God is and how good that book was. i recommend it 10000%. If you like action and you love God, this is the book for you. There is such power in testimonies.

biblical knowledge: Speaking of books i’ve read, overall something that I’ve learned has been the history and necessity of missions from the bible and world history since then as well. They have helped me see more of the calling that we have from the Lord to reach all the Nations. I’ve learned that when Jesus was on the earth, His mission was more to bring all the people of that area to Himself. To teach them more about their salvation and to be the sacrifice that set us free. Then after the crucifixion, Paul became more of a missionary (apostle) and church planter, and his mission was outwardly focused and was set out and called to reach all the nations. Jesus always talked about all the nations and all the people. Paul carried it out, and for the rest of time, it is now our calling as the body of Christ to carry out the mission of reaching all the people of the earth. Now, God is not so subtle about ways He sets us up to do what He has asked of us. There’s opportunity to share the love of Jesus daily. Whether it’s at the grocery store, someone on the street, or your taxi driver, there’s endless amounts of people that need to know how much they’re loved. And this isn’t limited to missions overseas, there’s just as many people in our own backyards.

biblical worldview: One of the books I’ve read since being on the race was about different cultures and the importance of contextualizing the gospel in order to evangelize effectively in different parts of the world. I’m still learning about the local culture of Eswatini, but in the Dominican Republic, especially in the part we were in and working with Haitians specifically, there was a culture more focused on spiritual forces and power. Therefore, when we would share the gospel with people, it was not as useful to focus on the parts about being “slaves to sin” or “set free” or the “chains being broken”- which are common phrases used in Western theology. More so, we would focus on saying that the “evil forces” have the reign in our lives because of the fall, and that the Lord is good can take the reigns if we allow Him and accept Him into our lives. It’s all the same gospel, from the same bible, but because we have different cultures, values, and lifestyles, there are just different parts of the bible that are more specific towards us. He wrote it for everyone so of course He’d want us all to understand!!

ministry application: Overall, throughout the race i have really enjoyed ministry, but especially in the last couple months I have loved the ministry we’ve done. A few times during house visits, I had the opportunity to share some parts of my testimony that were able to show that God is present even in some of the darker times of our life. Although, it’s not always the easiest to share with people or to find ways to bring up scripture in conversation. In house visits specifically, i’ve had a lot of struggles. Cross-culturally speaking, it can be hard as people from the States to go into homes of people here and in the DR and try to constantly try to compare our own struggles with others all the time. Yes, i believe there are times when light can be shown through the power of testimony which is incredible, but a lot of the time, it isn’t always appreciated by locals. Or also in that, we have a habit of wanting to just pull out as much scripture as we can when they confide in us their struggles, but again, I haven’t found that just listing off every applicable bibles verse is always the most helpful. Honestly, what has always been the best way to develop relationships, has been to be genuinely relational. Getting to know them and their life, not just what’s the hardest thing they’re facing, and to know when to discern the right time the holy spirit is guiding us to share testimony of scripture. Oh that’s another thing that has been really helpful when being relational, is the be super prayerful about the conversations and inviting the Holy Spirit to be present and guide the conversation.

servant leadership: In the last 2 months, our team leader has switched from running the team times herself to having each of us run a team time, which has been awesome. We have a list of 5 points we should be hitting like prayer, worship, checkins, feedback, and having fun together. Collectively, we have come up with some pretty creative team times! Myself, i’ve only ran a few since there’s a lot of people to switch through, but one of my favorites that I suggested was when we journaled and wrote love letters or poetry to the Lord. It was just a really sweet moment of adoration and showing our affection for Him. It’s been really cool to see my teammates step into leadership roles each night and guide us in some way.

Alrighty that’s my more literal blog for the month, i love you guys, thanks for reading ❤️

Love,

Lilli <3