Greetings from Cúcuta! Our team focus this week is stepping out in faith, and the last 24 hours has given us plenty of opportunities to do just that. Though we are all called to make disciples, many of us are much more comfortable avoiding people we don’t know and avoiding topics that we worry might make conversations awkward. We find 100 excuses not to bring up our faith forgetting that it’s the Holy Spirit who has the power to move hearts, not our rhetorical skills. Our students faced those fears today as we headed around the city to invite people to the church we are partnering with.
We went out with church members to a park near one of the popular malls and began connecting with everyone we could. We had fliers with directions to the restaurant where the church meets, and everyone was challenged to give out at least one by this morning. I could see the nervousness in many of the students and I felt it myself. How does one begin a conversation with someone you’ve just met in the park? But the more we interacted with our neighbors, the more exciting it became. Sure, some people weren’t interested, but most were pleasantly surprised to be greeted with a smile and asked for their name. Some gave us their phone numbers so that we could stay in contact about the other outreach events we are doing later this week. Our neighbors were blessed to be acknowledged as someone worth stopping to talk with, and listened attentively as we shared who we were there representing. Mapis, one of our 11th grade students, had this to say about her experience stepping out of her social comfort zone for Jesus:
“Getting to smile to strangers and seeing their interest in God was amazing. I got to talk with a woman called Marina. She was really thankful when we told her about the church and what we do. Her heart was softened, and our hearts as well. She was so thankful for what we said. She even asked us to pray for her and her family. Her desire to know more about God and get closer to him surprised me, and touched my heart. Not everyone will listen to us, but when they do, we are as grateful as them.”
It is beautiful to see the fruit that getting involved in missions bears in the hearts of our students as well as the communities we are entering. We had brought instruments and volleyball nets to the park, so while part of our group started up a game with anyone who would join, the rest of us sang worship songs and bought empanadas for everyone nearby. After getting over their shock at being offered a free empanada, several teenagers and an ice cream vendor listened to Sam Killins preach the gospel through the story of Stephen and Paul in the book of Acts. I doubt I was the only one inspired by his example of boldly and creatively proclaiming God’s Word to those he had just met. What if we were all that ready with a Bible verse and fierce conviction to share with others the exciting love that belongs to us in Christ? I expect that there would be far fewer lonely people in the world.
One of the highlights of church this morning was seeing a man and woman we had invited last evening ride their motorcycle across town to attend the service. Even if no one had shown up from last night’s outreach, the conversations would have been worth it, but it was extra special to get to see God nurturing the seeds He had planted the night before. The couple worshiped with us, saw our students preach extemporaneously from Scripture, and in a special surprise, experienced a proposal between two members of the church in front of the whole congregation! I can’t think of a better witness for the family of Christ then getting to see it rejoicing with one another. Let’s let John 13:35 be true of our Christian communities and be famous for how well we love one another!
– Bethany Litteral
