Ministry for Teams L’Chaim and Lovesick here in Ville Tecci
is being taken to the next level. We did not have much planned ministry during
our first few days here, but many of us were growing tremendously in our
relationships with the Lord. God also has personally grown and challenged me as
a prayer warrior and blessed me with opportunities to connect with the children
of our host families in the time that we have been here. We have also been
challenged to rely more on the Lord than ourselves; now, as we continue to grow
in the Lord, we are learning to rise up as leaders and take responsibility for
pursuing ministry opportunities rather than just letting them be provided for
or given to us. A few days ago, I felt the Lord put it on my heart to try
door-to-door evangelism. That clearly has to be a directive from the Lord for
me, because anyone who knows me knows that this approach to evangelism has
freaked me out for years. My approach has been summed up in a statement made by
St. Francis of Assisi: “Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use
words.� I still believe strongly in this idea, having several stories to prove
its validity and largely having to operate by it when the verbal language
barrier is impenetrable. However, I decided to take on the challenge of trying
something new and joined a few of my teammates and one of our hosts in walking
the streets of the village and visiting with a few of the residents yesterday.
This proved to be a blessing experience all around, because we were able to
encourage the people that we talked to as well as connecting with and learning
some about the community, which was a blessing to us. We also got to see some farm
animals, eat some fresh-picked sour green apples, and play with a puppy along
the way!
When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a
child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish
things. — 1 Corinthians 13:11
