Hola!
My squad has officially arrived in Santiago, Chile, and my team is loving it! Leaving Ukraine was incredibly hard for us because of the wonderful relationships we made there. However, after many layovers and long flights, the warm Chilean weather and gorgeous mountains filled us with pure elation for the upcoming two months. When we arrived, we drove straight to LDW (Leadership Development Weekend) which was a wonderful time of fellowship and growth for my squad. World Race has provided us with amazing squad leaders to disciple us, and it was so great to hear what the Lord has been doing in everyone’s hearts and stories of how Jesus reached so many Ukrainians. The Lord is walking us all through amazing things. He is digging up the things that are broken and bring redemption to our sin and shame. For me personally, the Lord is teaching me a lot about identity and simply bringing me to a place of silence. Instead of just running my mouth, He has been pressing on my heart to sit. To deal with the things He is taking me through, and also wait for Him transform and bring life to what has been broken or twisted. I’m learning God can handle me. Instead of making my prayers proper and refined before I talk to him, I’ve started to come and place every thought before His feet. The Lord can handle my anger, doubt, and shame. He is God, and He is good. So LDW was a wonderful time of tying up loose ends to what He walked me through in Ukraine and helped me set my focus on what He has for me these next two months in Chile.
My team and I have been placed a few minutes outside the city in a small Church. We are combining with another team from my squad so instead of 6 of us, there is now 12! We’ve been here only 3 days and have already made many friends. Chileans are incredibly friendly, and Spanish is much easier to pick up than the other languages we have encountered. In the mornings, I go with 2 of my other teammates to the school our ministry host works at. He is a chaplain at the school, and we will be teaching English and building relationships with the students there. It is technically a Christian school so we can openly talk about the gospel, but only 10% of the students are Christians. The faculty is phenomenal, and I’m so excited to work towards their vision for the students to know Jesus. The rest of the day is pretty sporadic. Sometimes we will come home and teach English at the church, or other times we will spend time with the youth group. On the weekends, we will be playing sports with the kids and spending time with members from the church. We haven’t been here long, but we have already met so many wonderful people. Honestly, Chileans are always in a good mood- probably because it’s usually sunny and 75 with a nice soft breeze, and not to mention the BEAUTIFUL mountains in the distance. It’s enough to put a smile on anyone’s face!
Thank you all for your continual prayers! My heart is filled with so much joy and worship to the Father for allowing me to serve in such a wonderful place with such amazing people. The other day, the Lord brought to my heart Ephesians 1: 17-23. Especially verses 17-19 that say, “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power towards us who believe, according to the working of his might.” The Lord is allowing massive amounts of awareness in my heart and enlightening my eyes to who He is and who I am. In addition, He is showing me His great power and might as I share and tell people about Him. I’ve always had a tendency to place boundaries and limits (the very things I hate the most) on God, but He has been faithful to show me that His power is able to cover slightest language barrier or the darkest of sins. He is so glorious, and He is taking me to glorious places on this earth and in His heart.
Much love and many thanks!
Jenna Rose
