Hello!
To be totally honest, I’ve had such a hard time writing blogs while on the field. There is so much happening it’s hard to keep up, even day by day. My mind is going a million miles a minute and even when I write, it’s hard to capture all these little moments that make up days, weeks, and months. Thankful for my teammate, Gracie because she has been capturing more through vlogs which gives a different glimpse than when I write. I encourage you all to go check out her Youtube Channel, linked below. 🙂
Evangelism can be such an intimating word. Before the race this word brought fear and was a very foreign concept to my life. Before the race it wan’t something I ever felt capable of. Me sharing the gospel with someone always ended with saying something wrong and turning them away from God but something I’ve been learning is, it is all a victory in the eyes of the Lord.
When our leadership told us that for our first two weeks of ministry we were going to be evangelizing to tourists on Pub Street, my heart stopped. I had so much fear of rejection and I didn’t let God into that space to be my comforter. Throughout our whole training God stretched me and my whole team, more than any of us wanted. Everyday we were going out with our hearts pounding as we shared the gospel with the people around us.
The results we got made all the initial fear worth it.
In Battambang I was prophesied over that I had a spiritual gift of Evangelism. Knowing this definitely gave me more confidence in God and a new found excitement that I could do this, but I still was filled with doubt, letting the evil one tell me lies.
The first two days I would go out and doubt the voice in my head, but I so desperately wanted to hear from him that I would call out to him and ask him to show me what to do and where to go.
Every single day God has called me to “Cafe Ministry” and everyday I would doubt if it was me wanting to go sit and order a coffee instead of evangelize.
As the week went on, I realized that, yes it was God speaking to me and I realized how great Cafe Ministry is because 9 out of 10 times people will be there for awhile which means they have time to talk verses walking throughout the streets trying to talk to people. This directly correlates to God’s timing. Even though he is outside of time, he comes down to human time when he is teaching us something, giving us the next stepping block when we’re ready. That is how God taught me evangelism. He first introduced the idea by giving a space where I can go, sit and talk. Taking my time, sharing the gospel; God knowing I wasn’t ready for a five minute Gospel conversation with strangers on the streets of Siem Reap.
So, everyday I would walk around and everyday, God brought me to a Cafe with a person in mind. Once I stopped doubting I realized how strong of a voice God had and when I let him in, he had so much to say. Since then I’ve been learning an tremendous amount of what it looks to sit in the presence of the Lord.
On the second day, God brought my teammate, Kirsten and I to a woman, sitting at a cafe table. As I sat there contemplating how I was going to introduce myself to her, the Holy Spirit spoke too me and said, “This one is for Kirstin”. This took me by surprise as I was completely ready to do it myself. I opened the notes in my phone and I texted it to her and we texted back and forth as I coached her through what to do. I realized in that moment that when my Squad Leader, Luis, gave me the feedback that I had a spiritual gift of evangelism he also said to invite my teammates along with me when I go evangelize. God was showing me what that looked like in that moment. I am so glad God spoke to me so clearly that day because Kirsten shared the gospel so beautifully to this woman, better than I could have ever done. I remember sitting there, smiling at Kirsten and filled with so much joy because Kirsten was KILLIN it. When we walk in obedience with the Lord there are incredible results we get to witness and for me right there, it was this woman, getting to pour into her, cry with her and pray for her.
The next day it happened again. I was with my another teammate, Jaynna. We were walking around Pub Street and of course we ended up at a Cafe. You should know that whenever we go to a Cafe we buy something to eat or drink while we are there because it is rude not to. I got sorbet ice-cream and we headed upstairs, as we sat with this new woman, I sat there licking my ice-cream while Jaynna shared the gospel with this woman. I started talking to God and I said, “God should I be doing more right now?”. He replied, “No, she’s got it”. I contently said, “Okay” and continued to lick my ice cream while listening to their conversation, adding here and there.
God has really been showing me what it looks like to take a step back and let others lead even when I can. To bring them into my strengths and teach them to a point where it becomes their strength too. That is the whole meaning behind our team name; Grafted. At training camp it was very evident that we were all very different people with different gifts but together we are unified as sisters in Christ. We researched and came across grafting because we are like a tree grafted together becoming one, unifying our spiritual gifts just like the body of Christ. During our first week of evangelism it was so rewarding to see our name walked out. Thank you God for that.
Like I explained in my last blog, our ministry for the rest of our time in Cambodia is very relaxed, giving us freedom to run with visions of different ministries we want to create.
This past week I had the overarching goal to make evangelism natural. Sometimes when it’s scheduled it can be harder. I’ve been going out every afternoon with the intention to evangelize but to let it come with ease. Mostly, my teammates and I go to a different cafe everyday, sitting down and waiting for God to tell us who he wants us to talk to.
The other day my teammate and I were exhausted both saying we didn’t have the energy today to evangelize like we had been doing in the past. We were the only ones in the Cafe when a quiet and shy European girl walked in. God brought us this girl, on that specific day because we were able to talk to her in a calm and loving way. It was a cool moment to be sitting with this girl and the Holy Spirit revealing all of this to me. God will use us in every situation if we are willing and obedient.
Still learning what it looks like to always have a kingdom mindset. I’ve definitely grown with profusion these past two months and embracing my spiritual gift of evangelism but the end goal is to always remember, wherever I am, that I am on the missions field. (My squad leader, Luis wrote a blog on this if you want to go check it out and hear his perspective, trust me, you’ll want too – LuisLam.theworldrace.org)
Gracie’s latest vid, on her youtube channel:
FUNDRAISER UPDATE: ADOPT A MONTH!
SEPTEMBER (TAKEN!!! YAYAYA!!!!!)
OCTOBER (TAKEN!!!!! WAAHOOOOOO)
NOVEMBER (TAKENNNNNN!!!)
DECEMBER
JANUARY
FEBRUARY
MARCH
APRIL
MAY
JUNE (may or may not be needed, depends what day I get home)
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If you would like to adopt a month please email me and I can tell you what months are available and we can choose together what payment option works best. THANK YOU!
Ways YOU can Join me on my Journey:
1. Pray. I will need a multitude of prayers ranging from strength, wisdom, clarity, love, joy… The list goes on. Whatever your heart desires and feels right, pray.
2. Donating through this blog!!! When you donate through here it goes directly to World Race and my fund of 15,800 dollars.
UPDATE: I’M ONLY $300 AWAY FROM BEING FULLY FUNDED!!!!! (please donate directly to me after I meet my world race goal online because I will lose the money to cover my personal/equipment expenses! So once my goal is met with World Race anything donated to World Race for me will go into a general fund to support other racers.)
3. Cash, Check, or Venmo. Donating to me personally is still much needed because I have to buy all my gear, supplies, vaccines, airfare and I will need money on the field. (1. Venmo: Marguerite-SanMartino, 2. check: Marguerite San Martino and send to: 18101 194th Ave NE, Woodinville, Wa 98077, OR to Bear Creek Community Church with a note for me 3. Cash to give to my parents.)
4. SPREAD THE WORD! Tell everyone about my trip and show them my blog.
5. SUBSCRIBE! When you subscribe you will get all notifications when I post on my blog about my trip and any updates!
