What happened in Gainesville, GA?

Hey guys, and welcome to my 3-part series on my summer mission trip experience! (May 27th-July 3rd) <3

  I am thankful for this incredible squad and this sharpening experience!

This series will include,

• our time in Gainesville, 
• our time in Costa Rica, and,
• my in depth thoughts.

Thank you for reading, for praying and supporting me: I’m immensely thankful! 

Here’s the story //

Training camp was almost over,

in which we (leadership and squad) had received training, some got baptized when we went to a lake, and our vision statement was: To be rooted and grounded in Jesus. My mentor, co-leader and I knew that we wanted to study the book of Ephesians as a squad! 

On our last day of training camp, we found out that our flight to Costa Rica was cancelled. 

// Ministry in Gainesville 

So, instead of leaving on a Friday, we would stay in Gainesville, GA for the next  3 days. We were able to wrestle with the unexpected, and pray into what ministry could look like in Gainesville.

And so, what did it look like?

We had the privilege of meeting and serving the short term missionary leaders and the families before they started their Gainesville-mission trip! We would have just missed them if we had left on that Friday, but thankfully we had the chance to babysit their kids one night, share words of encouragement, worship with them, and even be prayed over by them! 

We prayed into opportunities in the area and we were able to go on prayer walks, evangelize as the Spirit would lead; we even prayed for a local church called “Ebenezer” that we had parked next to without initially realizing it — the cool thing is that we had been talking about Ebenezer’s minutes before we had parked!! I think the Lord was already introducing to many of us the idea of remembering God’s faithfulness in every circumstance! There are many ways that the Lord moved that would be a lot for me to recount, but I pray that my squad is able to share their personal experiences (big and small) where the Lord spoke to them, they listened, and they walked through those open doors to represent Jesus. 

I had volunteered with my friend a few months before this trip at a ministry in Gainesville where I briefly met a gal named Edith and she invited me to her church. Months later, on a Saturday morning when my co-leader and I were praying into a church our squad could attend, I felt like the Lord really highlighted her church to me!! Before we knew it, we were dressed and stepping foot into their church and it was one of the sweetest gifts from having stayed in Gainesville. Many in our squad understood in their spirit that it was TRULY in God’s plans that we stayed in Gainesville and not having been in Costa Rica just yet.

Church name? The Tribe (La Tribu), a bilingual church whom we love: they met us with such kindness, and care, in which later that Sunday, they invited us to eat burgers at Edith’s birthday party!!! How sweet is that?! We then played a passionate game of soccer, and I knew that I’d personally be wanting to visit these awesome brother’s and sister’s soon! 

We can choose to see the beauty // the hand of God in every circumstance, in which I can say: we were blessed to blessed and to have been of blessing to those we encountered in Gainesville.

Until next time, “What happened in Costa Rica?” and with much love, 

J

For those who would like to read this, hiiii there friends!!

I’ve been learning more these past months (since January) on what kind of child of God and woman of God in leadership roles I want to be, and I know that I value healthy vulnerability in which I’m letting people see that those in leadership roles are humans, and have been chosen to uphold a role that is for the glory of God, and not themselves. And so, I pray that being open in this way can only bless and bring perspective to those who need it. I pray that me sharing only brings glory to Him, and allows you to also analyze yourself!

• What was the hardest part about squad leading? (what part of you did it challenge)

The hardest part was the navigating of many ”hats” / roles.

I knew that my Spanish would be needed, and so, as (us leaders) navigated 

• finances, 
• logistics, 
• squad leading, 
• team leading, 
• and communicating with our host,

and with the various goals (to have one-on-one’s, the sharing of testimonies, and squad bible study goals,)

I knew that delegating was vital, but also hard with the timing of unexpected situations that would come up. 

• What was the best part of squad leading & what does this tell you about your calling or passion in life?

I think the best part was growing in dependence and through the testing of my faith, staying rooted – unwavering even when hardship came.

I really enjoyed my squad, in which they were and are such a special group of people who said “yes” to a sharpening trip. There are things they didnt know they would experience, but they pushed through, and they chose holiness even when it was the last thing they felt to do. 

I benefited from coming to the end of me, to hear the instruction of God so clearly with the goals we had for our squad. He led me to raise worship coordinators, bible-study leaders, and others to uphold needed roles for the glory of God and for the good of the body of Christ (us, the squad). 

One of my favorite parts of squad leading was seeing God’s words come to pass in this season. He had spoken during my leadership program that I would be, “empowering people to use their gifts and I would be working behind the scenes.”

There was a lot of working behind the scenes, things that only God and a few will know, and I love that… I love that He is faithful to His word.

1 Samuel 2:30*