From Sessions to Evangelism

The long awaited time of ministry with this family of 40 people has finally come! Training camp that lasted 4 weeks has come to an end! It was a great time of learning in spiritual and mental ways. I have been filled with the spirit in a way unlike anything I have ever experienced, been learning how to continually hear from God, and lean on God for direction instead of my own strength. This last week of training camp was a week full of outreach ministry around Gainesville (which is where our base is).

Monday/Tuesday: On Monday, my team and I went to a local food shelf and had the opportunity to interact with those coming to pick up food. We also had the chance to pray for them if we felt led to while at their car, and a group of us were also in the back packing food onto carts throughout the allotted time. Tuesday, we packed food into boxes for the next pick up opportunity and did some laundry for the food shelf! It was a wonderful opportunity to serve those in need and a very humbling experience knowing that we are all in Gods hands.

Wednesday: We had the opportunity to evangelize at Walmart! This was the first time that I ever had evangelized so it was definitely a learning experience for sure! Going into it I was so excited and ready, but coming out I felt defeated. I was struggling with the awkwardness of going up to someone and saying, “hey, have you heard of Jesus?” I so desperately want every person to have a relationship with the Lord, but it was hard getting the strength to share about Him and start a conversation. So you might be asking, “Alexina, what did you learn from that experience?”  Looking back on this experience, I realize now that I was depending on my strength and knowledge about the Lord. I wasn’t allowing the Lord to work in me and my heart. I am so excited to grow in this area and continuing to learn how to allow God to fully work through me in the moment.

Thursday: My team and I had the amazing opportunity to get up at 6:30 in the morning to cook breakfast burritos for both gap squads and staff which was at 9 am! It was so fun starting out the morning singing Disney and cooking some eggs with these girls whom I love so dearly already!

This past week was full of opportunities to learn how to hear God’s voice and rely on His strength, not my own.

Currently, I am in a van with 14 other girls headed to Fort Myers, Florida! We will be in Florida for this week doing stateside ministry building houses for those who lost their homes last year during the hurricane.  Next Saturday, we will drive back to Georgia, debrief for a week, then launch to Guatemala on October 14th!!

Prayer requests:

• Health for our squad! We have had a broken toe, broken nose, severely sprained ankle, and severely sprained hand… three of the four being within the last four days!
• Open hearts and mind to whatever may happen in Florida this week!
• Prayers that I can continue to learn how to hear Gods voice and follow his direction, not my own.

I hope you are all getting lots of pumpkin spice lattes, fall photos, and finding time to rest! Thank you for all the love and prayers (:

Gap W is so ready for these next eight months!