Where to Begin? - James S

It seems like it was only yesterday when I first started thinking about going on this mission trip, but I'm so grateful it's finally here. Ellen's previous post has most of the flight/travel related things I was going to put down, so I'll talk about the training we are receiving here with REAP South.

As Ellen said we are focusing on storying and how to be effective, which is what our teams from FBCWP have been doing, so I was very happy that we weren't getting any mixed or conflicting training. The main message I've recieved about storying is that you have to relate it to people's lives or things they deeply know about or their experiences. I was actually amazed when we were told that most, if not all, of the people in the villages will believe every single word we say and know it's true (to some extent) but that because they don't see how it's applicable to their personal lives or because it's not presented in a memorable way, it falls on deaf ears.

But then they explained that this is how it's always been done. In Jesus' life when he's talking to farmers or field workers, he talks to them in analogies of the field. Jesus constantly used examples of people's daily lives to teach His message. We have to do the same, or the people don't think it matters to them specifically.

The training has been extremely beneficial, and I'm very excited to see how I'll get to use it in Huacane and Conima. Furthermore, my Spanish is definitely improving; it's really coming back to me from high school, and I can tell the Holy Spirit is really working in me in that area.

I think that's all for now, but please keep praying for us!

Oh, I want to make a special thank you to Pastor Kyle for preaching on Ephesians 6 right before this trip. The passage about the armor of God will DEFINITELY be one I look over daily here, and I seriously think God had a part in allowing that to be preached right before we left.

Until next post, God Bless!