I want to share with you a major part of what you might technically call my “job” as a missionary, but really is so much more than that to me.
As a team, the six of us are here to support the current group of students and staff that make up Vida Estudiantil (Campus Crusade for Christ or Cru). Simply put, our presence here allows us to be committed to reaching more students at UASD for Christ, equipping students to do the same, and proving resources and an environment where they can grow in their faith.
Something that I have found particularly rewarding is my time with my disciples, three girls that I meet with weekly that are seeking a deeper relationship with the Lord and how to follow him. Together, we are all learning practical ways that we can understand God’s will for our lives through various materials.
With two of the girls, we are studying 
apologetics (rational basis for the Christian faith, click link to find articles on this topic) which is helping us realize the importance of understanding what we believe and how to communicate that clearly to others. One of them is also reading Beth Moore’s So Long Insecurity after I read it as recommended by one of my supporters back home. We are hoping to get a hold of a Spanish copy so the other can read it too!
With the third girl, we are reading a book called Taking Every Thought Captive by Jerusha Clark. As we read, she and I have been made aware of the lies that we have been deceived by about our worth, relationships with others, and our God. It’s been exciting that as I share what I am learning, she is vulnerable with me and is allowing the Lord to help her have a healthier thought life.
God has been teaching me what it means to really invest in these girls’ lives. I want each of them them, as well as any student in our ministry, to know God deeply and be equipped to bring others into a meaningful relationship with Him too. A verse that helped me understand how to do that better is 1 Thessalonians 2:8:
We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.
Just as Jesus demonstrated the significance of “doing life” with his twelve disciples, Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians tells us that sharing every day life moments with them was a crucial (and enjoyable!) part of his ministry.
It has been such a cool thing to see how the girls God has given me to care for are opening up more and more as we share normal experiences like going grocery shopping, eating lunch together, visiting each others’ homes, discussing our family trees, even cleaning together! Every meeting with them doesn’t have to consist of a huge spiritual revelation. I will never be able to love them fully if all I am seeking is to force spiritual growth on them. But building friendships filled with fun, silliness, sharing of burdens, intentional conversations, and prayer will help me better understand how to serve them and draw them nearer to God.
You don’t have to be a missionary to invest in other people’s lives. God has given each of you people in your sphere of influence with whom you can reveal his love by simply sharing life with them. My prayer is that all of us would be able to love these people genuinely, not seeing them as some sort of project that could benefit from our time and expertise, but waiting on the Lord to show us how to point them to Him as we place ourselves in their lives.
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