Last summer, I went to Arizona on a summer mission trip. I posted my newsletters on WordPress before I decided to put everything here on Wix. My summer in Toronto is already up, and I am excited to be reading through last summer's adventures again with you.
SUNDAY, July 9 TO SATURDAY, July 15
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From Original Post
Pickleball Turned Outreach
Or is it outreach in the form of pickleball? Which comes first? I find it often convicting when outreach opportunities surprise me. My goal is to have my life strategized around ministry. I want to go out and live life with other people and strangers with the thought of building relationships that would glorify God in the forefront of my mind. I want to have prepared my heart in prayer to be obedient when I’m in the comforts of my solitude. I desire to share life with other Christians for the sake of giving and receiving encouragement in hopes of only growing closer together to God. Anyways, here’s a cool thing that happened this past week:
I met some girls! They are all sisters – one graduated and the other two still in grade school. They said that their family are believers, but they hadn’t found a church in the area. Lucky for them (really it was definitely a God thing), I just happen to also be a believer who has a church to attend in the area.
A few times a week we play pickleball. This past Thursday night, we drove over to the courts. Since I was the last one to get there, I just volunteered to sit out. We had 5 people, and I was already contemplating not playing that night because I had been so tired. Tyler suggested I go play with other people, and I was hesitant to take that on.
As I was filling up my water bottle, I saw 3 girls playing on the other side of the courts. I decided to get over being stubborn and went back to grab a racket. When I got over to their court, I asked if they would want a fourth, and they seemed really chill.
In conversation (BTW I’m terrible at playing and talking at the same time, so I was really exercising all the multitasking skill I didn’t have), I found out that they had moved from California a couple years ago and that their family went to a church there until political views became a hot topic within that church. Therefore, they had been hesitant to look for a church in Anthem. On the other hand, the older girl I was talking to still tried to develop her relationship with God and said her family continued to make efforts to practice their beliefs.
I got to tell them about my internship with a church planter and being a missionary specifically in Phoenix for the summer. The girls had said they had never met a missionary like me before and were interested in hearing about how things worked. The older girl even expressed interest in wanting to go somewhere to do missions. I was able to tell her about the ministry I was doing with refugees here and how she wouldn’t have to look very far to be able to plug into a community with other believers and share her faith with nonbelievers.
I told them about the sending church and a bit about the steps the church plant has been taking. The girls said that they were open to coming this Sunday to the sending church and talking to their parents about it. Moreover, the older girl actually had asked me for my contact first, so since then I’ve sent her details about the church, and we have talked about hanging out again!
As I was typing this story, I received a text from the girl that they would be coming this Sunday! Just in their openness and eagerness to going to a place I told them about a few days prior that they know could benefit their faiths really just gives me hope! I know a church service isn’t the end all be all, but I do hope this is the beginning to their family building relationships with other supporting believers in the area. I didn’t go into depth with them as to how they defined being a follower of Jesus and if that’s what they were truly committed to, so I just pray that whatever comes next challenges their beliefs and encourages them to grow closer to God.
Also, I’ve got to mention how even the girls were surprised with the event that had happened. They had just started playing pickleball and lacked a person. I really think it’s possible that they are faithful, available, and teachable and that God really lined up everything for the sake of their family.
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