(Written by: Carolyn Slater)
“Not that we are adequate in ourselves so as to consider anything as having come from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” 2 Corinthians 3:5-6 (New American Standard Version)
With graduating high school this year and a plethora of other new, exciting, and even scary events happening, I feel incredibly blessed to have the chance to steward my young adult years in a way that will Lord willing produce good fruit in my own life and in the lives of others. I don’t know about you, but I tend to think…a lot. I believe that I am more an internal processor as opposed to an external processor — someone who thinks out loud. And in the past couple of weeks preceding the trip, something that I have been internally processing is my feeling of incompetency. Yes, this will be my first time going to the Czech Republic but not my first time on a mission trip ever, for I went on a mission trip to Costa Rica in March of 2022. And yes, I have been getting nervous about the language barrier that will be between me and the students, while in Costa Rica I didn’t feel as limited in terms of communication because I used my Spanish-speaking knowledge from high school. And yes, I am fully aware that there will be translators to help facilitate the communication but knowing how much I love to ask people questions and learn about people from talking one-on-one, I have felt like “aw man, I don’t know if I am equipped to do this”.
But the thing is, I am not competent…on my own. Amidst my internal processing I have been reminded of an unchanging truth. God is competent. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2 that he “didn’t come with eloquence or human wisdom” as he proclaimed the “testimony about God”, for he “resolved to know nothing” while he was with them “except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” and that he came to the Corinthians with “great fear and trembling”. Then later in 2 Corinthians 3 he said that his competency “comes from God”.
This was encouraging to me because I know that God can work in and through me using me as a utensil for special use. It is not because I am adequate on my own strength but on the strength of the own who calls me His own. I praise God for His unchanging and amazing Word that will point me back to truth. I am so thrilled to serve on this trip with these people.
Prayer Requests:
- Outreach to new students for the camp.
- Passport processing (we are still missing one).
- Financial provision for both American teams
- Preparation for the trip goes smoothly.
- Health of the mission team.