God has done some awesome things the past several days! Since I last blogged, we had our first bible study. We looked at Ephesians 1 and talked about our spiritual blessings in Christ. It was awesome to learn more about what they mean and just to live in the fact that we are given so much as followers of Christ. The next day my discipler and I went out to share the gospel (or at least attempted to) because after talking to only two people, a man who was working basically told us to go to the security office to get permission to be in that area. After we left his store, there was a younger boy sitting on a bench and we thought it would be a perfect opportunity to initiate with him. After talking to him for about 20 seconds, the guy from the shop came out, and told us that security was on their way. We left a little while later. It was really discouraging and there was definitely some spiritual warfare going on there. God is sovereign and we needed to remember that, so we just wound up praying for other groups who were sharing and then headed back. Later that night was our first work shift at Cosmic Ray’s. We trained and trained and trained! It was really overwhelming but good to finally be at Cosmic Ray’s. That night we didn’t get to know much of anyone except our trainer Brittni.
The next day was everyone’s day off, and we all went to Cocoa Beach. That morning we were trained in how to use Soularium (which is a tool used to share the gospel through pictures). Once we got to the beach, my buddy Luke and I went and started talking to people. Luke wanted to talk to this older guy who was using a metal detector. At first I wasn’t too keen on talking to the guy, but we wound up having a nice chat with him and then asked if he would like to answer a few questions using pictures. We asked him questions about his life and what his spiritual background was. He said he was a Christian, but that he didn’t like people. He has had some bad experiences with people in the past which have caused him to feel negatively towards people. We explained to him that we should love others because of the love Christ has shown us. We also explained the gospel to him in the fact that it’s not by our works we are saved but only because of God’s amazing grace. He was really appreciative of that. After that, Luke and I came across two other guys hanging out at the beach. We asked if they would go through the pictures with us as well. Through the conversation we realized they both called themselves Christians, but from what we gathered their lifestyle didn’t really reflect it. It was still a great conversation though. After sharing, all of us together went surfing and had an awesome time.
Thursday morning was men’s time. We played some dodgeball and then talked more about 2 Timothy and used the R.A.C.E. model which stands for Rejecting passivity, accepting responsibility, courageously leading, and expecting a greater reward. After that, Phillip (my discipler) and I went sharing again. The first guy we talked to was Hispanic and told us he didn’t really speak English. I responded by saying I could speak some Spanish and he seemed really happy. I asked him if we could go through some questions with him. We went through the questions and I found that he had the mentality that any way is okay. I was able to share the Knowing God personally booklet. It was awesome that God could use me, even with my broken Spanish to share the Gospel with this man. After that conversation, we came across a man sitting on the bench named Mustafa. During the survey we found out that he was Muslim. We finished the survey and asked if we could share the knowing God personally booklet with him and he said that would be fine. It was so hard though because when we asked him if he had ever sinned before he responded with no. We couldn’t believe he said that, but Phillip continued sharing the Gospel with him through the booklet. We also explained the Trinity to him using scripture. The conversation went really well and it ended with him taking the booklet with him. He didn’t trust Christ during our conversation, but the fact that a Muslim was willing to hear us explain the Gospel was so awesome! After that Phillip and I talked about life and how we continue to fail in our minds, but God continually shows us mercy and loves us!
Friday was a long day! I was awake at 6 am and was at Disney University by 8 am to take a training class I had missed. I was finished there around noon and then worked at 6 for the next 8 hours to train. It was such a long and stressful day and a huge test of my patience. The job I have is by no means glamorous, because I work in fast food and it’s also been a huge humbling experience to be the new guy again. It’s super challenging but it is so good for me. The next day was our assessment, which we passed. Praise God!
On Sunday I visited a church where the pastor talked about dads being superheroes. It was a cool analogy. That night was our first night without our trainer and it went really well. It was also the time where I wasn’t with my project training group any more so I was going to be forced to meet new people in the breakroom. I was able to chat with a guy named Daniel for a few minutes. Going to sit with someone I didn’t know was pretty challenging but it was cool.
Monday morning we had our next bible study and we talked about how much God treasures us. It is so important to know that we are highly valued by God! We worked later that night and some cool things happened. One of my coworkers, Jalina, was on break at the same time as me so we chatted and I eventually asked her what her spiritual background was. She explained that she was Roman Catholic. That was about the extent of our conversation but I’m excited to hear more of her story! Later that night I was working in the topping bar with a coworker and spiritual things came up. She told me she grew up Baptist but has since become Agnostic. Our conversation was interrupted by the numerous amounts of guests at the restaurant. As I was ending my shift I saw her in the breakroom and sat down with her. She then proceeded to tell me the reason she left her beliefs was that she was bisexual. I think she expected me to automatically judge her, but our conversation continued and then two other friends from my project joined also not even knowing it was a spiritual conversation. One of the guys, Jordan, shared the Gospel with her. I could tell she was slightly uncomfortable, but not too much. We talked a little more then she said she had to go and that she was already 25 minutes late for punching back in. A few seconds later she ran back in the breakroom and asked for our phone numbers and wants to hangout with us sometime! Here we thought she might have been upset but she actually asked us to hangout which was sweet!
Tuesday was prayer and share day. I am on the prayer team so I led us in praying for our project, things like unity, intentionality, and being God-focused. We also prayed for all of our workplaces and that we would continue to make friends with our co-workers. Since we have a world-vision focus this summer we also prayed for the countries of Panama and Australia. After our prayer time, we went out sharing again. This time I went with one of the project directors, Danny. He and I were walking into the mall when I young guy approached us asking if we were interested in trying these magnetic bracelets. Supposedly they are supposed to help with balance, we thought what the heck we will give it a shot. In reality they actually worked. After we took the test, we told him we were with Campus Crusade and asked if he had some time to take a quick survey and he said sure. After the 3rd question we found out he was atheist. He told us his story of how he grew up in a solid Christian home and basically through a series of events became atheist. We wound up talking to him for over an hour and probably would have continued to talk if customers weren’t waiting to be helped. We exchanged numbers with him and asked if he wanted to hangout sometime and he said sure. After that, Phillip and I met and talked about 1 John 1 and what it means to walk in the light. A lot of people think walking in the light is living more holy, but it’s not that at all. Walking in the light is living a life exposed to sin. If we bring sin to light, God can start to help us deal with our sin. If we live in darkness and hide, it’s much harder for healing to come. I know it’s definitely true in my life, and I am so thankful that I have friends that I can bring sin to light with. That night was another work shift, and it was my favorite work day so far. It started off with one of our co-workers Tami just talking to me about spiritual things. She had been sitting by us in the breakroom the night before and heard our spiritual conversation with Chloe! She was really interested in some things I believed and just shared her belief in God but that she doesn’t like the church. It was awesome to have someone initiate a spiritual conversation with me! I also got to know by co-worker Kerry who I found out is a solid believer. Tuesday was one of the most encouraging days for my summer so far.
Wednesday we all met at Epcot and divided into groups for an international journey. I was placed into a group and later found out that not only would we be traveling to Italy but we were Italians. We lived an exaggerated Italian lifestyle for the longest two hours of my life! At first it started off as fun, but it got to be so annoying, meaningless, and unsatisfying. An example was that we kept getting told that we were going to eat an amazing meal, and when it finally came time to eat we were given stale bread and nasty red colored water which we thought was punch. Later we realized that these examples represented the emptiness of religion in Italy. They are experiencing what appears good, but doesn’t ever satisfy. Only the Jesus Christ can satisfy us, not the emptiness of religion. Over 82 percent of Italians label themselves as Catholic, but only .6 percent of Italians follow Jesus Christ! That night we were able to connect with some international students working at Epcot and we got to end the night with a cool fireworks display.
This morning we had another men’s time and learned more about the R.A.C.E. model. After men’s time, Danny (the project director) and I were able to get lunch with Tyler (the atheist we met on Thursday)! It was so awesome to be able to follow up with someone we met doing street evangelism. We talked about life, and after about 30 minutes he said he wanted to ask us a theological question. And for another 30 minutes we talked more and more about the bible. We talked specifically about Abraham going to sacrifice Isaac and that Abraham realized God would have to raise Isaac from the dead if he was going to fulfill his promises that he made to Abraham. As Abraham is about to kill Isaac, God tells him to stop, and provides a ram to take his place. We shared with him how that represents Jesus Christ. God basically raised Isaac from the dead, and that’s what happens with Jesus Christ. Also, Jesus Christ takes our place because he took on the punishment we deserve! Talking with Tyler has been so cool for me, because I am not able to answer a lot of his questions, but Danny is able to answer a lot of things. It is so humbling for me and I am learning a ton on how to defend my faith but at the same time respond in grace and love. Both Danny and I are reading a book called “A million ways to Die” by Rick James. In the book he talks about how we can try to make ourselves look awesome and smart when we share. That’s how I am a lot of times, but it’s not about that. No matter how much I know or say, ultimately only God can change someone’s heart and the gospel is the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16) for someone! We had to cut it short, but the conversation with Tyler ended in him saying he has more questions for the next time we hangout! After lunch with Tyler a group of us hung out at animal kingdom which was a ton of fun.
God has been doing some awesome things here this summer and he has been working on a lot of issues in my life! I am so excited to see what he continues to do here in Florida this summer!!
Berto
