One of our high school Small Group Leaders, Kinsey McLeod, is in Orlando with YWAM (Youth with a Mission) for 6 months. This is her most recent update letter- it's super encouraging, make sure to at least read the bold part below! -Drew
Dear Family and Friends,
The last two weeks have been really good, but honestly really challenging. My heart has been softened so much, but that process if quite hard sometimes! Since we finished up our week on evangelism a few weeks ago, we now have the opportunity to go each week into different locations nearby and do some street evangelism, which honestly makes me a little nervous. I have never wanted to be someone that annoyed people just trying to mind their business while either walking around the mall, walking downtown, or sitting alone reading, seemingly fine, but these past few weeks of learning how to just go about our day when out in public, loving on people when the opportunity comes up, have been amazing.
Here is a cool story from a few nights ago- some friends and I went to Downtown Disney late one evening, and we were just walking around, seeing the sights (my only experience with Disney thus far) and I got a strong sense that I needed to stop and talk to a man sitting outside of Starbucks alone. So, my friend Benjamin and I approached him and told him that we felt that we should pray with him. He looked up, took off his glasses, and said “Wow, I would really love that.” We asked him if there was anything in particular we could pray for and he then unfolded to us the heartbreaking story of how he recently had a stroke that ended is medical career, caused him to almost take his own life, how his wife was leaving him, his kids were moving away, and that he came to Starbucks in downtown Disney that night to sit and watch the happiness of families together, and perhaps feel something again. My heart broke right in that moment, because this man was hurting so much, looking for something, and was so, so lonely and sad.We then prayed for God to speak to him, we told him how valued he was to God, how much God loved him and longed to be his friend and father. That night, he told us he felt that God told him to come and sit in the particular spot he was sitting, and the he met us and felt so encouraged and loved.
Guys!!! God knows everything going on in the world, everything going on in every person’s life and heart every moment of each day, and he orchestrates all things to work together in his perfect timing. Sometimes, we have to be obedient and go love on strangers, not because it is comfortable for us, or gives us a warm and fuzzy feeling, but because God longs for every person in the world to know his unconditional love and he uses those who love him to display that love. Last week we had a teaching on the Holy Spirit, how the Holy Spirit communicates with us, comforts us, works in and through us, and can show up in our lives. The Holy Spirit is really amazing, sometimes speaking to us like a wild and crazy violent wind, and sometimes a still small whisper in our hearts; whatever it takes to get our attention. The Holy Spirit is really confused and misunderstood by most, and often times put in such a box by the church as a whole today, so it was amazing to learn about the Holy Spirit with no expectations or constraints.
An update on our outreach- we will be for sure going to Athens, Greece for the first 3 weeks and Sicily Italy for the last 3 weeks! I am SO excited to get over there and jump into God’s plan and hope for the refugee population in these two countries. The crisis is overwhelming. As my team reads, cries and prays about the many refugees we will come in contact with, one thought keeps running through my head over and over: this injustice and crisis is far too big to be accomplished by humans alone. It is overwhelming, heartbreaking and widespread. Over 50% of those fleeing are under the age of 18. When I read that statistic, my first reaction was anger and confusion. “Why would God allow this to happen? Does he not care about all of his children? Why are they being treated so unjustly? Why were they dealt such a hand?” I felt that there was no way the world would ever be right again, that the injustices were too great, and they certainly are for humans to take care of and eradicate. In that moment, God spoke so clearly to me, saying that this was never his plan, he did not cause or allow this to happen, that his heart breaks every second of every day over every injustice in the world, and that only HE can make it right, only HE can do the impossible. He is looking for wiling participants to jump into his plan, to see his heart for the broken and lost and say “Send ME!”.
We have hit the halfway point in Lecture Phase- we have 6 more weeks of learning, growing, changing, healing and training here in Florida before we head overseas. I SO appreciate your thoughts, prayers, mail, and care packages I have received while I’ve been here- I love you all, and miss you dearly!
Love,
Kinsey
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