Helen: Nigeria completely captured my heart. Our time was spent in two rural villages where we ran children’s programmes and praise nights, spent time at an orphanage, visited patients at Holley Memorial Hospital, worked with Mission Africa’s sponsorship children, village outreaches, and spent time with many from the community.
Richard: We ran football camps in various schools and orphanages, spending time learning from their daily challenges, praying with them and sharing powerful words of scripture over their lives. We had the chance to bring the Gospel into prisons. God opened up doors to share the hope of Gospel with people who were behind bars for life, with people who had no hope.
Helen: As a team, we were all so different, yet God united us together with one aim, to wholeheartedly serve Him in Nigeria. We saw the hand of God at work in mighty ways, and His never-ending faithfulness to His people.
Richard: On our summer team our eyes were opened to seeing God in ways we never had before. Our distractions and the pressures of Western society were left behind us, leaving us open and vulnerable to the crazy love of God.
Helen: Many people we met had very little materially, but their spiritual lives were so strong, and filled with praise for our Saviour; I was completely overwhelmed and challenged.
Richard: Jesus calls us not only to serve, but to grow. Kenya provided me with opportunities for both. I grasped a greater understanding of Jesus.
Helen: Charles Studd said, “If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him”. If God is calling you to serve Him in Africa, how great would your sacrifice be to obey God’s call? To give up a couple of weeks of your summer to be used by God? From my personal experience, if you give everything over to Him, God will transform your thinking, your love for Him and for His people, and He will shape you more into the likeness of His Son, Jesus Christ.
Richard: The Great Commission was not a suggestion! Christ’s Kingdom cannot be built without bold, radical obedience to Jesus’ command to go. Jesus left His home, the comfort of the Father to go, to be among humanity. Your willingness to leave your home, your comfort and go is an example to others of that sacrifice. You’re going to share the Gospel, encourage and build people up. Trust God to guide you as you go.
If you are interested in applying for our summer teams this year, the deadline is approaching fast! Find out more here.
