The mission year has started off strong. With twelve of us missionaries, there is a lot of joy, fire, and strength. God is already showing us that he wants to use us to bring Christ’s powerful love to others. It’s truly not us. We all have different personalities and gifts, but we all share a love for Christ. We’ve all had an encounter with Jesus in the Holy Spirit. It’s God that brought us together and God that will work through us.

During training we went to the beach for a few days to reflect on and grow in community. We learned about it in formation and then God gave us a pretty powerful sign of the fruits of a Christ-centered community.

One of the nights, we had a bonfire on the beach. We sat around the fire, roasting marshmallows, sharing in each other's company, and singing worship songs while looking at the stars. I felt loved by God and so grateful to share in this experience with eleven other missionaries. We were all around the fire, singing and praising God, when out of the darkness we heard a faint but desperate cry for help. A stranger, a middle-aged man, appeared out of the shadows, walking toward us. I was a little surprised and wondered if he wanted us to turn the music down. A few of the guys went over to talk with him. The music stopped and we waited, unsure of what was going on. A few of us girls said some prayers while we waited.

After several minutes, the guys returned with our new friend, inviting him to join our circle. We all welcomed him, introduced ourselves, and let him share his heart with us. And he did. He was obviously in distress, teary-eyed, and desperate. He said he had been walking toward our fire for a while, that he just wanted to get to it. He began to cry as he shared how he had lost his job due to unknowingly harming some minors, something he now regretted terribly. He kept saying how this was crazy, crazy to have so many young people welcome him, a stranger, and sit and listen with compassion. “Why are you all here?” He couldn’t believe we cared.

Then he said, “I want to thank you. Each of you. Because you saved a man’s life today. I was going to kill myself tonight. Thank you. You have no idea. Thank you.” He kept repeating his gratitude over and over.

We then asked if we could pray for him, and we did.

It was a true God moment. God has wasted no time in using us this mission year, even on our beach getaway.

I realized that night the beauty and strength of community. I saw how God can and will use our community this year, the twelve of us, to be like a fire— in our intensity and zeal, and in our warmth, light, and compassion. I pray our community can be united in a shared experience of Christ’s love and be a community that is a witness to that love, be always a community that attracts, reaches out and invites, and receives others with unconditional love.

~Maria Nehnevaj

Light in the Darkness