South Africa, Chile Blessed by NCU Missions Teams

EUGENE, Ore.  - Each May, teams of Northwest Christian University students and staff embark on missions trips around the world, intent on spreading the Gospel through many means, in hopes of touching and changing peoples' lives forever. This year's trips to South Africa and Chile were no exception, only the people of those countries weren't the only ones to have life-altering experiences.

17 students along with two NCU staff members set out on the trips and came home with a new found joy for the Lord and a profoundly different view on the world. NCU junior Erica Dunn reflected on the new perspective she had, watching the pace of life in Africa. "The people spend time with others and are never in a hurry," she said. "I never saw anyone running around saying how busy they were. They do what they can with the time they have and they don't get stressed out like we do in America. Relationships are their priority. God really showed me that people are more important than getting our agendas completed. Being in a hurry isn't on God's agenda."

Brittany Robles is an NCU senior who took part in the trip to Santiago, Chile. "I feel that for the first 21 years of my life I have gone through the same routines and same patterns of praise and worship," she said. "This trip stretched me and grew me in ways I never thought imaginable. My relationship with God and my confidence in the tools he has blessed me with have grown in ways that I never expected."

For Britni Steiling, a junior at NCU also helped her grow in her faith. "I now have a new perspective on Jesus and his love," she said, "that comes with merely seeing more of his creation and gaining a better understanding of just how big this world really is."

The South Africa team, which consisted of campus pastor Steve Poetzl and the Parable street drama team, did many different things in their 14-day trip, including spending time doing crafts with preschoolers and painting a house expansion for a local pastor, Pastor Lexin. This man and his wife take care of numerous orphaned children in their home every day, in addition to their own four children. Most of the trip, however, was focused on performing street dramas, in hopes of reaching the people with the gospel story in a way that transcends any language barrier.

They performed at churches, outdoor marketplaces, and elementary schools, even a business prayer meeting. They had the privilege of performing during the regular chapel time at a feeding station for the homeless. Poetzl said, "You could tell that the people have heard a lot of preaching and they were pleasantly surprised and delighted to have something different during their chapel time. There were even people moving from the back to the front during the dramas just to get a better look."

Another impacting moment for the team came at Pastor Lexin's house, where they performed their dramas for the youth that are served there. The youth wanted to learn the dramas themselves, and so the team was more than happy to oblige, teaching them two of their stories. "This was truly mission work," said Poetzl. "not just imparting the message, but empowering the South Africans with a unique medium of dramas to take back to their own churches."  Steiling added, "These dramas allows them to minister to their own people and will, in a sense, extend our trip much beyond the two weeks we were there."

It is said that God works in mysterious ways, and this was never more evident than on a return trip from the country of Swaziland, where the team had traveled to pick up a shipment of shoes donated by Nike to give to the poor. On the way home, one of the cars broke down about four hours from the home base in the city of Nelspruit. The team's missionary guide couldn't pick up cell phone reception and night was approaching.

After about 30 minutes, a policeman stopped to see if they were okay. His cell phone worked and he arranged a tow truck and provided protection and escort for the team just as it was getting dark in what felt like the middle of nowhere. The policeman's name was Immanuel, which means "God with us".

The team ended up spending that night at a camp called "Prayer Mountain" in the city of Badplass. The following day, the team worked at a daycare center for children who roam the streets of Badplass. AIDS has wiped out many families and according to one social worker, it has touched every house in that city in one way or another. The team had originally wanted to go to Badplass for ministry, but felt they didn't have enough time. Dunn said, "Apparently, God wanted us there to do the work that he had originally planned for us."

In Chile, the team of 11 had the opportunity to split up and live with Chilean host families, and spent time ministering to people through the local churches. The language barrier proved to be a difficult obstacle, but by the end of the trip most of the students agreed that God's love was able to come through in any language.

The team painted a church among other projects, and participated regularly in church services. Each student had the opportunity to share their testimony and the team learned the Spanish version of "Open the Eyes of My Heart", connecting with the Chilean people during worship. Most of the ministry for the team, however, came through personal contact with the people in the community and the members of their host families.

It quickly became apparent to the members of the missions team that they arrived at exactly the right time in the history of their host church and the families that they came in contact with. The host church had recently been hit hard with tough experiences. One man died while the team was there, another had just weeks to live because of an inoperable brain tumor, and one of the host "dads" was experiencing a very painful kidney problem for which he had been on medication for over two years.

Team leader Elizabeth Seybold, Assistant Director of Campus Ministries said, "We were able to pray for the specific needs of more than 50 people. We have seen God move in incredible ways."

Members of the team cited numerous evidences of the Lord moving. One woman said that she believes the Lord healed her of her depression after she heard one of the students share her testimony. The host father, who had been suffering from endless kidney pain and was bed-stricken for most of the time, was up and about by the end of the trip and was pain free without his daily injection.

The power of prayer might have been one of the biggest lessons learned by the students on the trip. Robles said that one of the biggest lessons she learned was to "never give lip service by telling someone you will pray for them, rather ask them if you can pray for them at that moment. Take the time to pray." She added, "God can use me to do anything, as long as I am willing. I am a powerful prayer warrior for God. I praise him for using me in ways I never expected and showing me this power."

Steiling added, "It was prayer that determined our itinerary, that brought us help when our car left us stranded three hours away from our house, and it was prayer that made our ministry powerful and effective. I learned that though Satan has access to our physical bodies, prayer is our most powerful tool and is off limits to his schemes."