365m students (part 2)

The following is the second half of the conversation with the students who are in Brazil, Croatia and Northern Ireland.

DW: In what ways will this year in Ireland/Brazil/Croatia play a role in what you do in the future?

CROATIA: It will inform the way we approach, interact and live within the world. There is a broader perspective of life informed by being able to live outside of a context familiar to you enabling you to be more of a world citizen.

IRELAND: God has placed me in multiple situations where he continues to draw me into cross-cultural ministry. I do not know exactly but I would love to live and serve overseas, this year has further confirmed this in my life.

BRAZIL: Over the last couple of weeks we've randomly talked to each other about how cross-cultural experience have a transformative aspect. These transformations sometimes aren't evident to you until weeks or months after you have returned to your 'home' context. Incarnational living is about intentionally allowing God to transform every area of your life to look like Christ's. Just as we have chosen to live and learn in this Brazilian context, we've chosen to continue to pursue the incarnational lifestyle that is guided by the Holy Spirit not matter our future circumstances. Our future will be forever formed by what we have experienced and learned during this program.

DW: What advice would you give to new students who will be starting their 365m year in just a couple of months?

CROATIA: Be open. God and His Spirit move in ways beyond anything you can imagine so be open to that. Rather than setting a lot of goals and things to achieve make sure you balance it with letting yourself learn as new things open up to you and through means you weren’t expecting.
Be patient. Learn with graciousness in the hard times and thankfulness and praise in the great times. There are a lot of both, but they work together to produce valuable lessons and growth.

IRELAND: Go with an open mind. Nothing will work out perfectly but something better will happen. GOD will reveal himself to you more fully as you allow the situations of life to come at you, REMEMBER you NEED an open mind. Let yourself be surprised!

BRAZIL: Here are some of the quick things that come to our mind, and are in no particular order:

- Stay open, in other words be flexible!

- Be adaptable! I (Liliana) remember the first couple of weeks being here and being frantic about not having a full schedule. I’m very thankful for Scott who always lovingly reminded me about adaptable by saying, “It’s just fine Liliana, we don’t have to know everything about what’s going on. It’s okay.”

- Which brings us to another important reminder, don’t have your own agenda! Yes, having a general direction in which you are going is great, but ultimately everything you're taking part of now is originally on God's agenda, so let the Holy Spirit FLOW!

- Don’t be scared of people; just because they look and speak differently doesn't mean they are out to get you!

- So that leads us to the next reminder: try your best to separate from your group and interact with others, even if you can’t communicate directly - who else better than native speakers to help you improve in your pronunciation! After being here for 9 months people are so happy to know that we can communicate with them! It makes a real difference with building relationships!

- Pray, read the Scripture, fast and then keep doing it some more!

- Don't be afraid to openly share about everything that you are feeling, going through, experiences, etc. with your teammates. You're on the journey together - there's no need to feel lonely when God has provisioned support!