It is already a great privilege to be a missionary, and during a global pandemic, opportunities to serve in this world are growing. I have had the privilege of connecting almost every week with several missionaries serving around the world and discussing their situation. I love hearing their stories to glimpse their struggles and how God acts in their lives during this pandemic.
As our quarantine time passes, I have observed several changes through my conversations with these women. First, I noticed that when they heard the news that the activities were closed and kept at home, many of them, in fact, were somewhat relieved. It is not common to have a time in life when things slow down, let alone stop. The women rested, took their breath, relaxed and enjoyed the time with their families.
- It didn’t take long for missionaries to try to figure out how to continue serving their people.
- Many live in countries with very strict restrictions that don’t allow them to leave their homes.
- Except on specific days and again.
- Just on foot and just to buy essential food and pharmaceuticals.
- They couldn’t visit the people they normally cared for.
- They are poor people without access to the Internet.
- Or to text messaging or video conferencing technologies.
- The missionaries felt very isolated from the people they love and want to care for and accomplish with the gospel.
- Knowing that circumstances would be different during a period of uncertainty.
- These women began to think of creative ways to reach and continue to serve the women and children God has put into their lives.
Before long, everyone asked for prayer. They (with their husbands) recorded or transmitted Sunday school, bible studies for women, or religious services. It was interesting to hear everyone share their heart to leave their comfort zone to record these sessions. language limitations. They knew that their own people would understand and forgive mistakes, but the idea of recording something that anyone in the world could access on the Internet was a scarier proposition.
However, God took this time to spread His Word, a friend from a Latin American country had already planned, before the pandemic, to study the book Lies in which women believe and the truths that freed them with the small group of women in their church. When he was 40 years old, he was asked to do an online study and decided to start with the study he had planned, he started live broadcasts on Facebook and the small group of participants quickly became an audience of more than 300 women, some from other Spanish-speaking countries What a blessing!It’s interesting to think that none of this would have happened without the virus.
Another friend who is ministering in Europe said that she and her husband prepared a broadcast for their small church and sent it to its members. One of them decided to publish the program on Facebook, not on his personal page, but on the public page of the whole city! Although their own linguistic errors embarrassed them, it was a great open door for the gospel to be shared throughout the city with people who never entered their church.
There are missionaries who have just arrived in the mission field and had not even begun to learn the language when the pandemic began, are in a new country, cannot speak the language, cannot leave their homes, and are confused about what God is doing. They shared with others how they get to know their neighbors through conversations, every night at their doorstep. One of them acquired the habit of having coffee every afternoon with a neighbor, each on his own balcony, veteran missionaries who have lived in the same country for years marveled at this great blessing and open door to evangelize their communities. doors with their own neighbors.
Missionaries working with 300 refugees in a European country have struggled to find a way to continue providing them with food, as they cannot work and rely on charities for their daily lives. Thank God, the missionaries found a way to follow the rules of The best news of this situation is that as they prepared and distributed 90 bags of food twice a week, some came to seek answers from the Lord, missionaries told them about Jesus, and some accepted him. like your Savior.
Thanks to a sympathetic police officer, the missionary who had been prevented from contacting her needy was able to bring them food. People are starving in their country and the need is great. With the permission of the government, these missionaries and national pastors can deliver food to families in need. Without permission to leave their homes, they can be arrested and/or confiscated. Fortunately, they have received permission each week and now hand over bags of food to 70 families in two wards and serve lunches to 80 to 120 people in need in the community.
More recently, there has been a new change in our talks as governments make decisions to reopen their countries. Missionaries who haven’t left home for 45 days can now go out for an hour with their children under the age of 13, as long as they’re within a mile of their home It’s amazing to see the smiles on their faces so you can be again!
Now missionaries must decide when and how to open their churches, this is a great decision faced by pastors around the world, of course, these missionaries want to come face to face with their people again, to serve and tell the truth about the lives of the people God has put into their lives.
Missionaries are always looking for ways to connect with the people around them, and this pandemic has opened a huge door. Everyone has their own story about this moment. Everyone has gone through some kind of suffering or uncertainty because of the global situation, now Christians can talk to anyone in the world about this pandemic and use suffering and uncertainty to tell the truth in people’s lives around the world. We hope in our faithful and loving God that we must share with a world that suffers and needs.