Let's Start Talking: Rwanda Style

In my last post, I shared how my experience with Let's Start Talking (not to mention numerous other powerful encounters with Jesus and His people over the last 2 years) electrified my heart and burned into me a passion to know God's love and to make His love known. After one month in Kiev, Ukraine, 2 weeks in Morelia, Mexico, and 2 years here in the states being transformed by God's love and awakened to his calling on my life and figuring out what it means to live for him, I am ready to go. Every time I got back from a Let's Start Talking short term trip, I would come home telling my friends, "goodness, I just feel like I'm made for this. If there was only a way I could do this exact thing full time..." Well, as it would turn out, God has made a way for me to do that exact thing long term, on a Let's Start Talking internship to Kigali, Rwanda for 10 months. I will be helping people for whom English is not a primary language to learn and practice their English skills by reading the Bible with them and sharing life and meaningful relationships with them. As in my other LST trips, I will be sharing the gospel and getting to see people's lives transformed by the Word of God! As Rwanda has recently decided to make English its official language, there is an incredible need for English learning in the country right now, so my services in helping people to practice and learn English will definitely be meeting an important need of the Rwandan people at this point in time. I will also be able to participate in the efforts of a group of missionaries currently in Rwanda who are partnering with the Lord in bringing restoration and hope to a formerly severely battered and beaten country, nearly destroyed by war and genocide. God has given this group of missionaries vision to accomplish this restoration and healing through a massive disciple making movement and other works of restoration, such as The Peace House (a place of healing, nurturing and growth for former street children), and a new day program for street youth, just to name a few.  God has put a massive vision into the hearts of these Rwandan missionaries. As they set out on their own journey years ago and asked the Lord for a vision of what He wanted to do in Rwanda, He put the following verse on their heart: ""pay back into the laps of our neighbors 7 times the reproach they have hurled at you, O Lord." (Psalm 79:12). They believe that the souls killed in the genocide were a reproach that the enemy (Satan) hurled against the Lord, and that the Lord would desire to see 7 times the reproach hurled into the lap of the enemy, by seeing 7 souls come to know Jesus for every one soul who was stolen in the genocide. That is 7 million disciples of Jesus! This is an act far beyond the reach of any human; the only way something like this can be accomplished is a mighty act of God, and many, including myself, are believing for a mighty act of God to break forth in Rwanda as more people join in prayer and petition. To see this out, the missionaries in Rwanda are asking for everyone to participate in Rwanda 10:2b prayer movement (From Luke 10:2b: "Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field.") To learn more about the harvest and vision in Rwanda, and to join the movement, please check out the Rwanda Harvest website at http://rwandaharvest.com/ .

I am just coming out of my skin with excitement to get to share this journey with you!  I am looking for partners to commit to praying with me throughout this journey. If you are interested in joining my prayer team, please email me at missjessiejean@gmail.com. I am also looking for financial partners to join my sending team. If you wish to join me in this way, you may make an online donation or monthly pledge at http://www.lst.org/2012projects/jessiesorenson, or you can email me for more options. You can also click the "Let's Start Talking" link on this blog to join my sending team. Thank you for coming alongside with me in this journey!

How It All Began

OK, let's get busy. In my last post, I shared with you a very brief glimpse into God's calling me into His Kingdom; now, I want to share with you my journey into missions and how it all got started. After God led me through some radical life shifts, He began drawing me to forget my old way of making decisions (which was shoddy at best), and he invited me to entrust my future to Him as He led me from place to place. In 2008, He led me to Fort Worth, TX, but by the end of that year, I had gotten into the groove of Christianity in the "Bible belt," going to church, doing all the social functions, and like any good 20-something Christian girl, trying to figure out which one of these "good church boys" was going to be my husband. I had read the stories in the Bible of people radically abandoning their lives for the gospel,  people cutting holes through rooftops for a touch from Jesus, chasing after him down dusty paths to touch his cloak, and I had desired the adventure of knowing this life of following Jesus. But here I was, sitting in a chilly air-conditioned room with 2 dozen other people my age, singing worship songs, but finding myself distracted by the others in the room, "what's their story? Where are they going? Man, that girl sure is wearing a lot of make-up. Man, that guy sure is muscular; he's probably way too into himself. Oooh, that guy looks like he's really getting into the worship; I bet he's really spiritual. Maybe HE could be my husband!" Oh, how I wish I was exaggerating. Something about what I was reading in my Bible and what I was experiencing in real life was not adding up. I was definitely not content in this place. Something in me KNEW that this was only a halfhearted existence. Something in me KNEW that I was meant for so much more.

And just as I started to feel hopeless, like my life would be no more than being discontented and trying to distract myself with boys and entertainment,  it started happening. God began to pursue my heart from every angle, taking me deeper into the reality of His love and giving me a glimpse into a lifestyle that seemed to be much more aligned with what I was reading in that book about Jesus. The jumping off point was when I was approached in summer 2009 to go on a missions trip with a group called "Let's Start Talking" for one month in Kiev, Ukraine. I had been praying for some sort of opportunity to get out of this weird little bubble I found myself in, and one day someone just approached me and said, "Jessie, all of this money has been raised for this trip and we just desperately need for someone to say yes and go." (God has always been so gracious to give me a clear, easy on-ramp to say yes to Him). I prayed, felt a stirring in my heart that said this was it, and I said yes. As I prepared to go on this trip, reading the materials that "Let's Start Talking" puts together to prepare individuals to go and share the gospel with people, my heart was stirred and revived. I was moved to tears...sobs, really...as I read about the power of sharing the gospel and the story of Jesus with others through reading the word with them and sharing life with them. The power of the Word of God and the impact that I heard it having on people who'd never heard it revived my heart, awakened something in me that had been slumbering. I knew in that moment that I was created for this, to share the power of Jesus, the real God-man, the breather of life, who walked this earth and who took on every bit of sin and darkness into his own grave, and who left it buried there, being resurrected in complete newness, giving me that same resurrection from death to complete newness and freedom. I was made for this.

Welcome!

I am looking forward to finally start talking with you all about this journey into missions into which God has been drawing me for years. Jesus radically got a hold of me in 2006, showing me his love and mercy in supernatural ways and drawing me to take the plunge into His goodness. I did, and have never looked back. His love has purged away hurt, shame, bitterness, and regret, and in their place, He has rooted into me His fierce love, kindness, and the knowledge of His precious Father's heart, just to name a few. These things are being rooted deeper and deeper as He's taking me on a journey to know more and more of His heart. He has rescued me from the dominion of darkness and brought me into His Kingdom; He has adopted me into His family and teaching me day by day what it means to be His kid. Thank you for sharing with me in this journey!