Life audio. Hi from the Salvation Army, and you're listening to Words of Life. These are the words, these are the words, these are the words of life. These are the words, these are the words, these are the words of life. Welcome back to Words of Life.
Last week we shared the first episode of a two-part series where we are highlighting a program from the Salvation Army's youth department called SSC or Salvationist Service Corps. This is a mission trip opportunity for young adults to go out into a part of the world they don't know and team up with the local Salvation Army community there to do ministry. Last week, we heard from the leadership team before they were heading out on this trip to hear what they were excited about, what they were nervous about. And right now we're about to hear from the team as soon as they got back from this trip. If you missed last week's episode, make sure that you've subscribed to Words of Life on your favorite podcast store or visit wordsoflifepodcast.org to learn more.
So we went to Chile and there we served in two corps, one in Abuasque and that was in Santiago, Chile, so in their capital, so like more city. Um, and then we did three weeks in Rancagua, which is a little bit outside the city, so um, smaller town in Albosque. We, our mission there was to help get more youth into the core. Um, so one of our big projects there is that we threw a huge like community block party, um, and that was really interesting because they've never done anything like that. Um, there, they I guess were kind of scared for us to like go knocking door to door because they're right in the middle of a huge neighborhood and a community center.
And so We just kept pushing. We're like, no, we're gonna go out. We're gonna knock on doors and we're gonna have this huge community party. And we had like I think like 150, 200 people come.
So that was really awesome just to get the community knowing that there is a church here and that they're here to serve.
So that was really cool to introduce something new. And then in Wangagua, we mostly did um well we did a lot of core work but we also did a lot of homeless ministry.
So we did um soup out the back of vans and we went to they called them like red light districts, Toma, where there was a lot of um Prostitution and drugs and things like that. Um, and I think the soup vans ministry that we did in Rangago is probably the most impactful for me because we just cooked a huge pot of soup and we didn't put it in like, I don't know, like a cancer or anything like that. It was just in the back of the van with all the bumps. Um we like put like a rock on top of it to keep the lid. There we would go to, um, just around the city just so you need to be served and we were on a Team was one of the core members, his name was Benjamin.
And literally There was one house we weren't allowed to like Go across the street for we had to wait, and we can just literally see him like kick down a door and say, Come get soup and come eat, and let us pray with you.
So it was really cool. And later we knew we learned that it was a prostitution house.
So later on, we got to lay our hands on the door and like pray. Hey, you're listening to the Salvation Army's Words of Life. We're gonna take a quick ad break and we'll be right back. Did you know that Gen Z and millennials are leading the resurgence in church attendance? That's right.
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So, in Scotland, we were between two cores, but we stayed in the same place the whole time. The first one was Parkhead, which was an established church, like lots of volunteers and stuff. And then in Dennison, which is where our house was connected to, actually, the core had been shut down for years. And so part of our mission there was outreach and bringing that core back to life, which was really cool 'cause I've never done anything like that, especially in the like army 'cause I'm an officer's kid, you just go and it's there. Yeah, sure.
And so that was very different. Um At Parkhead We kinda said that we were the hands and feet, like whatever they needed. And so, like, we helped with holiday clubs, which is our VBSs. Um, we did soup kitchens. There were so many, like, little things.
But I was like, oh, this can be ministry too. Which like was a big thing for me. But then in Denison, I joke around that we felt like creepers a little bit because of the outreach that we had to do. Like one time we got sent to the schools because they were getting off on summer holiday and we were just standing outside with little leaflets as these kids were like walking by. But we're like Amy Joe was like, don't talk to the kids.
And we were like, yes, ma'am.
So we had to like catch parents and it felt a little creepy because you're standing outside of like kids. But it was so fruitful because like those parents that we had conversations with, one, they now know there's an army in their community and there's people praying for them. But also when we threw like our holiday clubs in Deniston or like our family days, we saw reoccurring people from that, which was so cool. Both gathering the silence. Community was such a forefront.
Thing I think sometimes we miss that here in the sense of like There was no agenda when people were helping people. It was so selfless and it was so consistent. Like Kaylee and I went to, there was a day we split up into three teams, and Kaylee and I went and served some people at DIYSOS, which is. I'll explain in a second. But there was like seas of people and they were all there for a single little girl who had some disabilities, so her house wasn't accessible for her to use.
And everyone was so excited to be there. And we were there on the last day serving them food. And they were still so energetic and still so like excited to just Serve this like single little girl. There were so many people. I think that was like so shocking to me because I was like, they're doing this for free.
It's big companies. Like, but then there's also just smaller volunteers. And you saw that everywhere. Everyone was so loving. It didn't matter what you needed, and they would show up.
A lot of the population of who we connected to were Muslim.
So that was a really cool opportunity of like, oh, I get to share my faith, but also have conversations with you and like bounce back and forth. But it was also hard because. When we had family days or h um holiday clubs, we like Had to prepare food and they like eat halal food. And so, like, navigating that, because that's not something we've done before. But also, while considering them and making them feel loved and welcomed while not.
Like, we still stay true to who we are, and like forefront is God, who we believe God to be. And so that was kind of a weird thing to like figure out, but It was so cool because when these like people would come back, Like they felt loved and welcomed enough to come back even though we believe differently. We were in Ketchikan, Alaska, and in Goon. Kind of just setting the scene, Ketchikan is more of like a tourist town and stuff like that.
So it's like 8,000 people getting ready to go. That's where all the cruise ships pull in, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So all the cruise ships are pulling in. You see a few yachts and stuff like that. People, you know, with some money. Yeah, like they're coming out and stuff like that. And then Angoon was like the smallest town I've ever been to.
Really, it was a village, smallest place I've ever been to in my life. 240 people. We did a lot of I guess hands and feet ministry. That's the best way I could put it. Like, we did prayer walks.
We made food boxes, delivered them to people's door, stuff like that. We did VBS. We hosted a field day, which was the VBS kickoff. We worked in the thrift store. We were cashiers.
It was everything from cashiers to scraping stickers off the floor and stuff like that. Putting stuff on hangers. It was a lot of the day-to-day tasks. We also were part of the soup kitchen for the homeless community, the population there. Whenever we got back to Ketchikan from Angoon, we did VBS.
We didn't have a lot of time to prepare.
So we was kind of like, okay, we're just going to, you know, figure it out. We sat down with officers and stuff like that, went through all of our material and made it happen. Carly did an amazing job organizing stuff like that. Right. Day four of VBS, we had Decision Thursday.
So they were like, all right, let's push and see if any kid wants to give their life to Christ.
So we're like, okay, cool.
So we're kind of, you know, doing the Bible stories or whatnot. And for me, it was this beautiful moment where like one of the young boys, he had to be no one older than like 11. You know, and I kind of joke about this, but I try to package the word of God in a way where kids can understand it. I call it the JLT, the Josiah Living Translation, right?
So I repackaged, you know, the Bible story form. And I was like, you know, we, Jacob and I, we asked the group, we were like, hey, does anybody want to give their life to Christ? And, you know, one of them was like, yeah, I want to do it. Like, I'm cool. I want to try.
And we're going to.
Okay, do you want us to walk you through that or do you want to do it yourself? And he was like, I'm done doing myself.
So then he prays and he's like, Lord, I don't know you, but I want to get to know you. For me, that was everything. I've, you know, because you go to camps and stuff like that. You go to youth councils or TYs and people give their life to Christ. It's such a beautiful experience, but to have it at a core and it's right there in your face, it's different.
And then a few minutes later, we did, you know, kind of the same thing, but with all of the kids together. And you see kids that are like four and five raising their hands saying that they want to give their life to Christ. For sure. And then we saw some of the preteens, like almost everybody that was on my group raise their hand as well. And it was such a beautiful thing to see that, like, these kids that we pulled half of them from like off the street from the field.
They spoke to their parents first, but like we pulled random kids and then they started coming to VBS. Like, and so they were pretty much unchurched. And they're like, we want to give our life to Christ, you know? Uh Whenever we were in Angoon, Major Ron, he told us this. He said, preach the gospel and use words if necessary.
And that really hit home for me, especially whenever I saw the kids give their life to Christ. And it made me. Say, like, this is what we do this for. We, we, everything we do, like, like, ministry is literally giving people an opportunity to meet Jesus. Like, Everything we do boils down to someone giving their life to Christ.
And so for me now, I think I'll be more open and ready to give people the gospel or even ask them, Do you know the gospel? We pray that you're enjoying and being blessed by this conversation. Uh We're going to take one more ad break and we'll be right back. Did you know Gen Z and millennials are leading the resurgence in church attendance? New research from Glue and Barna shows that they're now attending church more often than older generations.
That's a historic shift. And behind this discovery is GLU, spelled G-L-O-O. GLU has a mission to serve those who serve: pastors, leaders, publishers, and more. And they do it by connecting the faith ecosystem with the latest research, technology, and values-aligned AI. That's high-tech for a higher purpose.
See the research yourself. Just text the word join to 46816. Again, that's join to 46816. What I wasn't expecting and has been like a really big factor in it is like I now have a family and Scotland, and that is crazy. Like, I I love those people to death and um they accepted us as like their own, but I also have like a family back here now through all of the other SSC members.
And so that's just a really beautiful thing. And we were talking about this yesterday as a team, I think, and Sean said something. And I haven't been thinking about it. Is everything that we did there, we can do here as well. Yeah.
And like, I think so often we get in this mindset, okay, mission, and this is just home. But everywhere you go is a mission field. And I think. Like before I was serving, but my heart posture wasn't that. It wasn't this is mission work and this is.
Like I can be the hands and feet literally everywhere. For me, I would say that the majority of the men I would tell myself to be in my Bible more. And the reason why is because, like, my team, we did Bible readings every day, right? And sometimes it was hard to get up in the morning to do that, but that was our food before we had to go out and serve. Right.
And so, if I was in my word a bit more, I don't think it would have been as much of a struggle. And then, like, whenever there were hard times, I would have ran back to my Bible immediately, you know. And I wish I was more intentional about that, like beforehand. Hey, guys, we're going on a prayer walk. This is our second round.
And yeah, that's it.
So he's been walking around praying to people that we see.
Now we are walking to some residential homes. to kind of pray over the people there and we get the opportunity maybe. Talk to some people. That'd be my system. Yes.
So yeah. Here we go. The Salvation Army's mission, doing the most good, means helping people with material and spiritual needs. You become a part of this mission every time you give to the Salvation Army. Visit SalvationArmyUSA.org to offer your support.
You can subscribe to Words of Life on your favorite podcast store or visit SalvationArmysoundcast.org. Join us next time for the Salvation Army's Words of Life. These are the words, these are the words of life. These are the words, these are the words, these are the words of life. Thanks so much for listening to Words of Life.
We want to thank the team at Life Audio for their partnership with us on the show. Visit lifeaudio.com, where you'll find dozens of other faith-centered podcasts in their network. They have shows about prayer, Bible studying, parenting, and more. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you next time.
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