Hey, welcome back to Words of Life. Now that summer's behind us and we're getting into the fall, churches all around the world have been doing mission trips over the summer and the Salvation Army is no different. We have what's called Salvationist Service Corps. These are mission trips for young adults within the Salvation Army. And for the next two weeks, we're going to hear testimonies from the two groups that went to Malaysia and Norway.
But to help us set up these testimonies, we're first going to hear from Kara Rodriguez. She's the Territorial Young Adult and Mission Coordinator for the Salvation Army. As women, we're pulled in every direction and we often put pressure on ourselves to do all and be all. We may feel overwhelmed or isolated and wonder, is it just me?
Do other women feel this way too? God Hears Her from Our Daily Bread Ministries is a community of women who, through honest conversations, personal stories, and biblically based resources, encounter God's grace and flourish together as a sisterhood in Christ. Visit GodHearsHer.org to experience podcasts, blogs, devotionals, and more that encourage us to lean on Jesus, the one who turns life's messiness into meaning. Again, that's GodHearsHer.org.
I am Kara Rodriguez. I am the new Young Adult and Missions Coordinator for the Southern Territory. SSC is Salvationist Service Corps, and it's essentially a six-week mission trip. It is designed to be disciple-building and holiness-filling experience for the young adults of the Southern Territory.
It was started in 1968 by a group of young adults who were sent to Mexico. So for SSC, I will be part of the group that goes to see the locations to see if this is somewhere we can actually send a team, what they'd be doing, where they'll be staying. So when they come in to do orientation, they give a breakdown of the territory they're going to. So they have a little bit of an idea of the environment they're going into, but also the rules of the country. So they know, you know, not to step out of line because you're in a different country, so you've got to be in a different kind of headspace. One of the guys from Norway got sent to do a camping trip with the teenagers, and he's like, I don't camp, but this is what I was sent to do, and this is what I did. He said, I swam in a lake for the first time in my life in Norway, but like that's just what we were called to do, and that's what I did. So they have a little bit of an idea of what they're going to do, but it's really once they get there, they're pulled in fully.
Take one. Hello, I'm Caleb, and SSC is a mission trip where usually teams go overseas or other territories in the USA Salvation Army, and our team this year went to Malaysia and Singapore. We spent our majority of our time in Malaysia at a children's home in Kuching. As soon as we got there, we hit the ground running, and as soon as we landed, we were greeted by amazing people.
They were so welcoming. We had a dinner all together, and we got to introduce ourselves. Over the summer, we did quite a few things. For the first, around like three weeks, we hung out purely at the children's home, so we spent every day with them all day, except when they went to school, of course. They would come back, and we would see them, and we would work at the children's home during the day, like helping with service projects such as moving their food storage and helping them organize, or just helping them clean around the home.
And then when it came nighttime, we did devotions for both the girls and the boys every night, so we got to pick a devotion, one of us, and then we would all do the same devotion for all of them. As we did that, we did that for a little bit, and then we moved more into the community service aspect. We went to the Corps, and we did service projects such as cleaning the Corps, painting the walls. We really learned how to get our hands dirty, and then as we did that, we delivered food parcels to families. We went to people's individual houses and prayed with them, and it was really important and impactful to all of us to see the places that people were serving in this community. We went to Sunday service every Sunday, and then we had Sunday school, and there are seven Sunday school classes all for the kids, and then we would have the Sunday service, and it would be really impactful, and then we would also have fellowship afterwards where we would eat together. Yeah, so we also were tasked with doing programming at the children's home, and so we did a lot of things that we were able to introduce to these kids that they hadn't seen before. We created a slip and slide that they had never seen before, so we were blessed to be able to do things like that. We brought American culture to them where we taught them games that we do at our residential camps, and it was really eye-opening and impactful to be able to bring that to them. They receive it so well, and then it helps us create a bond with these children that I believe will last a lifetime.
These kids, they go between ages five, and then they go all the way up to 21. Yeah, you know, across the entire world, there are people who are hungry for Jesus, so getting the opportunity to connect and partner with the local body of Christ in Singapore and in Malaysia was such a blessing. I was truly blessed through that, and getting with the kids, they have such open hearts, just as Jesus said, the harvest is ready and the workers are few, and just getting to see that, it's true. There's joy and there's love. That's where it is. So we've come from America. We came from all the way over here, all the way to your country. See how far away we are? Look, there we are right here.
This is where we live. And so getting to live life with these kids and get to lead devotions, each of us got to lead devotions, and it was so powerful. The kids, they were listening, but afterwards, after prayer time, I had kids individually come up and they would ask for prayer, and they told me their stories and some of the struggles that they were going through, their home life. These kids, they come from hard things that have happened, like from drug abuse and different things, stuff that is just terrible. And yet they were sharing this and just getting to pray for them and getting to love them like Jesus, and getting to speak to them and let them know that, hey, God, He cares about you, that He is there for you and that you're never alone in this. And there were times even like, yeah, I even cried during it because these kids, it was just this connection, just this thing. So the opportunity to be able to do this, it was incredible.
So I was truly blessed in that. Definitely one of the girls that stuck out to me, her name was Katie. Just her face says a million words, and she has the best facial expressions, and she'll let you know if she doesn't like something. But she was always so fun to be around, and she's the oldest of the younger girls. So when we would do programming and we had to be with the young girls for a bit, she would be kind of the one to help take the lead over the young girls, make sure the young girls are in the right places. And one day we introduced a slip and slide to them, and they'd never seen a slip and slide before, so that was kind of just new to them.
They didn't know what to do. So we put baby soap all over the place, and instead of the girls wanting to slip and slide on it, they wanted to wash everybody's hair. So my favorite memory with Katie is that we were just sitting there washing each other's hair, and it was really special to me because they said, sorry, that they'd never had anybody sit there and take the time, sorry, to wash their hair. And I thought about my mom when I was Katie's age. My mom would wash my hair, and just seeing you being a part of that in Katie's life was really special and meaningful to me.
Even though it was supposed to be a slip and slide, it turned into a hair-washing thing. I'll take a moment to speak about a young man we met named Rocky. And Rocky was a light to the community, full of joy.
He's always singing, always playing. He learned how to cut hair watching videos on YouTube, and he cut me, Caleb, and Deshaun's hair while we were there. But he's just an incredible young man, and we had the chance to visit Rocky's home, and Rocky wasn't aware of that.
But we met his family and the situation he came from, and we're not allowed to ask the kids, why are you in this home? What happened in your life that brought you here? But for this one specific situation, we were able to get a glimpse in his life outside of the home. And it spoke to me a lot because of the way that he shines his light from where he came from, and if the Salvation Army wasn't a part of his life, where he would actually be. And so I was really thankful to see that from a third-person point of view, the entire story, and know where he would be without the Salvation Army or without the love of Jesus. So that was very impactful to me.
I guess the one that really stuck out for me was Carl Jung. There were times where I'd be sitting there, and he would just come over, and he'd start talking about the Bible and everything and wanting to know more, and then asking about my family and wanting to get to know me personally. So that was really heartwarming that they would just open up so easily without hesitation. You know, at the end when we left, he told us he loves us. So that was a really big thing for them to say, you know, I love you. I don't know you that well, but you came in and you guys told us you love us, and that was so insane, and it has shown us.
And so they told us they loved us, and that was amazing to hear. One of the girls that made one of the biggest impacts was Pina. She's not one of the oldest girls.
She's kind of in the middle. And when we came in, she attached to a lot of us. And I think I don't hang out with children a lot of my time. I don't work in child care or anything like that. And so I was really nervous about working with kids. But one of the days, we had a family day, and what we didn't know is that a lot of the families would not be coming to family day. It was us hanging out with the kids and saying that we're a family at the home. And we get done with the day, and I was so nervous that we didn't do a good job, and these kids didn't have a good time. Was it everything they expected? And as we're sitting down at the dinner table, I'm sitting with Pina and Cindy, and she looks across from me, and she's just like, I'm eating my chicken.
I have hands full of chicken while I'm talking about this. But she looks across, and she goes, you know, you're like my big sister, right? And I was like, why do you think I'm your big sister? And she goes, well, you just like came in one day, and she's like, and you love us. And she was like, you didn't have to.
There's no reason for you to get anything out of it, but you just came in and loved us. And she's like, and you listen to me. She's like, not everybody does that.
And she's like, I've been left here. And, try not to cry. I think it was an important part for me to learn. I was like, I love those kids so deeply. I wouldn't trade it for anything, getting to meet them. But to see that we actually made an impact in their lives was really big for me.
I don't think that I've ever cried more in my life. But this trip has definitely cemented what I want to do with it. Going on SSC is an adventure, and it is exciting. There are definitely testing and trials that happen, but it is so worth it. This mission trip for me was very impactful as well. People think you go on mission trips to change other people's lives, but really the people you meet will change your life.
And I'm forever grateful for that. As women, we're pulled in every direction, and we often put pressure on ourselves to do all and be all. We may feel overwhelmed or isolated and wonder, is it just me?
Do other women feel this way too? God Hears Her from Our Daily Bread Ministries is a community of women who, through honest conversations, personal stories, and biblically based resources, encounter God's grace and flourish together as a sisterhood in Christ. Visit GodHearsHer.org to experience podcasts, blogs, devotionals, and more that encourage us to lean on Jesus, the one who turns life's messiness into meaning.
Again, that's GodHearsHer.org. 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. 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, and we'll see you next time. The Historical Jesus Podcast is the sweeping saga of the life and times of Galilean Jesus of Nazareth, as well as the faith, religion, and church founded to honor and disseminate His acts and teachings. Join me, Mark Vinet, on this fascinating journey through time exploring the many great works of Christian theology, literature, architecture, music, and art inspired by the words and deeds of Jesus Christ.
