When I began preparing for my trip here, I started setting goals in my head. I wanted to hang out with a new teammate from my football team each day and hopefully discover where each person was spiritually. Once my plane landed and I got settled in, I quickly realized this plan needed major adjusting. The first big realization was that the Portuguese people—at least the ones we encountered—do not build relationships as quickly as Americans. It takes quite a long time for them to build trust in you enough to go deeper than surface level conversations.
So, for the first three weeks I continually was trying to find new people to hang out with and build trust. This is much harder than it sounds, because a lot of them do not want to change their schedule to hang out with us. So, we have to go a long with whatever they already had planned. This puts us in many situations that we wouldn’t consider ministry opportunities in America. But if you change your mindset, it opens many doors. The Portuguese football players have brought us to concerts, parties and clubs because that is what they want to do.
If I went back to America and began telling people that I went to clubs on my mission trip, they immediately would begin questioning whether I was the right person for this trip. But what is not seen on the surface is the amount of trust these guys have put in us. And because of the trust that has developed, God is opening doors of opportunity for us to make a difference in the lives of our new friends. Many times, when I have hung out with these guys, a spiritual conversation has progressed from almost nothing. It began to happen naturally, because they know why I am here. They wonder why I go out with them, but I don’t do the same things as them. They have seen my heart through my lifestyle.
Since these guys have now started showing interest in my lifestyle, it is now God’s time to shine. I am excited about the plans God has for me in these guy’s lives. One thing God has taught me so far is this—just because a setting changes, the goal remains the same. Even though I am sitting at a concert with loud music and bright lights, I can still show God’s love to the Portuguese people.
Michael Williams, a student at Stephen F. Austin State University, is serving with Go Now Missions in Portugal.?
We seek to connect God’s story and God’s people around the world. To learn more about God’s story, click here.
Send comments and feedback to Eric Black, our editor. For comments to be published, please specify “letter to the editor.” Maximum length for publication is 300 words.