@christinahiro
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Registered: 5 years, 6 months ago
• Greater Orlando Urban Missionary • Started with SPSE in 2019 Describe your team - size, location and frequency of evangelization outings, other team gatherings My role as an urban missionary is to inspire, train, and equip local Catholics to spread the Gospel message in Orlando. Usually our team size is usually from 3-5 people at an outing. Our team goes out every month to evangelize in the local parks of Orlando. Our most frequent place to evangelize is at Lake Eola Park. Besides having street ministry outings, I also like to hold formation nights with my team to learn, discuss, and practice evangelization skills. I also alternate formation nights with prayer nights where we pray Evening prayer together. How has God worked in and through your SPSE team? I have seen God form my team members as missionary disciples through some incredible encounters. During the time of lockdown in Florida, my teammates were having powerful encounters where they shared their testimony with people even though it was rare to have these intimate conversations. I have also seen God literally bring people to us in haste while we are evangelizing with comments like "I'm so glad to see you guys out here" or a desperate cry for prayer. What motivates you to evangelize? or What led you to SPSE? The urgency of people in despair and the great love I have encountered from the Lord pushes me onward in evangelization. I was led to SPSE through prayer and the Holy Spirit. When I encountered this ministry, I had a few obvious signs from the Holy Spirit that was telling me I belonged here. What is the relationship between evangelization and your spiritual life (prayer)? I know that evangelization entails a spiritual battle. The days surrounding street ministry time is when I ask for the Holy Spirit to go before me or to water the seeds we plant. This was a concept I learned from St Patrick's famous Breastplate prayer. I turn to scripture often and devote my time to listening to God's voice. Some of my favorite scriptures include: Psalm 16, 27, 37 and the Gospel of Luke 8-10 Is there an obstacle you have overcome while leading your team? (tell me about it.) There are sometimes people who have apologetic arguments against the Church being the true Church of Christ. While I am familiar with many of those arguments, there are times when my teammates are faced with that conversation instead of me. I overcome these obstacles through training my team mates to teaching them how to humbly share that they don’t know something and be a leader in orienting the conversation on preaching the gospel. Many times, people are impressed that we admit to not knowing everything about our faith and then they are open to receiving the pamphlets and cards that do have information about doctrine/social teaching. Can you share an "elevator speech" version of your testimony of God's work in your life? I had an incredible encounter with Christ in college when I was struggling with my own mental health and sins. He showed me mercy and I promised to keep him at the center of my life. I then experienced joy through healthy relationships in my life and the first taste of freedom as a daughter of God. I now have a desire to share the love of Christ with others
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