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Ms. Kaitlyn’s Class Update

Since being here in Puerto, I have seen many of my students change in behavior–spiritually and academically. When I first started teaching my class of 6th graders in January, I had one student that was very closed-off and unwilling to listen at times. Over time, I really had it on my heart to start a relationship with her and show her Christ’s love in simple ways. I did not know exactly how this was going to work based on her not wanting to be around me all that much as well as not being able to get her to say anything to me even when asking her questions. Later on however,  I learned there were really big things going on in her home that would make anyone seem closed-off or sad at times. After praying many days over the situation myself and with other teachers, I knew that I needed to keep pursuing a relationship to share the Lord with her. I know I needed to simply check in on her everyday, no matter if I received a response or not.
After many months of asking simple questions like, “How are you today?How are you feeling? What did you do this weekend?”, I was able to finally get her to open up little by little. She has now started speaking up in class, coming to speak to us teachers at lunch, and even has started to let me just sit and talk to her about everyday life. Sometimes the things the Lord is working on in your classroom seem small and unnoticeable at times, but when it is something you have seen people pray over for months and you began to see the fruit of those prayers, it is absolutely amazing.

-GEM Missionary, Kaitlyn Summitt

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Living Outside of Comfort

This past year was spent in a lot of prayer, specifically about where the Lord was going to lead me to teach after I graduated college, and in what ways He was going to lead me to share the Gospel in the years to come. I figured my mission field was going to be teaching middle school and serving with youth in a town I was familiar with. Well, that wasn’t exactly what the Lord had in store for me. Throughout high school, I was able to go on many short term mission trips to Nicaragua and the Lord began to give me a heart for sharing the Gospel in places that were out of my comfort zone and normal context. I left from those trips always thinking that short term missions were all that I would ever do and the Lord wasn’t calling me to do that full time. The more I prayed where the Lord wanted me, He began to surround me with people that were very mission minded like my sweet friend Sarah Beth Moore who also works for GEM. I watched her go through the process with GEM when she signed her contract and then she mentioned to me that they were looking for teachers. I was very interested, yet was also believing the lies that I wasn’t cut out to be a missionary. Sarah Beth then mentioned just talking to someone from the ministry before I gave up on the whole thing and so she connected me to someone who helped me realize how at home these people made me feel. After that first conversation I was still very nervous about committing the next two year of my life to living in a foreign country, so I backed away and prayed about decisions involving GEM. I still was worried about whether I was worthy and capable of this kinda thing.

In May of this year, God gave me complete peace and reconnected me with GEM after talking to my parents about it more. He was able to recultivate my heart for missions and gave me a passion for teaching students through the Gospel woven curriculum – which was one of the biggest things that drew me into this ministry as a whole. Once I met some of the other staff, I realized that these were people the Lord was placing in my life to be able to have a support system in Mexico while adjusting to the culture and being away from family and friends.

       The Lord has shown me so much through this process and has taught me to depend more upon Him. He has shown me that He has been leading me to this place and ministry all along and will equip me with His word and grace as I go and be obedient to His calling.  I’ve always heard that you grow when you are outside of your comfort zone and remain complacent in places that you feel comfortable. I strive to stay in a place where the Lord is challenging and growing me for the glory of His kingdom in ways that would never happen if I lived in the bounds of my own comfort.

– Kaitlyn Summitt, GEM Missionary