Watching God at work

Kingdom Teams (K-Teams) were dynamic experiences this summer for the students being served through a migrant education program, the K-Teams staff, and the youth who joined the teams. Kingdom Teams Director German Bernardez led a K-Teams staff of Esther Milonde Makoma, Sapjah Zapotitla, and Yokebed Zapotitla. K-Teams are groups of middle and high school youth groups that serve for a week of discipleship training and local outreach in Lancaster City, Pa.

K-Teams partner with The Pennsylvania Migrant Education Program at Millersville University, to connect with immigrant and refugee youth. “One of the most meaningful moments I experienced in K-Teams was when I took the time to just sit in the cafeteria, and there was a group of six Spanish-speaking students,” said Sapjah. These students were usually very quiet and kept to themselves, but Sapjah felt like it was a good time to bring them together and do something with them. Sapjah had a deck of conversation-starting cards called Soularium. The cards have images and questions. She pulled out one that asked, “When you think about God, what does that look like?” Then Sapjah invited the students to share with her about what they believed. It was so meaningful for her that the students felt like they could share honestly with her. She felt that God used this moment to prepare her, not only to teach the students, but also to be a trusted role model with whom they could share openly about faith.

The students at the migrant education program were eager to connect with the K-Teams. Many told Esther that they were so excited to wake up each morning and see the teams. Among several other languages that Esther speaks, she knows some Swahili, having spent some of her early life in Uganda. She talked about some playful moments she had with some of the students who spoke Swahili as their native language. She got to surprise them by saying, “Mambo!” which means “Hi!” in Swahili. “It was really amazing seeing their faces,” she recalled. Positive cross-cultural interactions were also a takeaway for German. He said, “Being able to share with different people, from different backgrounds and different cultures, was really meaningful.” Similarly to the way that Esther was able to connect with students who spoke Swahili, Yokebed, German, and Sapjah were able to connect with students whose native language was Spanish. The added skill set of familiarity with students’ native languages made interactions this year impactful in new ways. 

In addition to bringing together multiple people with different cultural backgrounds, God was also working spiritually in powerful ways. Two weeks before K-Teams, Yokebed and Sapjah were in a severe car accident. When she initially thought she wouldn’t be able to sit up or walk due to injury, God brought about miraculous healing in Sapjah’s body. She was able to be discharged after just one night in the hospital and to join K-Teams, instead of having to stay home to recover. Yokebed also shared about the way that God worked throughout the summer. She reflected that she sometimes struggled to feel close to God when praying. During one of the youth group worship times, there was a time of prayer, during which people could pray for others if they felt led. She was able to pray for one of the youth, and it was an emotional moment. They were crying, and Yokebed could feel God’s presence. In contrast to the busyness of the week, they were able to take a moment to focus in an intentional and powerful way.

God moved in powerful ways to allow the K-Teams to serve and make an impact this summer. Interested in getting involved next year? Learn more about K-Teams and register your youth at emm.org/kteams.