Meet Sarah, a 2020 alumna of Pathways College who is currently in her fourth and final year of the Word of Life internship programme. As part of this final year, she is completing a six-month cross-cultural placement in Austria, where she has been serving since May.
In Austria, Sarah is working with the Word of Life team, engaging in various children, youth, and camp ministries.
Alongside the internship, she has been studying throughout the programme. In the first year, Sarah studied at Pathways, and for the past two years, she has been pursuing a qualification in Children and Family Ministry through Moody Bible Institute.
Sarah will return to New Zealand in mid-October, completing the internship by the end of the year. In her latest newsletter, she shared exciting plans for the future, which include transitioning into a full-time staff role with Word of Life New Zealand next year.
July/August Update
Hello! I’m excited to share with you all about the last 2 months here in Austria. It has been a busy 2 months with our 5 weeks of back-to-back summer camps. They all went really well and I am glad to have been a part of what God is doing here in Austria. The gospel was faithfully shared at all these camps, and many campers decided to take their next step with Jesus.
Summer Camps
I was involved in 4 out of the 5 summer camps. The first camp we did was an adventure camp, and it was one of my favourites because I was a leader of a “small group” which ended up being just one girl. Coming alongside this girl who desired to grow in her faith was a privilege to be a part of. I was so grateful that we were able to have conversations about faith, the highs and lows, and to be an encouragement and challenge to one another. Discipleship is SO important and it was a great start to the camp season! The other 3 camps were a kids camp, a teens camp, and an English camp and my main role was photography. I found the kid's camp the hardest because of the language. I was so focused and stuck in a selfish mindset of feeling sorry for myself and annoyed because I couldn’t talk or interact with most of the kids. I LOVE KIDS and this was hard. However, I was encouraged to search for other ways to serve others and share Christ’s love - one of which was with the volunteers. I could encourage them and challenge them in their roles, pray with them, for them, and for their campers. So in those camps, I challenged myself to stop wanting to be the one who did everything, but instead to seek how I could support the volunteers in their roles. One night I walked into my room to grab something, I didn’t plan to talk to the volunteer who was in there but I noticed she looked upset. There were a lot of excuses going on in my head on why I shouldn’t ask her if she was ok, but I knew God was prompting me to talk to her. I sat with her and she opened up to me, she was struggling with feelings of inadequacy and thought she wasn’t doing a good job with her campers. I prayed with her, and we talked for a long time. God provided me with an opportunity to extend His love to a sister in Christ, to share truth with her. Although I was selfish and was initially thinking about my own wants and needs, God showed me how to stop looking at myself and instead see that there are people all around who could use prayer, and be reminded of the love Jesus provides. Again, God continues to teach me things I didn’t expect, and I’m SO grateful.
Next Year
As you all know, I am in my final year of the internship. This raises the question of what my plan is for next year. At the start of the year, I was offered a role in Word of Life which I have been praying about since. The director of WOL, Dave, is going on sabbatical before I get back to NZ so after the summer camps I had a meeting with him to talk more about the role and give an indication of whether or not I will take the role. In that meeting, I officially accepted the role and when I return back to NZ I will be in the process of preparing for this role. I will have to begin support raising for this when I get back. I really would love to meet with all of you, my supporters, and share with you about my time in Austria, next year, what this role entails, and to thank you in person for your support over the 4 years I have been in this programme. As I am still in Austria it has been tricky to figure out how to share this news, I wanted to do it in person but being in Austria has made that hard. I hope that this news is exciting to you as much as it is to me.
Prayer
Summer camps: Prayer for the children and teenagers who heard and responded to the gospel that they would be protected from the devil's attacks and that they would desire to grow and mature in their knowledge and love for Christ. For those who didn’t respond to the gospel, pray that they will recognize their need for God and understand His love toward them.
Study: Prayer that I would be focused on my studies, that I would receive all the necessary funds to finish at the end of the year, and that I continue to appreciate the gift of study.
Austria: Prayer that in my last month and a bit in Austria I would be seeking to glorify God and not myself, that I would finish my placement well and not be distracted by what is waiting for me in NZ.
Support raising: If you would like to give a gift or begin supporting me monthly, here are the giving details:
Email: sarahdoddrell@wolinterns.nz
Word of Life International Trust: 03-0751-0035992-00
Reference: Sarah
We are incredibly proud of Sarah and all that she has accomplished. Her dedication to ministry and her continued growth in both service and study are a true reflection of the values we hold at Pathways Bible college. We look forward to seeing the impact she will continue to make in the years to come.
