MIEL SMITH

MIEL'S STORY

“This wasn’t my dream, but it was God’s plan.” This was Miel’s sentiment in discovering she had been assigned to a church in Rota, Cadiz for her bridging placement. Originally from Bolivia, Miel moved to the north of Spain when she was five years old.
 

Growing up near Barcelona, she had never traveled south and it certainly wasn’t on her list
of preferences when it came time to decide where she would complete her bridging
placement. That decision, however, was out of her hands. “They would pray for every student, ” Miel said concerning the IBTI college leadership,“forwhere God wanted them to go." When Miel learned she had been assigned to a church in Spain, she was deeply disappointed. Weren’t missionaries meant to go to countries different from their own? Why was she going back home? “I thought I wouldn’t learn anything. That I wouldn’t grow because it was the same culture.” Putting her reservations aside, Miel knew the IBTI had prayed for her and she trusted God was leading them in this choice.
 

In traveling to Rota, Miel found herself immersed in a culture quite unlike what she had expected.

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“The south of Spain is totally different from the north. The culture and ideas, people’s personalities are open and warm; the north is quite opposite.”

Miel was plunged right into the life of the church, getting involved in youth ministry, weekly evangelism activities, making food distributions with the food bank, joining the custodial ladies in cleaning the church, serving on the worship team, and preaching in services and youth meetings.
 

During one of their evangelism outings, she met a Colombian lady who struggled emotionally. The woman was initially cold towards Miel, saying she was a New Age believer and showing no interest in being ministered to. Over the weeks, however, she slowly began to soften.

“I got to know her better and the last day that I saw her, we offered to pray for her because she was crying and broken from a personal problem… the amazing thing is that she accepted us to pray for her. Then she said she could feel peace and was very thankful.”

On another occasion, Miel had the opportunity to travel on a 4-day mission trip to Melilla, North Africa where the team worked with children and partnered with social action initiatives.

“I got to meet different muslim kids that had crossed the border Morocco and Melilla. But there was one kid in particular [who] spent the four days with me. He told me his story and everything about his family, he really opened up. He had heart problems and he was very impacted by everything we were doing. He even helped us prepare everything for the outreach and didn't want us to leave. We could share the gospel with him and even if he didn't accept Jesus in that moment, I know he will never forget about it."

Miel repeatedly expressed her thankfulness for the relationships created over her time on
placement. Every day, families from the church would open their homes to her and they
would eat, visit, and share in fellowship together.

“Placement played such an important role in my spiritual and personal growth. But most importantly, I learned what church is. It's not just a great deal of activities happening on different days, but people. What God intended when He designed and created the Church wasn't just about a building or a series of activities, but the transformation of lives. What I got to learn is that the most important thing for God is us: people who have hearts and have real spiritual needs. And for those of us who are in the process of leading [others, we need to take care of them and love them as Jesus does. Before placement, I had no idea about this. [Even though we were taught some of these principles during my first year at the IBTI, I got to understand them fully by spending time with people who were struggling emotionally and needed to be listened to, loved, and helped. I think this impacted me the most because, as a product of a very individualistic society, it was very difficult for me to break from my egocentric way of living, to finally [live] by the [command] to love others as yourself. [I finally understood] that if I can love others, it’s because God loved us first.”

In reflecting on her time during placement, Miel expressed nothing but profound gratitude. “God really blessed me,” she said humbly. “It was one of the most impactful times of my life.”