The month of May was packed full of Resident end-of-term activities, including capstone projects, presentations, debrief meetings, final braais, final dinners, final partner visits, exit interviews, and finally a wonderful graduation ceremony on May 31. All of these events were so joyful and encouraging. Even with a shorter residency, God was able to transform and impact each resident in the ways they needed. As we spoke to each resident in our final one-on-one check-ins and heard from them at their capstone presentations, the overall theme we sensed was a restoration of hope. Each of them had lost (or never had) hope in at least one area of their own lives or their perspective of the world and each of them was able to begin to see God's intervention and light in those spaces. Some came out of church corruption and hypocrisy, some from disappointment with Christian ministry organisations, some from brokenness and family tragedy, some from personal issues of self-worth. Through involvement in Christ-centered ministries, authentic community and the biblical search for truth, Residents were able to experience hope and renewal in these areas. Please join us in continuing to pray for them as they transition back to be continue growing in their faith and influencing their community with love.

Here are a few quotes from residents on how they have grown:

"I used to be afraid to pray what was on my heart and rather just said rehearsed prayers, but now I have the courage to pray those prayers of faith."

"I learned it’s ok to not be ok"

"I learned to let people into my personal bubble and put myself out there a little more, even speaking in front of large groups"

"I used to have a mindset that nothing is going to change and there is no hope for me because of what I have gone through and where I am, but I grew to see my worth and the hope for me to change myself and my world."

"I learned that in God there is hope for everyone."

"I learned to allow God into everything"

"I now have tools to implement things I learned at home like the a rule of life, bible reading, leading bible studies and understanding the gospel"

"I feel stronger in faith"

"I learned about myself- how I connect with God, how I release bitterness and move on"

"I learned to accept people for who they are- even if they do things different, having to put myself aside for other people"

"I learned that I don’t have to do everything on my own. Community is so important."

"Learning about different personalities and how to respond to them reminded me of being made in the image of God- we were chosen, Christ chose us. It reaffirmed that Christ chose me to walk this particular journey."

"I did things I never knew I could do like giving a Bible talk so now I feel like I can do even more"

"I had given up on Christian community and my relationship with the Lord had slowed down but at EM I came to understand things differently about people in relation to God."

"I'm walking away with a desire to pursue God more"

"I have a desire to impact my family and community with what I've learned, most importantly with the love of God."

“I've been around a lot of programs, but this is the best I have ever been led. I have a much better idea of what a Christ-like leader should be.”

“All the things I’ve learned at East Mountain are like keys I want to use to unlock the same things in other people’s lives.”

“It rekindled my love for kids and to do ministry with them.”

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