program stories
Sarah Mae, 26
summer of 2016
from Milan, Italy
I was born in Manila (Philippines), naturalized Italian with a combined BA and MA degree in Music and a BS in Psychology. I was a member and part of the music ministry of the Methodist Church in Milan, where four years ago I had the chance to meet Ken Rheingans one Sunday morning. I had lived in Milan for 15 years. In September of 2016 following the program, I moved to Rome to be the new Youth Project Manager of the Methodist Church.
During my time in the Epworth League Discipleship Intensive Program, I got to experience God’s love that binds different people with different cultural backgrounds together. I got the biggest experience of life living my faith in a Christian community where we honored and praised God’s name and presence everyday through morning prayers, bible studies, discussions and different missions we had. That
summer got me out of my comfort zone.
I was thousand of miles away from home, but God blessed me and enriched my life with a new family and a new home. I learned how to be at the service of someone in need of help, to take risk for God, to let go and follow Him, for Thy will be done.
This program also gave me enough time to reflect on my life, and let me realize how the many different talents and gifts God has given me can be put all together in ministry leadership. My faith was deeply transformed into another dimension as I learned how to love as Jesus loved and to put God first, letting the Holy spirit lead me.