Ariana, a junior at Purdue University, had a great idea to put up a bulletin board in the Latino Cultural Center on campus. Ariana is trying to launch a Destino ministry on her campus and is looking for ways to engage with new students. The bulletin board would allow her to advertise Destino and gather information from those who might be interested.
A week later she returned to the LCC to gather the information. Instead she was met with disappointment. The LCC could no longer display bulletin boards for other groups and her bulletin board was empty.
Ariana was discouraged and disappointed, but she did not give up. The next day she started a Destino at Purdue Instagram account. In just three days there were over 100 followers! God used this setback to push Ariana to think creatively about how to connect with students at Purdue. Now she has an even more powerful platform where she can post things to stir spiritual curiosity in others, promote Destino, and invite people into Christ-centered community.
“As Ariana and I celebrated what God has done this semester, she mentioned how she has seen the Lord grow her own faith as she has been leading Destino,” said Chelsea Hengeveld, a Destino staff member who is helping Ariana to launch the ministry from a distance. Although no Destino staff members work at Purdue, the two meet regularly over video chat. “She has stepped out in faith to meet new people, sacrificed her time and her finances to attend the Destino Winter Conference in order to be further equipped as a leader, and she has seen God use her gifts of creativity and art, while at the same time equipping her in her areas of weakness,” explained Chelsea.
Chelsea reminded Ariana of God’s promise in Isaiah 55, that His word will not return to Him empty but will accomplish the thing for which He sent it. Together the two of them continue to trust God to work in the lives of the 1,300 Hispanic and Latino students at Purdue.