Q&A with Julianne Null, WorldVenture Appointee to Bolivia

June 27, 2011

What are you planning on doing in Bolivia?
 
I’m planning on working with young women, (their culture calls them jovenes, and the young is usually late high school all the way to about 30 years of age). My target is that group of women, to  just really get into their lives and hear their stories, disciple them and do life with them… whatever that  will look like. It’ll start by playing sports with them through Project Bless, created by a Bolivian college pastor with the idea that sports will bring in young people.

I’ll also do media on the side (photography and video) for our team and maybe other missionaries to increase awareness and enhance the likelihood of potential supporters and partners.

I also have a huge heart for children, and there are a lot of Compassion International projects down there that I may volunteer with.


What was one of the most influential things for you that stood out when considering Bolivia?

Meeting the missionaries that were down there, definitely. When I went there two years ago, I had already been to Bolivia five or six times before that. I heard their hearts and vision for missions, and what missions looked like to them, it was different from most of what I’d heard before, but I knew it was exactly what the Lord had been putting on my heart. I just couldn’t articulate it until I talked to them and heard what was on their hearts.


What made you say, “I want to be part of what God’s doing in South America” as opposed to somewhere else?

I think I’ve just always been attracted to the Latino culture. I feel like I fit there, it’s very warm and inviting. The culture draws me in because I’m attracted to the people. I know some Spanish, so already having a little bit of the language is easier. But the Lord just gave me a heart for Latin American culture when I was 14 years old, so going back down there and actually meeting people and developing relationships with them, it really put validity to the things He had already put on my heart like women’s ministry and sports and leading Bible studies with girls and just developing relationships.


If someone were looking for a place to minister, what could you say about Bolivia that would help he or she determine if it’s the right fit?

Latin American culture is very relational, they’re very affectionate people. If you don’t have a relationship with them, if you don’t give them your time and show them that you’re interested in getting to know them, they don’t really have a whole lot of trust for you, they don’t think you’ll stay very long and they won’t really desire to invest in you, either.

Definitely, if you’re a people person, that will mesh with the culture in Bolivia. As far as skills to offer, the team would love to have a graphic design artist that would be able to branch out their media development. They’ve also started some business as mission projects, so businesspeople that can sustain those projects are also needed. The field also needs people to minister to young people and women. I’m the only full-time missionary going there to minister to women, so I’d definitely be receptive to help!


In your journey as an appointee, what have been some of the highs and lows in the process of getting to the field?

Definitely, one low is thinking I was going to be there sooner and realizing I had so much stuff in my heart that the Lord needed to refine and pull out and have me work through before I got there. That’s also been a positive though, because I feel more free than I’ve ever been in my life. I don’t think that would have happened had I not started this process.

I’ve had more spiritual attack than I’ve ever had in my life. Ever. There have been a few periods, about a week or so at a time, where it was so obvious the enemy was trying to cause me to question or lose faith in what I was doing. But the Lord has always provided through the lows, and that has prepared and strengthened me more for my work.

The refining has been the hardest part, but the freedom is on the other end of that. Another high is seeing the Lord’s provision. He’s just provided above and beyond anything I could have asked or imagined. I didn’t really have a plan for what my life would look like from the day of appointment until now. That was very much the Lord just providing every step of the way. A lot of times, all I could see was the step in front of me, and sometimes I couldn’t even see that. It was the Lord prompting me to be obedient and take a step and He provided.

The Lord has also put incredible relationships in my life that I see now as being so vital because it has developed the community He’s surrounded me with that is now sending me… not just financially, but prayerfully and emotionally and spiritually. I have incredible encouragement and get challenged often. I definitely needed this time to really develop and strengthen those relationships.


Do you have a story that you think illustrates the spiritual need down there?

There is a girl that is on the volleyball team with Project Bless. I met her when I was in Bolivia in June 2009, and she was 19 years old with a two-year old son who was born out of wedlock. During a prayer session, she and I were paired together. Sitting on the concrete volleyball court, she just started crying and pouring her heart out to me about how she had been on a volleyball team and the father of one of her teammates basically took advantage of her and is the father of her child. This girl’s family was very caring of her, but also very ashamed. She felt very guilty and ashamed of what she did, what was done to her, and so she had this precious two-year old who never went out of the house a lot. He was kind of hidden for a while. That day she sat down with me was the first time she had told anyone in Project Bless.

Her son is now the volleyball team’s little mascot and wears a jersey, and she is growing in her relationship in the Lord. I don’t know if she was a believer when I talked to her, but I do know that the Lord has really transformed her life and it’s because she had that community with Project Bless. That enabled her to be transparent and helped her work though the guilt and shame, and now she’s just bubbling with the joy of the Lord.

To find Julianne's page on Missions on the Frontline, click here.