Victoria Rodriguez was the only Bermudian who took part in Campus for Christ in Tanzania.

She was one of 28 students from the University of Guelph who went to the East African nation.

Miss Rodriguez answered a few questions for The Royal Gazette about her experiences, the people she met and how she shared the Gospel with the people she met.

Q: How did you get selected to go to Tanzania?

A: I applied for this opportunity through Campus for Christ (C4C) International and my application was reviewed and accepted. I am involved in C4C at the University of Guelph.

Q: What are you studying at the University of Guelph?

A: I am about to complete a Bachelor of Science, my major is Earth Surface Science and I have a minor in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Environmental Analysis.

Q: What was the most significant thing that you learned in Tanzania?

A: It's hard to choose one thing¿so here are several to choose from: That God can use even me! I had very little experience sharing the Gospel and telling people about God before I went to Tanzania, but because I was willing to serve God and be used as a vessel, he transformed me by working in me and I became his ambassador representing him.

The words I spoke were often not my own, but a direct intervention of God's words through me from the Holy Spirit.

I learned to put aside the past and my expectations and pray over my plans but be prepared to change them. Because God's plans and ways are greater than mine and I should trust him.

God really convicted me on this trip that we should focus not on what divides us as Christians into denominations, but focus on what unites us and that is Christ.

I really learned to be united with brothers and sisters (caca and dada in Swahili). I really enjoyed the worship while in Tanzania it is so heartfelt and passionate and from the soul.

I was honoured to share that with them, and know that we worship the same God, because there is one God (moja mungu) and he is God of Tanzania and Bermuda and Canada all at the same time (omnipresent).

I personally learned from my experiences there how to be a servant leader. I was challenged to lead a team of 6 students to a northern region called Tanga to show the Jesus Film there and do evangelism "hut to hut."

I truly learned that there is a purpose to any suffering a Christian endures. God will strengthen you by the trials he puts into your life, "If he brings you to it, he'll bring you through it." In your weakness you'll be made perfect if you rely on his strength.

Q: How was the interaction between yourselves and the university students?

A: The university students in Tanzania were very welcoming and friendly. They would sit and have long chats with us about God, sacrificing their time and often classes to do so. They had lots of questions for us, mostly about Christianity but sometimes also about how Tanzania compared to where we were from. We were welcomed into dorm rooms, to study sessions outside on picnic tables, into classrooms, cafeterias and just about everywhere.

Q: What was it like to be the only Bermudian student?

A: I enjoyed it, and was able to bring a different perspective to the team. I don't mind at all being the only Bermudian, in fact I actually prefer it. One of the reasons I choose Guelph was also because of the fact that there were few Bermudians there! I like to take advantage of meeting new people and making friends from around the world and in this case across Canada. I always feel like I'm an ambassador for Bermuda as well, and I'm sure some of the friends I made this summer will be coming to Bermuda shortly!

Q: What exactly is conducting evangelism?

A: Evangelism is sharing the good news of the salvation that is possible through Jesus Christ. So conducting evangelism in practice for us was having spiritual conversations with students and Tanzanians we talked to, that were interested in hearing, which was basically everyone there), more about the Gospel message.

Most days we would talk to students in their dorm rooms, and also public meeting areas like cafeterias and outdoor picnic tables.

Why do this? Because I know that I am forgiven and loved, and I've experienced God in my life and I'm excited to share my experience and knowledge with those who haven't experienced a fulfilling relationship with God. I also wanted to go because it's commanded in the Bible (Matt 28:19) and I had a real heart for the people of Africa. I'd been to Botswana before with Bermuda Overseas Missions to build houses with Habitat for Humanity, and I loved doing that and showing God's love to the people there, but I also saw the spiritual need and wanted to serve that need as the sole focus of this trip.

Q: Was it well received?

A: Students would always welcome us into their rooms, or to sit and join them for discussion. I was never rejected or made fun of. They always made time to hear about God, even if they weren't Christian. I was amazed at how many Muslims were genuinely interested in hearing about who Jesus was. I was so encouraged to see how God had opened their minds to the truth and it was refreshing from what I've faced in the Western world where many people don't believe in a God at all. In Tanzania I only heard of 1 person coming across an atheist!! Everyone else our team talked to believed in a God.

For the last part of the trip we were split into smaller groups and sent to different regions of Tanzania to do evangelism door to door or 'hut to hut' in the more rural areas, and at night we showed the Jesus Film in Swahili (a movie about Jesus' life and death). I was in the highly Muslim region of Tanga, and even there we were extremely well received and warmly welcomed and had large crowds of people watch the movie. We were warmly greeting and welcomed into many mud huts and offered chai (tea) on numerous occasions. The people I met truly felt honoured to talk to me; they were so excited that I had come to Tanzania just to talk to them about God. Many were amazed that we had come all the way there not for our self benefit, not to lie on the beach or go on safari but to spend our time, money and energy talking to them about eternal matters. Their view of white people (wzungu) were just rich people with cameras who didn't want to speak Swahili and were afraid of eating the local food, or touching the locals for fear of disease. And because of that they really respected us and appreciated us, and freely offered us their time and welcomed us into their homes, because they figured what we had to say must be important if we had come all that way to say it. How right they were!

Q: How did the experience make you feel and what has changed within you because of the experience?

A: One thing that has changed for me is my time perspective. In Tanzania we had the opportunity to go to several churches and I was humbled. The services are like a minimum four hours long, and I really learned not to limit God and to not be selfish with my time. We soon learned to be guided by the Holy Spirit not our watches!!

This experience made me feel like there is much work to be done, and truly the labourers are few, but the harvest in Africa is plentiful. I encourage Christians to take a step of faith and commit to sharing the Gospel at home in Bermuda and overseas.

One thing I really appreciated was when we were able to train locals on how to share their faith and take them out with us to talk to people. They really gained confidence and by the end of our time there they weren't translating for us any more, but were sharing the Gospel message on their own!