On April 29-May 1, I was able to participate in the Indigitous São Paulo and I can say without exaggeration that it was quite a unique experience. I say “unique” in many ways.
First, I had less than a week to understand that God wanted me to be present at this conference and have faith to trust that He would provide all means for my trip. And that’s what I did. I went with faith (which was the only thing I had) and God assured the rest, and before I knew it I was on a bus en route to the event. The days leading up to the event were awesome, because I could see God moving people to help me, miracles happening, and a beautiful testimony being formed. However, the best was yet to come!
Before I start talking about the event itself, let me explain that God had encouraged me to start something using the digital world. But what? With what resources? Anyway, these were questions that created a huge barrier for me. But that’s where Indigitous came in!
When I arrived at the Mackenzie Presbyterian University, I rediscovered friends I made in other ministry events, and then the conference started. Simon, the co-founder of Indigitous, showed us that the internet is a gigantic mission field and made us realize that people are creating a very deep bond online. We are living in a world where a smartphone is more affordable than sanitation, for example, so why not use this fact to make disciples around the world? At that point I knew I really should do something. But how?
When the second day began, another barrier was thrown to the ground. By knowing more about familiaevida.com and how it started, I could see that it is simply necessary to “start,” press the START button, take the first step. Mistakes are part of the journey and they themselves help us to improve the final product. I learned that with time, our work is refined. It was a punch in my face. My fear of making mistakes enveloped me and prevented from learning from these mistakes.
Now I was ready and prepared to be trained. And that’s what happened. I learned about subjects that I always wanted, for example, the behavior of social networks. But I also saw things that did not know existed. I had no idea that I could plan postings on a social network. Importantly, I also learned to think like I was the public. Thinking from the perspective of the audience was something made very clear this weekend.
The fruits post-Indigitous have started to sprout. A team is being formed to carry the strategies we use in universities for the digital world and, moreover, improve the tools we already have. I’m sure that great things are to come!
In addition to all the learning that will bring to life, I met amazing people who already work in this universe and also friends in the same situation in which I found myself. The friendships I made this weekend will be one of the things I never forget. All this conference was one of those moments we would like to immortalize.
Anyone who knows me knows how I like a good night’s sleep; however, thinking of everything that happened, I could conclude that the thing I did least those three days was sleep. And I never have been so happy to say that!