These past two weeks have been amazing and I am amazed at what God has
done in the barangay! There were 8 salvations and 7 baptisms! After we
were there about 10 days, two 17 year old girls were saved! We talked to
one of them and confirmed that she was saved and then as we were
talking to the second one, I looked up and saw the first girl witnessing
to the second. This girl had been saved for about 2 minutes and she was
already witnessing. I have never seen anything like that at home. It made me think of all the people that it takes years for them to
get the courage to share with someone else because they think that they
need to understand the whole Bible before they witness to others. That
is not true! If you are a believer then you have the Holy Spirit inside
you and that’s all you need.
The same thing happened a week later after
one of our Bible studies. I was talking to some of the older girls when I
looked up and saw this 13 year old boy who had been saved for less than
a week, with his Bible open and sharing to word with an older boy.
That’s boldness! One cool thing about that is that we really haven’t had
to tell them that they need to share with others and lead Bible
studies: the Holy Spirit has given them the desire to do it and they are
obedient.
God works in surprising and miraculous ways. Those two girls have
truly been given wisdom from the Holy Spirit. They understand biblical
stories that they had never heard before, they see the gospel truth in
scripture without us having to explain it to them. They read the Bible
and they understand. I have watched them be completely transformed and
their hearts changed. God has given them a mission minded heart full of
love for their people. They and the other 5 believers are excitedly
teaching and testifying to everyone they meet. The last day my team was
in the village we just sat with them as they taught every single Bible
study we left behind. Without any help from us. Wow. And all of this has
happened in a week and a half. A WEEK AND A HALF. Woah. That just
happened. God just did that. Praise God!
As it says in 1 Timothy 4:12 “Don’t let anyone look down on you
because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech,
in life, in love, in faith and in purity.”
I have seen this verse in action this week and I send this challenge
out: Pray for these that they don’t stop being obedient. Also- God can
work with whatever we got. Even if we think we aren’t good enough or
talented enough- God is enough. And all we need to do is be obedient to
Him and He will do the rest! I have seen it happen here. God used me to
reach those people: and I am not a preacher, a trained evangelist, or a Bible scholar. And God is using those teenagers to reach others. And I know God can do the same with anyone else who steps out
in obedience. Just do that and then you will be saying just like I am now: Look what God can do!
-Lauren