Come and Listen

I remember when I got the confirmation e-mail that I was going to the Philippines for the whole summer. It came in early January, and my first thought was that it was going to be so hard to come back. 

Well, here we are. Came down the Ulot River for the last time today. Said a lot of goodbyes. I am going to miss this life so, so, so much.
I've been trying to figure out why it is that I think everything about life here is so exquisitely beautiful. I think it has to do with the knowledge that all people are created in God's image, and then seeing his creativity manifested in the diversity of cultures. To come from a place where the standard is air conditioning, endlessly running water, and escalators, and learn to use fans, pump a few bucketfuls of water to last the day, and trek through mud, weeds, and caribou poo... I love this! Everything is new and I feel like I see new facets of my unchanging God's character reflected in my resourceful Filipino friends and their simple lifestyles. In many ways we are so different, and yet at our core there is more in common than not: we relish good food; we laugh when embarrassed or nervous; we are irritated by flies, mosquitoes, and ratchet cats. We long to belong, to be known. Eternity has been set in our hearts, and all our restless wandering on this earth will only end when we rest in the One who created us for Himself. All of us deserve wrath and punishment, but are offered grace and new life. 

That's why I came to the Philippines. And, to be sure, it has been a beautiful and rewarding summer, sharing this Good News from God's Word with so many who've never heard. I have learned a lot, witnessed a lot, laughed a lot, struggled a lot, grown a lot. God has shown Himself to be faithful and mighty.
Only let me remember, lest I give in to the temptation to dwell in the past once I return, it's also why I wake up and go to work and go to class (usually) the other nine months of the year. I have one year left (Lord help me!) on the mission field that is Winthrop University and Rock Hill.
On that note, I'll be headed back that way in just about a week.
So this is my last post from this side of the world. For now.
grace & peace -Ruth

Team Korea & EUC

I can't begin to describe how thankful we are to have received your prayers throughout this EUC week. The Holy Spirit was without a doubt present. Cultural barriers were broken, friendships were made, and more importantly the gospel was shared. Students came to know God for the first time, students that knew Him grew more as believers, and there is now a strong unity between a group of students from many different backgrounds. One of our major prayers is that this unity would bring unification in Korea so that the gospel can be proclaimed in the North.

Our group served as small group leaders throughout the week. This can be one of the most tiring yet most rewarding jobs. Many students are hardened to the truth of the gospel and cling to the things of this world. I was so thankful that our camp theme was to "Be Transformed" based off of Romans 12. The hardened hearts can be discouraging to see. But praise be to God for even the smallest changes in these students lives. I can see God working! I rejoice in those that now know Christ, but I also rejoice in the smile I see on a face during worship from a student who normally would never smile. I rejoice in seeing the expression on a students face when they realize Jesus lives inside of them. I rejoice for prayer requests being answered and students that knew about God yet had not given their lives to Him doing so this week.

Please pray that these changes and these blessings would not be forgotten. It's easy to be in camp mode but I pray that not only this week but the lives of these students would be changed. I pray for discipleship in their lives and for them to long to share what they learned with others.

"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." -Romans 12:2

Thanks for your prayers,

Team Korea

Oh, How Blessed We Are

We may be the "trailblazers" for those to come in after us in our area of Mexico, but there have already been many that have come before us to soften the path. 

Throughout our time here, we've heard our fair share of stories from the villages of what it was like for the first believers in the villages: many of which came only 20 or 30 years ago!

Some villages beat people who turned to Christ. Others doused them with alcohol for not drinking with them during their fiestas. Some got thrown in jail for days without reason. 

Even worse, one village burned down the only evangelical church in the town and killed all the believers in it! This is the remnants of that church:

Sound familiar? "Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea." (2 Corinthians 11:25, NIV)

This is the persecution the early church endured, and this is the same persecution the early church in rural Mexico endured not too long ago. 

Luckily, we haven't experienced any persecution to this magnitude in the villages, because people have gone before us and paved the way for the gospel of God's grace. 

We have been blessed to serve under local churches in many of the villages we have been working in. However, the village that burned the church down several years ago still doesn't have an active church body, to our knowledge. 

Pray for this village, that God would raise up Christians to bear his name. 

Pray for the other villages, that their churches would reach others in their village with the message of God's love. 

Pray for those coming after us, that our work would pave the way for them, just like others' work had paved the way for us.

Intertwined in World Missions

The burden that has been laid upon me as my summer in the Philippines comes to an end...

At the very core of my being, I want to love others and bring them joy through the Good News of salvation. I want others to smile because there is a redemptive plan for each lost soul whom God draws. What drives me is seeing lifeless, purposeless souls being made alive in Christ. My heart jumps and my spirit is happy when children listen closely to hear how much their Heavenly Father loves them. I rejoice when I see someone’s desire to know Christ manifested in outward actions. I am satisfied with the faithfulness of God’s sovereign hand in people’s lives. Tears well up, and hear strings are twisted when I think about the mass amount of unreached souls who are waiting to hear the Message of Reconciliation. I am called by the God of this universe to be an ambassador of Christ, and I will fulfill that calling. I will not restrict the Gospel because of my own selfish ambitions; this mission of telling others about the saving grace through Jesus is life or death for people all around me. 

 

“We put no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way...” 2 Corinthians 6:3-4

To share the love of God and to preach Christ crucified is my desire, my drive, and the flame that burns within me until Christ returns. 

“For the love of Christ controls us.” 2 Corinthians 5:14

Thank you Lord for being faithful!

-Hannah

Softening the Soil through Sport

Last week, we got to host a soccer tournament in one of our villages -- one of our most difficult villages. 

The climate their is very cold and people aren't very welcoming -- The men work during the day, the children attend school and the women stay inside. There is no Zocalo (central area) for people to hang out in and meet people. 

We found out that many of the families are distrusting of foreigners because there were rumors of them robbing homes. The soil was hard and we needed something to soften it. 

We talked with the local believers there and they said while the nationals may be cold towards foreigners, the children aren't and once the children warm up to you, the parents will also. 

We decided to host a soccer tournament for children ages 6-12 in the village and we had a great turnout -- around 60 children showed up to play soccer and hear Bible stories.

We had four teams: two played at a time, while the other two played games and listened to Bible stories. 

We got the opportunity to share the story of David & Goliath, which some kids were familiar with but many had not heard. At the end of the tournament, when the champions were crowned, we got to share about the true champion, the one called Jesus who conquered death and gave us life!

Joseph got to share Creation to Church and told the children that the reason we were there was because Jesus had changed our lives and we want to share the joy he's given us with others!

Many children came up and thanked us not only for the tournament, but also for the Bible stories. Several parents were there throughout the day and they got to hear the stories also and see why we wanted to connect and build relationships with their children. 

Pray that the stories would sink in with the children, and that their curiosity would lead them to ask their parents questions about Jesus. 

Pray for the national believers we partnered with, that this tournament would help soften the soil for them. 

Central Asia Update

Hello again from Central Asia. We have a lot to share with you from this past week. The week was filled many visits with our local friends. We asked The Father to give us more opportunities for more intentional conversations and He has provided. Here is a glimpse into the past week.

We truly learned the art and etiquette of hosting this week more than ever. After hosting five times in six days, we feel pretty comfortable in the “do’s and don’ts” of the process. We enjoyed having Mulan over three times this week. She was joined by her friend Gretchen, two out of the three times. 

On Wednesday of this past week, we were able to discuss some deep topics with Mulan. We discussed fasting among other things. She told us about her desire to fast and join in with the Islam Religion during Ramadan. Mulan is not able to join in because her father will not allow her to participate. This conversation led to more topics and the evening ended with her desire to read The Word. We had some other opportunities for meaningful conversations with a few of our other guests as well. It was good to get to know them. We also went walking with another friend of ours on Sunday evening.

Please continue to be lifting us up to The Father and the area in which we are working. Here are some ways that you can remember the people here specifically.

• In our time spent with local friends we have come to understand that there is a great desire to find self identity. Girls look to find their self-worth in many places. Please remember the teenage girls here in Central Asia, that they would find their identity in The Creator.
• There is also a great deal of pressure placed upon teenagers to perform academically even by ways of cheating. Lift up the academic programs and the students within. Think about the teachers who are instructed to follow the rules of the school whether or not they are fair. Our supervisors are some of those who will be teaching in schools such as these. Please keep them in mind as they walk along the very narrow line of following rules and following ethics. Many times the teachers are instructed to award the students with an A whether they deserve the grade or not.
• It is not uncommon for husbands to cheat on or even beat their wives here. Please remember the many women who are in abusive relationships. Along with these women, there are usually children and relatives who are affected by these relationships as well. Ask The Father to place those who can be examples of a true father in these family’s paths.
• Upon our visit to the mosque and in visiting the burial sight of many Muslim followers, we have been faced with the somber realization that there are SO MANY who are blinded and do not know the Way. Please join us in lifting these MANY people up to The Father. “..How can they know without someone telling them?”

Thank you for joining with us in this way and following along with us on this journey. We will have one more news letter before we travel back to the United States. We look forward to sharing more of what The Father is doing here in Central Asia in the last news letter.

Because of His love,

Lauren and Olivia

Going Fishing

Thanks so much for your support this summer. I’m now going into my last week here, and it has been a truly incredible summer. Many of you know the difficult time I had preparing for this summer, and you know the uncertainty of every step that I took along the way. I can say with confidence that this summer has been blessed by Dad & His powerful hand has been upon us this summer. So, to many of you, I want to say a special thank you for encouraging me to persevere through dark & difficult circumstances all along the way. The Fruit we have seen is the consequence of our obedience to endure the difficult things and stay the course.

This week has been filled with mixed emotions: eagerness to return to Family & friends is mixed with a pain to leave new family & friends here. We’ve had so many opportunities to meet with friends this week, continue sharing the Truth, and see eyes & hearts opened to the True Light. To the right is a picture of D’s English club that he invited us to come join for a day. This was an opportunity for us to share the Store with over 30 people as D translated for us the Story of our Brother and how to return to our Father. It was truly incredible to see his boldness and willingness to share with his friends how his life has been changed. I believe we will see a lot of fruit from this small group of students.

Also, we were able to meet these students again for a party to help out with festivities and follow up with a couple of students. D says that as he has been talking about Him, he is starting to find people that are interested and he will continue to share with them. Right now he really needs some Brothers to be beside him, and this is a key goal for us this week. We want to connect him and the other interested friends with those who can continue the work after we leave. This is really important for us, so please lift this up.

This weekend we were able to travel to the countryside with one of our friends, L. We got to visit him in his home & spend a lot of time with him and his friend. We went fishing, swimming, snail-catching, crazy food eating, and badmitton-ing, and we really had a blast. It was nice to get away from the city for a couple days, and it was an awesome opportunity to live out the things we’ve been sharing with this guy for a few weeks. We got to share the Story with him and his friend, and it seems as though his heart is being opened to the Truth. He seems more receptive, but “needs more time to think about it.” For many of our friends, they’ve never even heard of this Guy before, so making a decision takes time as they consider the Truth and the cost of following. It’s hard to leave when our friends seem so close like this. We are trusting that Dad will complete the work He’s begun here, and we must simply be faithful to be obedient to do our part here.

This last week we will be meeting almost all of our contacts for a final goodbye and last words before traveling home. We will connect our new Family and those interested with Friends who can continue speaking & teaching what they need to hear.

Join us this week and Lift Up:

1. Final meetings with friends. Last opportunities to share the Truth

2. D-, continued Growth and Maturity. Ask for a mentor for him.

3. Opened eyes and hearts to receive the Truth

4. Peace for us as we deal with leaving this place that has become our home for the past 2 months

“Don’t fish with a hook, fish with a net.”

grace & peace,

M & Ernest