This summer we’ve spent a total of 29 days on a total of 4 islands. We’ve each hiked over 100 miles and have spent countless nights in the
homes of the village people. Some houses were decent but most of them were a
little less than nice. Regardless. God provided a place to sleep and a meal to
eat every single night. For that, we give all the glory to Him whose promise
has never return void.
The Lord has taught each of us something different, this summer, and those teachings have allowed us to bring Him more glory through our daily lives. As you may have known the six of us guys were split into two teams. One team went to a small island to the north both trips and the other went to a larger island to the south on the first trip and to the northernmost tip of this island on the second trip. Once we arrived at our respective locations, we tightened our Chacos and buckled our packs and headed to find people of peace who needed to hear the Gospel.
The Northern team was able to hike fully around the island the first trip. They were able to chart the villages and the people groups as well as meeting many people of peace and sharing the Good News on countless occasions. Every person they came in contact with were Cousins with animistic beliefs. It became discouraging that they didn’t meet any believers, but through perseverance they pushed onward, planting seeds of the Gospel in every village.
On their second trip, they had a few extra media members hiking alongside them. However, this never shifted their focus or goal. They visited a few of the houses they stayed in, the first time, to follow up on life and, of course, the Gospel. They traveled around doing this for about five days before the media team had to leave. After dropping the media team off at the port, they hiked five hours and nearly fifteen miles to reach this village that they had to bypass to make it around the first time. As they walked closer towards the city, a large Hindu temple was positioned to the right as you entered. They asked the men if they could go inside and look at it, surely enough they agreed and began to explain what all the statues meant. That afternoon, in the middle of the only Hindu temple on the island, the Gospel was taught to both a Hindu man as well as a Cousin.
They walked to the next village, where they were taken to a house out in the woods. As they walked into the front yard, a woman came out saying, “Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Please come in!” They were in the house of the only Christian family on the entire island. The rest of the night was spent telling stories, praying and encouraging each other. The next morning we all sat in the floor in worship, singing songs and reading the Word of God. They soon learned that this was the first time that they have worshipped with other believers in over a year. Encouragement, for them and for us, was found in this place and which we’ll be forever grateful of.
The Lord has taught each of us something different, this summer, and those teachings have allowed us to bring Him more glory through our daily lives. As you may have known the six of us guys were split into two teams. One team went to a small island to the north both trips and the other went to a larger island to the south on the first trip and to the northernmost tip of this island on the second trip. Once we arrived at our respective locations, we tightened our Chacos and buckled our packs and headed to find people of peace who needed to hear the Gospel.
The Northern team was able to hike fully around the island the first trip. They were able to chart the villages and the people groups as well as meeting many people of peace and sharing the Good News on countless occasions. Every person they came in contact with were Cousins with animistic beliefs. It became discouraging that they didn’t meet any believers, but through perseverance they pushed onward, planting seeds of the Gospel in every village.
On their second trip, they had a few extra media members hiking alongside them. However, this never shifted their focus or goal. They visited a few of the houses they stayed in, the first time, to follow up on life and, of course, the Gospel. They traveled around doing this for about five days before the media team had to leave. After dropping the media team off at the port, they hiked five hours and nearly fifteen miles to reach this village that they had to bypass to make it around the first time. As they walked closer towards the city, a large Hindu temple was positioned to the right as you entered. They asked the men if they could go inside and look at it, surely enough they agreed and began to explain what all the statues meant. That afternoon, in the middle of the only Hindu temple on the island, the Gospel was taught to both a Hindu man as well as a Cousin.
They walked to the next village, where they were taken to a house out in the woods. As they walked into the front yard, a woman came out saying, “Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Please come in!” They were in the house of the only Christian family on the entire island. The rest of the night was spent telling stories, praying and encouraging each other. The next morning we all sat in the floor in worship, singing songs and reading the Word of God. They soon learned that this was the first time that they have worshipped with other believers in over a year. Encouragement, for them and for us, was found in this place and which we’ll be forever grateful of.
The
Southern team’s first trip was to a large island about five hours from home
base. Their trip consisted of walking to and from villages, meeting folks from
all walks of life, building relationships and sharing the Gospel. They were
able to share multiple times with many people. Their team suffered setbacks
left and right, once one team member started recovering from illness, another
would begin to feel worse.
Not
too long after returning from the first trip, one of the team members had to be
evacuated out of the country to seek medical attention. By the grace of God, he
has fully recovered and is back with us today. He did, however, have to miss
the second trip, but he took hold of every opportunity to share from a hospital
bed hundreds of miles from where we were.
On
the second trip, the Southern team took a truck 9 hours from home base to the
northern tip of this island. They still had the same plan of action, hike,
pray, eat, share the Gospel, and this is exactly what they did. The hikes were
long and the weather was hot, so at the end of the day they all were exhausted
and ready for bed. But God had other plans for them; instead of sleeping they
stayed up talking about life, talking about American culture, and talking about
the God who saves. They were able to meet many people of many trades, some
carpenters or blacksmiths, others farmers and fishermen. From their jobs,
connections to the Bible were shared, whether it is about Jesus being a
carpenter or Peter and the fishing boat. God never fails in revealing Himself
through the simplest things of every day life.
Everyone has arrived back at base camp and is starting to process everything that has happened this summer. All the people that we’ve met, all the things we’ve seen and most importantly, all those who’ve heard the Gospel of God’s grace. In one week, we will be boarding a plane bound for America, a place of many luxuries. There’s a part of me that wants to go home, but then there’s a part that wants to stay and go back out to share more and more, to keep encouraging those who believe.
Everyone has arrived back at base camp and is starting to process everything that has happened this summer. All the people that we’ve met, all the things we’ve seen and most importantly, all those who’ve heard the Gospel of God’s grace. In one week, we will be boarding a plane bound for America, a place of many luxuries. There’s a part of me that wants to go home, but then there’s a part that wants to stay and go back out to share more and more, to keep encouraging those who believe.
Pray
for those who live and serve here, pray that their work may not return void.
Pray for all the people who have heard the Gospel, pray that the Holy Spirit
will be working inside their hearts to ignite a fire for Jesus Christ. Pray for
the Christians here, currently more than 80% of the country is fasting to a
false God, but give them boldness and perseverance to endure the hardships of
living in a country without great community. And lastly, pray for all those
fasting; pray that the Lord will reveal Himself to them and that they will not
keep what they experience to themselves but that they will share it with
everyone!
