The end is only the beginning...

This last bit of the trip has been an emotional roller coaster for us! We all love Southeast Asia, and we love the people here. Our schedule is packed with saying goodbyes, and it is truly difficult to leave our new friends. Jackson and I had the opportunity recently to share the great news with our new friend Pak S. When we asked him if he believed this news could be true deep in his heart, he said yes! God is truly working in his heart, and he wants to know more, because he had never previously heard the news of Jesus. He only knew Jesus as simply a prophet. Our supervisor will follow up with him, since he works nearby.

If I have learned anything this summer, it is that so many people have not heard the gospel of God's grace. They have never heard of our Lord Jesus as we know him. The chains are many, wrapped around the hearts of the people while keeping them isolated from the news of Jesus. But we have hope that the name of Jesus has the power to break those very chains.

As we prepare to depart Southeast Asia, we hope to bring back the news of these millions of lost souls. There is a major need for laborers of the harvest, because the harvest is beyond count, and their time to wither comes closer by each day.

Pray that God would raise laborers to reach these people
Pray that people we've shared with will see Jesus revealed to them
Pray that our national partners will continue to share Jesus boldly everyday
Pray that the whole world will hear of Jesus Christ, and His boundless love for us.

-Michael

Understand & Respond

For the Lord gives wisdom, and from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.  Proverbs 2:6

Pray for the Holy Spirit to open the hearts of the unsaved to the message of the Gospel. Pray for clear delivery of the Gospel through team members. Pray for the unsaved to understand the Gospel message and respond in belief.

Team of the Day
Magical Muslim Frontliners

Country of the Day
Southeast Asia

A Burdened Heart

The past week has been full of both busy and slow days. With the end of Ramadan many of our friends have returned home to celebrate with their families, leaving our urban context and returning to rural areas. Because of this we have had seemingly discouraging and slow days. Ultimately we trust God's will and we have been using these slow moments to lift up the people we have been able to meet and share with.

On the other hand, because of the holiday people are very open to talking about religion. The people who are left in the city are those who are native to this area. We have been able to partner several times with the national believers to travel out into the community and share. It is so encouraging to see the believers here have the same heart and urgency that we have for the people of this region.

Several days ago we traveled deep into the heart of this region, driving through several hours of villages to visit a friend and his family.  As we drove we were constantly reminded of the presence and depth of Islam in this region. Our hearts are burdened because there is no one out in these areas who know Christ. There is no one living in these areas sharing the gospel. We question how these people will ever hear the Truth.

Please pray for laborers in this region who are willing to go out to the rural settings and share Christ. 
Pray for the connections already made in these regions and for the hearts of those who have already heard the gospel.  
Pray that Christ will raise up spiritual leaders and persons of peace in these communities to lead their people to Christ.

-Abbie

Halfway thereee, whoa-oh! Livin on a prayer!

Recently the team has been going more towards the rural areas of the location we are in instead of places where there is a higher chance of meeting English speaking nationals. Coordinating with translators hasn't been a problem, and after taking it to prayer and deciding to go towards these new areas, (they say that hindsight is 20/20) we can see that God's guiding hand definitely led us to do that.

Michael and I met some guys who were personal body guards for a family while they were on duty. The day was slow and they were extremely friendly, and as such after several hours of conversation we were able to form great friendships with them. One of the men invited us back to his home, to meet his wife and break fast with them. Not only did we get to share the gospel, have an amazing meal, connect our local supervisor and two national believers with them, and fit three people on a motorcycle to pick up groceries for the meal, but they were receptive to the news of Christ and are looking to continue the relationships we made and meet with us more and more.

The girls, Abbie and Meridyth, came across a woman who invited them to meet with her teacher. The class was inside a home and was a women's class for Muslims, they were able to share the gospel as well as carry great conversation for several hours, both sides asking questions and happy to talk with one another, and both the teacher as well as the woman who invited them would love to continue to meet with them in the future.

I believe God has not only been evidently at work in these relationships, disarming any possible hostilities towards the gospel, as well as filling all of our hearts with the spirit of sharing, but he has evidently been at work in our own team. I feel as if we have all grown in our understanding of the great commission as well as our understanding of what it means to be part of the body of Christ, as believers, using the gift of fellowship not only to grow together, but to challenge and encourage one another daily.

Please pray for the people that we have met, that God will continue to work in the hearts and minds of those individuals, as well as continue to work and mature us towards becoming mature Christian adults, passionate about the furthering of His kingdom and passionate our daily walk with Jesus Christ. Also pray God will continue to provide able and willing translators despite the upcoming holidays and school breaks so we can continue to bring the Gospel to new areas.

-Jackson

Searching for Persons of Peace

The past week has been filled with varying emotions. Due to the busy schedules of our college-aged translators, we were met with the challenge of sharing without someone to translate. We have quickly found that even though in an urban setting, many still do not know English.  If English is understood, often they are unfamiliar with spiritual language. In two different settings we shared with English speakers but realized the language barrier affected comprehension. However, we trust the power of the gospel and the spirit to move in their hearts with what they did understand.

We continue to encourage and lift up the local believers.  Through our sharing we hope to disciple the believers to do the same. We realize that we are here today because someone discipled and did the same to us as we do to the believers.

Please continue to pray for persons of peace. Our hearts are burdened to find someone who is searching. Often we are met with with disinterest after sharing and we yearn to see light come to the eyes of someone who recognizes truth.

-Abbie

Disillusionment

"Then, you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." - John 8:32

"But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth." - John 16:13

Our God is TRUTH. As teams minister to the unsaved, pray that the unsaved would be disillusioned with the demonic gods they serve. Pray the unsaved would see the truth of the Gospel.

Team of the Day

Magical Muslim Frontliners

Country of the Day

Southeast Asia

Black Magic meets the Light of the World

I think my favorite part about this trip has been watching the nationals open a holy book for the first time. The questions they have about their future…right there on the pages…answered and in their language. It’s not in a form of Arabic that almost no one can read. I wish more people could see the hunger in their eyes as they have the book almost touching their nose as if they can’t get enough of it. I want more Christians to see the look of skepticism, as they first open the word, fade away and a longing for more starts to form. It’s a moment you can’t capture on camera. One has to see for himself. I want more people come and share and be so overwhelmed with lostness that they don’t leave. The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few…

This past village was located deep in the mountains after a two-hour van ride from our home base. We arrived with intentions to love and pray for the people, and that is exactly what we did. Falling into specific gender roles was hard at first, but I realized it was necessary when trying to reach these people. At the end of our time, it may not have seemed like much was done, but I believe just showing them the joy we had in Jesus Christ was enough for the Holy Spirit to move. 

The night before we left, people made threats against us because we were there and also threatened our leader. When we heard this, we prayed, and then we worshiped, knowing that whatever God wills will happen. Also, unknowingly, that same night apparently some people who were in the village tried to use black magic around us. Then, the next day, about two hours after we left, a religious leader in the area showed up angry in the village and was questioning why we were there. The nationals defended us! I believe it’s because they saw the way we loved and prayed for them, and then this leader shows up angry demanding they follow more rules. The villagers basically told him to leave, and that they weren’t even fasting during Ramadan anyway. Wow! These people are seeing a big difference and are so hungry to know more about the Father. He has been so good and faithful this whole trip, and I can’t wait to see all of the ways in which He works this summer.

-Kerriel

Local Discipleship

The past few days our team has continued to meet with potential translators from the local university. This experience has been so powerful for us as we see the students react to our explanation of our response to the Great Commission.

It is a common misconception here that only seminary graduates are responsible for spreading the Good News. When we tell them that we're studying engineering, music education, and international relations, with the intention of using our career paths as a platform for meeting non-believers and sharing the Gospel, we can see how excited they are.

We have been praying that God will use us to truly show the students we're partnering with how powerful and necessary it is to share the Gospel everywhere you go, especially in your own area.

We are so excited to be a part of their discipleship and we ask that you pray for God to transform their mindset and use them to influence other believers in response to the Great Commission.

Please continue to pray that through them and different English speaking non-believers, God will help us to effectively communicate the Gospel with everyone we meet. We have already seen so many answered prayers so please continue to lift up our team!

-Meridyth

A Transformed Perspective

As our first week in Indonesia winds down, our team has enjoyed being on able to reflect on how quickly our mindsets have transformed in just a few short days. 

Our first few days of orientation and adjustment made us wonder if we would ever truly feel at home here. We were concerned about the language barrier and about trying to find people of peace in such a dark place. 

Our first ministry endeavor trying to meet people on our own (without a translator) quickly made us realize just how scary it can be to try and share the Gospel. We were scared of our inadequacies and that people simply wouldn't be interested in what we were sharing. 

God overcame our fears though and we found a girl who knew English and was excited at the prospect of our friendship. That short but encouraging conversation reminded us how truly faithful God is and that we must pray for courage and boldness in everything we do. 

Please pray for our team as we continue to adjust and as we follow up with new connections that we have made. 
Pray we will never again doubt God's promises and that we will rely on prayer in every situation.
Pray our prayers will never be timid or fearful but that they will be bold and will allow God to show us how truly incredible and sovereign his is each and every day. 

-Meridyth 

Starting Conversations

Our first Sunday in Southeast Asia, our supervisors took us to a local English speaking church. There we were able to connect with several local college students and we were amazed at how eager they were to help us with translation and outreach. 

Yesterday, we were able to use one of the students we met there, Erni, as we tried to start spiritual conversations with different women in the mall. Our minds were blown away by her enthusiasm for sharing the gospel and talking to total strangers. 

The biggest blessing of the day was the women that we met who were eager to talk about their faith as well as about Christianity. We were able to find people of peace who God and the Holy Spirit had clearly prepared for us, which was such an encouragement for all of us. 

Throughout the day yesterday, we constantly realized just how powerfully God is going to answer our prayers this summers. Each of our fears have been blown away and we can't help but wonder how on earth we ever could have doubted God's power in the first place. He has already revealed to us that He has incredible things in store for these people and we are so grateful to be part of such an amazing ministry. 

Please pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to come before us to prepare the hearts and the minds of the people we will come in contact with each day. 
Pray we will continue to boldly share with every person we meet and that our national partners will continue to be such an incredible asset throughout the summer. 

-Meridyth

Meet the Team: Magical Muslim Frontliners

Jackson just finished his freshman year at Mississippi State University where he is studying studying software engineering. He is from Amarillo, Texas and is excited for his first experience sharing with the people of Southeast Asia.

Abbie is a junior at Boyce College and is majoring in Global Studies. Originally from North Carolina, she currently lives in Louisville, Kentucky and has a heart for sharing with Muslims.

Michael was born in raised in Arkansas and is now studying music education the University of Central Arkansas. This is his first trip out of the country so he is eager to serve the Lord and share with the people of Southeast Asia.

Meridyth is a junior at Baylor University and is studying international studies and religion. She is passionate about Muslims and is excited to be blessed with the opportunity to spend the entire summer serving in a new context.

Please pray for our team as we get to know each other and learn God's will for our time in Southeast Asia. 
Pray He will prepare the hearts of the people we are going to come in contact with and that we never lose sight of our purpose this summer.

-Meridyth