Bible Studies Galore: Mtn. Trek Team

The "Misty Mountains"
as the Mountain Trek team has dubbed them

The Mountain Trek team spent last week in Cy village where there were a slew of Bible studies to be had and some people that really stood out as genuine seekers of God.

A local policeman, a doctor, a kind inquisitive woman, a man that must have known everyone for all the people he kept bringing in for more studies, and a young man who’s interest only keeps  growing.

It's our prayer that these leaders keep meeting together to study the Word and that they’ll reach out to others and only keep spreading and growing believers.

That’s the real goal, for us to be able to equip people to be self-sufficient and able to reach out to others in their own villages.

One man, A, would show up at the Mountain Trek team’s house and ask for Bible studies right then and there. He’d bring his friends and each Bible study and church gathering he brought along more and more. The team was very encouraged by A's enthusiasm.

One young man that they’ve been discipling is now interested in joining Filipino Nehemiah Teams next summer.

Please pray for this village and for the believers to not lose heart but continue to grow stronger in their faith.

Participation during church

A believer reads during church service

Lisa sharing her Bible during church service

Lisa translates the passage for Bible study

Kallie shares her thoughts

A newcomer reads the Bible for the first time

Nanay reads for the last Bible study in Cy

The team arrives for Bible study

Shaefer sharing his testimony through an interpreter at a plaza presentation

Southern Lights Update

All the days seem to run together and the time just seems to be flying by. We have had a lot of fun times since the last time and so I will do my best to try to cover them all.

The main thing we did since our last update was an English workshop. Six days of getting to know about 70 kids. A team from Texas came and led the workshop while we helped. It was a good time and made for a very tiring week. But we now have about 15 guys that we know fairly well and have been able to contact and follow up with. Everyone here enjoys getting coffee and smoothies so that is a natural time to talk about anything and everything.

On Tuesday, the team from Texas returned to the city in preparation for their return to the US. We went with them and stopped along the way to visit a tourist area. We got to see rice paper being made, eat fish eggs (really embryos), and ride in little boats that are very much the Asian stereotype. It was a fun day learning more about the local culture.

On Wednesday, we were hanging out with a friend, V, and were able to share the story with him. We got dinner and then had smoothies. He is interested but still has some things he is not sure of. Please remember V.

On Friday, we met with a friend, E, and talked to him for about 3 hours sharing the story and answering lots of questions. We gave him a copy of the Book and met with him this morning to  study together. He asked many questions and we were able to answer them. I don't think he is interested in accepting right now but he just wants to learn more. Please remember E.

Those are some of the highlights of the last few days. It has been a lot of fun and very tiring. It can get frustrating and lonely but the work must go on. They must hear or they will never know him. Please continue to remember us and what we are doing. Thank you for all you are doing to lift us up.

 -Southern Lights team

Waray Update: Team Ulot

Emmy has baptized 4 women. One of those women was Lilybeth, the mother from the story “TheLittle Family of Great Faith!” Praise God!

The team has encountered some hardened hearts in C & will be changing tactics on Monday by leading a worship crusade. Pastor Dong and his worship band have volunteered to go with the team and help.

Please pray for the people’s hearts in C to be open

and receptive to the gospel.

A Little Piece of Home

Back home, I teach dance at a christian studio and at the local children's home. Work is probably the highlight of day. This morning I taught dance at a girls' juvenile prison in Thailand and I was reminded of how universal dance & the love of God really is. Although I barely speak any Thai, I'm in a different cultural setting, and I have known these girls for less than two weeks, I was so in my element!! I also got the opportunity to share my testimony with them at the end. I came to Thailand with no intentions of teaching dance, or even dancing at all this summer. But using dance as a ministry here this morning just made Thailand feel a little more like home. My home is not South Carolina, it is anywhere I am with God. So blessed to have had the opportunity to show them one of the ways I praise God. 

"So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love"

Ephesians 3:17

-Heather

N Thai: Nan Team

Our host mom has shown us around the city the last few weeks and introduced us to many of her friends. One of our new friends is beginning to accept the gospel and understand why there is only one true God for everyone! It is super encouraging for us and our host mom!!! We will just keep riding our bikes around everyday and meeting new people at the coffee shops and giving them spoonfuls of Jesus!!!

Please pray that God will reveal Himself to the people of Nan.

Pray that He will reveal the people of peace to us as we make friends in the city!!

Love in Christ,

Jenna and Krissy

He Used to Confess Allah

“What do you believe?” Bamba asked the third woman. She said she was a Muslim.

Since it was the second day of Ramadan, he began to tell her that he used to confess Allah, that he would pray five times a day, and that he would make sacrifices to atone for his sins.

But he always felt empty, never being sure that Allah heard his prayers or accepted his sacrifices.

One day, someone shared the gospel with him, and God saved him.

He came to see that his righteous deeds were like a polluted garment, and that “none is righteous; no, not one.”

Yet he also came to see that “a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ," and he now lives in peace because of the freedom he has in Jesus.

I am thankful to have had Bamba as a translator. He loves the Lord and is a faithful evangelist. I am thankful that he was able to share his testimony with this Muslim woman after I shared the overarching narrative of Scripture—creation to Christ—with her and several others.

Pray that God would continue to draw Muslims to himself here in Abidjan, all for the praise of his glorious grace.

Adapted from a story by Carley

Jesus, the cross-cultural worker

I’ve been serving in Southeast Asia more than three weeks, and I’ve learned a lot of things. But one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is that being a cross-cultural worker is hard. You arrive in a new culture where everything is different, and those differences can be overwhelming. 

At first the newness is exciting. Trying new food, meeting new people, seeing new sights is fun. This is the “honeymoon” stage of culture shock. I served in England last summer and stayed in this stage the whole time. But this summer, the newness and excitement already started to rub off after a couple of weeks. I got tired of trying new food, sitting in traffic for a long time, and not speaking the same language as the majority of the population.

Energy drain
I get tired easily and run out of energy before noon. Because of that, four-hour shifts teaching English seem to drag on. When I try to turn the conversation to the topic of Jesus, the students at the center get distracted or are totally not interested. Some people call this the “flight” stage of culture shock because this is the time you want to get on a flight back home. Jesus has been teaching me a lot in this stage. 

As I was walking to my house today, I had some time by myself to think about Jesus. While I’ve never really thought about it before, Jesus was kind of a cross-cultural worker. He left Heaven, a perfect sinless place, to come to Earth, an extremely broken and sinful place—two totally different cultures. 

I know there must have been times when Jesus got frustrated when people did not understand what he was trying to teach them. I bet there were times when he thought it would be easier to just go home. Living on the Earth wasn’t easy. He was mocked, hated and spit on. It was hard, but he still walked in obedience to the Father’s will. The Bible even says “for the joy that was set before him endured the cross” (Heb 12:2). That is such a profound concept, and when I was a new follower of Christ, it was a confusing verse. 

It was hard for me to see how there could be joy involved in the crucifixion. But now I can see the joy that was in the crucifixion was that Jesus was providing a way for anyone who believes in him to spend eternity with him, and there is unending joy in that.  

One of my all-time favorite verses says, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15). I love having a Savior who knows how I feel. And now that I’ve realized Jesus knows what it’s like to be in a new place and understands my culture shock, it makes it easier to run to him when I’m having a hard day. 

Ministry in prisons and to prostitutes
Jesus has been doing great things in Southeast Asia. My team has been able to share the Good News with quite a few people through teaching English. We have helped with a prison ministry and a ministry to prostitutes. 

So, why take the time to share about culture shock?  One day when I was having a rough time, I found a letter in my suitcase my sister placed in without my knowledge. She is a long-term cross-cultural worker in Africa and was on furlough in Texas before I left for Southeast Asia. In the letter she wrote: “Here’s a sad truth about cross-cultural work; cross-cultural workers often do a disservice to other people by not mentioning the hard stuff.” There’s so much truth in that.

Sometime as cross-cultural workers, we only want to talk about the good thing and all the cool things Jesus is doing. We don’t want to open up about our struggles or doubts. I’m learning if I pretend everything is perfect, I’m not doing anyone any good. It’s OK to have a hard day and need to cry. In those moments, we are meant to run to Jesus with our brokenness and doubts. He will be there with open arms to sympathize with our weakness, just like his word says.

-Kristen