This past week we were handing out flyers in the city to invite people to an event (which also happened last week) called, “If God exists why is there suffering?” Evangelism has always been difficult for me because I feel like I’m bothering people, I won’t know what to say, and I have to muster up the courage to talk with people. I can do it, but it’s still uncomfortable. Well I’m not going to say that I’m completely comfortable with it now, but the Lord has been changing my heart about evangelism. One of my teammates (Jonathan) said he loves doing this kind of thing because we’re planting hundreds of seeds all around the city. We will probably never know what happens with a lot of the seeds but they are still planted. Then another one of my teammates (Jacob – he’s the squad leader that’s with us this month) encouraged me in the ability God has given me to evangelize by getting to know people and making them feel comfortable, and then challenged me to walk that out. These two perspectives just added to the deeper intimacy and confidence I’ve been growing in with the Lord. So as we were handing out flyers and telling people about the Lord and church (language barrier is a real thing here too) I had so much peace and joy rather than anxiety.
We also had a few house visits this week. For one of them the husband cannot work because he has had two strokes, and the wife works and takes care of everything. We invited her to the talk about “if God exists why is there suffering” and that launched us into a great discussion about her being angry with God for allowing this to happen to her family. I think I am so used to being honest with my feelings like that and talking with the Lord about what I’m feeling that I forget people feel shame for being mad a God. One of my teammates (Jordan) sat right next to her and got to tell her that the Lord wants to hear about her anger, he’s not afraid of her being angry at him, and he loves her so deeply. What’s so cool is that we were able to plant a seed among a ground that is already being planted and watered. One of the ladies from the church is a friend and co-worker with the lady we visited, so as I’m sure they’ve already had many conversations they also get to continue this conversation.
While we were visiting with that lady, the guys were visiting with another family. During that visit the grandpa accepted Christ!! Yesterday he came to church and during worship I looked over and saw him crying. Our God is a God who pursues people even into their 70s, 80s, 90s. He doesn’t care how old they are, how much “baggage” they carry, or how long it takes, he wants to have a relationship with them! I’m so glad I got to witness that this week.
This weekend we went to another city and did some yard work and cleaning up at two different churches. Before we started the yard work we got to do a ropes course, and it was so fun! I’ve done rock climbing before but I’ve never actually done a ropes course, and it was really special getting to experience that with my team.
We have today off and then for the rest of this week we will be at a camp doing some manual labor. Talk to everyone next week!
Keep the faith,
Malia
