Wednesday, October 1, 2008 5:30pm
(Philippines) 4:30am
(USA)
It amazes me that I am sitting in Manila, Philippines. My
World Race has begun. Even Sunday,
when I was headed to the airport, I don’t think I had grasped the fact that I
was leaving the U.S. for an 11 month adventure and journey of faith. It is so good to be back with my team,
which has and will be my family this year.
All 51 of us are staying at a dorm/hostel for this week
before setting out to our ministry sites on Saturday. There has been team time, prayer, worship, and intense
teaching. The teaching has mostly
dealt with how far or deep we are willing to go in faith, redemptive gifts,
speaking in tongues, prophesy, and expectations.
We discussed in length about receiving the Holy Spirit and
speaking in tongues. After being
baptized in the Holy Spirit, we receive the gifts of speaking in tongues (to
edify ourselves) and prophesy (to edify others). I am curious what all of you reading this think about those
things. Although I have not spoke
in tongues, several others here have.
As I believe most of you are, I am very new to these ideas and
gifts. But I do want that depth of
faith, trust, and closeness that these gifts offer.
Our team time has consisted of setting norms for the year,
guidelines for prayer time, Sabbath day, accountability, and other such
issues. Saturday, my team, the
Transformers, and Team Quake will be flying to Mindinao, another island in the
Philippines, to work at a children’s home. As will be common all year, I do not know when I will be
able to use internet again, so do not worry if you don’t hear from me in a week
or more, especially when we are in certain countries like China.
