Today’s fun story came on the ride back from town. I was crammed into the front seat of an auto rickshaw right next to the driver. Our rickshaw was carrying 16 people and if you’ve seen the pictures, that’s quite a feat. However Mike and Abraham hold the record as they rode with 22 people the other day. Unbelievable!
Anyway, the driver and I started trying to talk. He knows a little bit of English, but not much. We tried to communicate for the entire 30 minutes we rode back to our village. To make it short I’ll share the very few things we actually got across to each other. We figured out we’re both 26. He’s married with a boy who is 1 year old. He was bewildered at the fact I’m 26 and not married. He wanted to know what was wrong with me. Haha. He likes to play volleyball and watch WWE wrestling! His eyes lit up when he told me his favorite wrestler is The Rock! Other than that I’m not really sure what else we shared during the other 25 minutes. Gotta love the communication barrier! I really enjoyed it though and he was so nice just like everyone else we’ve met.
Preaching for the First Time
Today’s ministry was interesting because Derrick and Christina took the day off to have some time for by themselves. Christina is our children’s guru/story telling extraordinaire. Derrick is our musician and song leader. For some reason after we sang a couple songs at this village, Abraham stopped asking us for a song. Ha. Usually he’d have us do lot’s of songs. I’m sure it had nothing to do with the fact that we were sooooo off key at times. But hey, we made the effort anyway.
As for the service it was my turn to preach. I knew when I signed up for the race that this opportunity would present itself. I’d tried to just not think about it much to keep the nerves away. But just as he did when I presented the gospel next to the Hindu temple, the Lord gave me such peace. Preparing the day before and the entire time I was up talking, I felt so comfortable. It’s only because of God that I was able to do this. He’s allowing me to step into this boldness I’ve been asking for. I preached the story of the gospel and tied in Ephesians 2:1-10 where it talks about being made alive in Christ. It really felt good. The best part was that I had the honor and privilege once again to lead a man in his twenties to Christ at the end of the service. God has been doing some work!!! So thanks for all your prayers! Keep them coming!
Today was also a bittersweet day. Four years ago today, my very best friend, Jon, was killed in a car accident. I was able to share that with the villagers during my sermon. Now here I am, 4 years later, in India preaching the gospel to a church full of people who don’t even speak English. I know Jon’s heart was for the people of Indonesia, but I know he’d be smiling down on me saying, “THAT’S WHAT’S UP!!!” I still miss him everyday and wish I could share this with him, but I know we’ll be reunited one day and what a celebration that will be!!
The Lord is faithful and good!
