Our first full day in Can-Ayan, Pastor JoJo, the man we would be working with for the month, showed us around town and introduced us to the people he knew. He also took us to Mountainside Bible Seminary, which was where he went to seminary at the age of 14. It was right in town and consequently, only a short walk from our house. We met the director of the seminary and were given a tour of the facilities.
The students performed a few songs for us and we introduced ourselves to them. Just before we left, we were asked if we wanted to teach their classes the following day. There are three different years of students and we were given different topics for each year: counseling, doctrine of the Trinity, and music/English. We agreed to come back the following day and teach.
Michelle Close is the only one on the team with experience teaching in Seminary. That evening after ministry, we sat down together and decided who would teach what subject to what year. Michelle Close would be the counseling teacher and she would teach to all three years for the first hour of class. Michelle Kwak would be the music/English teacher and would teach the first years for the second hour. Ed would be the Doctrine of the Trinity teacher and would teach the second and third years together. Those of us who weren't teaching, helped the best we could by providing scriptures, ideas, and sermons that might help them prepare.
We walked to the seminary bright and early the next morning with our notes and Bibles in hand. We were all together in the chapel for the first hour as we watched Michelle Close teach on Biblical counseling. The second hour, the upperclassmen went to a classroom while the first years stayed in the chapel. Kwak stayed to teach the first years and Michelle Close and Cathy stayed for moral support.
Erin, Christopher, and I went with Ed with the upperclassmen. Ed did a fantastic job, but ended up coming a little short on time. He got us that message about half way through, so the three of us started scrambling, looking for something else to teach that related to the Doctrine of Jesus as the Son of God. I remember parts of a sermon I heard back home at Antioch on how each gospel focused on a different aspect of Jesus. I quick looked up some scripture verses and jotted down a few notes, just in time for Ed to ask if we had anything else. I looked at the other two and knew it was my turn.
So I stood up in front of a classroom of seminary students who would be sent out into the mountains and back country of this island to preach the gospel to tribes that may have never heard the name of Jesus before. What?! Who am I that I can teach seminary? But if you have open ears to hear and a willing heart to act, God will use you for amazing things!
Us and our students
Less than a week later, we found ourselves at a prayer meeting at one of the smallest churches in one of the poor areas of town. The meeting started off with a few songs of worship and then Pastor JoJo said a few words. He then asked if one of us could give a short sermon on prayer. We all started our usual scramble to find something to say. Then, he called me out: "Laura, maybe you could be the one to bring the message." Oh boy.
It's funny how God works: the day before Ed had led us in a devotional about prayer. The devotional piqued my interest, so I had been listening to a sermon on prayer that morning from my pastor back home. I didn’t have quite enough time to finish it before the day of ministry started, but I took my ipod with me hoping to listen to a few minutes here and a few minutes there throughout the day. Well, that didn’t happen.
So, I had half a sermon fresh in my mind to pull from and relied on God to fill in the rest. As soon as Pasto JoJo mentioned prayer, I had a feeling I would be the one to preach. So I preached. I preached on the importance of prayer and how prayer is a privilege and a duty. I encouraged them all to pray big prayers because our God is able. It wasn’t the most eloquent sermon, but Pastor JoJo translated for me and said that those in attendance were very encouraged by it.
Praise the Lord!
