Thank you Lord for your Provision!

Wow!  The World Race is half way over for me!  It goes so fast!  I can’t thank you enough for your support.  Because of you yielding to that still, small voice of God I am fully funded!  Not only has this journey changed my life, but also the lives of many people around the world.  Your obedience and willingness to be used by Him has brought so much glory to His name in 7 countries so far…

 

In Cambodia,  we touched students who are seeking education.  They took a step to move from the rural areas of Battambang into the city in hopes to gain knowledge and opportunity to do more with their life.  And as they learned more about their subjects in school we lived with them sharing the love of Christ and discussing the beauty of His character.  We were blessed to see the fruit of that ministry as the kids loved us as much as we loved on them.  Jesus’ love is strong in Lighthouse Battambang.

When I say we, I mean me, you, and Jesus.  Yes, you supported this and therefore you have been with me through all of this!

 

In Thailand, WE loved on the children of the slums in Chiang Mai.  Everyday we traveled to a black dirty river surrounded by tin make shift huts saying “Sa Wat De Ka!  Hello!” welcoming the children out to play and talk about Jesus. As we loved on these children the adults would come and watch.  As they watched, their hearts were softened because we wanted nothing but to love on their children and they saw the love of Jesus through our actions.  For some of the adults, we even got to speak to them about Jesus, pray for their salvation, and pray for healing over their sicknesses.  In the slum ministry at Cafe Zion we loved in a ghetto planting a seed of hope that says “your children don’t have to be sold into slavery or prostitution.  Put your trust in Jesus.  He loves and provides for us when we accept it. Our love comes as one of many gifts from Him.”

Yet our adventure continues…

 

In Malaysia, we used the Christmas season to receive an invitation into unbelievers homes to sing about Jesus!  Christmas has become a bit of a pagan holiday around the world even though it is all about our Savior Jesus Christ.  The invitation allowed us the opportunity to share the love and joy of the real essence of the season to families in Sungai Petani and the surrounding areas with Bethel Assembly church.  We even got to see the connection of cultures as our new friend Goi, a Malaysian Chinese, came to Bethel, a Malaysian Indian Christian church, and played the drums during the Christmas service!!

In the Philippines we tented in a corn field near a slum allowing us to do life with the community, make friends, and share testimonies with the people as we lived and loved there.  We also touched 6,000+ students at a city college about an hour away in the heart of Bacolod, Philippines at STI College.  Over 4 days we ministered to every grade from kindergarten to college age students.  We bared our hearts, shared our testimonies, and gave students the chance to do the same.  And they did!! God changed so many lives through our obedience to share His Truth in our lives with these students through our ministry Go Ministries.

In Zimbabwe we simply lived missionally.  We lived at the hostel owned by our ministry  hosts named Burke’s Paradise.  With our hosts Vicki and Adam we daily pushed our boundaries in our idea of what ministry looked like and how we spread the Gospel.  We shared the good news with the Overlanders who stayed at the hostel, the residents of the mental hospital Incugeni, the students at Hillside and Polytechnic colleges, the small group at Girls College, the children at Petra School and the Rock church and anybody else on the street that would stop and talk to us!!  Our month in Zimbabwe was so powerful as this host truly lead us in deepening our connection with God and sharing that love with others as we did.

In Zambia we had a hard month of learning to love our “enemies”.  Our team found the people of Zambia to be aggressive, rude, and lazy, to be frank, but we were challenged to walk in grace regardless of how we were treated. Grace is to give and love especially when it is not deserved.  So we taught about the love of Jesus in schools regardless of the horrendous comments, incessant staring, and the grabbing on the way to and from school and while in town.  And when we weren’t teaching we were filling up our journals of prayer after prayer for revival in Zambia.  We may never see the fruit of that labor, but we lived with our host family who loved and lived with us as if we had always been apart of the family. 

Our journey so far has had so many ups and downs, but there are things that are more important than ups and downs.  

 

Most important is our journey with God as He never leaves our sides.  Life is always better with Him!

 

As our relationship and intimacy with Him grows as we are further changed, hearts are healed, and we become better at yielding to the Holy Spirit to guide us in the best way to love the people around us.

 

Radically loving the people around us gives us the opportunity to talk about Jesus and share how God has brought salvation to our lives.

 

As we spend time sharing our lives and talking to God we are further changed and the wonder of how He orchestrates so much adventure, fun, grace, and mercy while He loves, convicts and disciplines us allows us to truly appreciate greatness as the Alpha and Omega.  

 

I pray that even after I return to the States that we may never lose the wonder of how great our God is!

 

 

Song Lyrics of Wonder by Bethel Music and Amanda Cook