Hello loved ones,
There’s so many things that I would like to write about and I found it impossible to just choose one. So I’m going to share a couple of stories of God at work in the past couple of weeks. He is so stinkin’ awesome! I wish I could write about them all, but I’m barely able to keep up processing them on my own.
The first story is about TJ.
I met TJ the first week that I was in Australia at a picnic table in the park. I talked to her for a while about where she was from and what she was doing in Byron. I was pondering in my head on how to point the conversation to Jesus when suddenly her eyes got big and out of nowhere she asked me what I thought about Hillsong Church. That immediately launched us into a deeper conversation about church and the body. I could tell how interested she was in learning more about community and Jesus. We exchanged contact information but didn’t really get a chance to talk again during the next week. The last day before we left for Bali, I was walking towards a cafe when I ran into TJ and her friend Jessie. I invited them to come to pancakes and chai that night so we could catch up before I left. I wasn’t sure if they were going to be able to come, but I hoped that they would be able to. Sure enough, right before 7, TJ walked straight into the park and my heart started pounding because I knew God was going to do something crazy that night. We grabbed some chai, sat down in the grass, and started chatting about God. She thought Christianity was a bunch of rules that you had to follow. She thought if required perfection and many works to even have a relationship with Jesus. I got to show her that wasn’t the case in Ephesians 2:8. That it was a free gift from God. We continued talking and she conveyed that she really wanted a relationship with God but still felt like he was far away. I got to share a little bit of my testimony with her, and I could just see the hope sparking in her eyes. Then the nail art place came open and Alyssa and Ashley started talking to her while she was getting her nails done. I was a little frustrated because I felt like God had allowed me to draw people in so that other people could talk to them ( it had happened several times the past two weeks.) To deal with my frustration I decided to go flip some pancakes so I could wrestle with God about my feelings. (that’s what everyone does, right?) After several minutes of pouting, I was like okay God, obviously you want to use somebody else and that’s okay. I mean really it’s not about me, it’s about you and bringing you the glory. Well, right after that, Alyssa asked me if I wanted to come pray with her and Ashley before TJ left. While Alyssa was praying the Lord was putting it on my heart to tell her it was time and that He was ready for her to walk into being a daughter. As soon as Alyssa finished praying. I looked TJ in the eyes and told her exactly what the Lord had spoken to me. Her eyes welled up with tears and she said she was ready. So I actually got to lead TJ to Christ and pray for her! Later, she told me she had a friend Fanny who had asked God to send her someone to confirm He was real and He did exactly that. TJ said that she had also did that, she was really seeking out if the Lord was real. She told me that the person He sent was me. Yeah, if you know me, you know I was bawling my eyes out at this point. If that’s not enough, God just showed up even more. We wanted to give her a bible. One of our squad mates, Mary, had brought one extra to give away and she hadn’t been carrying it around this whole time until tonight. For whatever reason she felt led to bring it that night and got to give it to TJ. We all got to write a letter of encouragement to her in her new bible and encourage her before we left. Like wow. Is God GOOD OR WHAT??
Okay second, I almost got robbed.
Well actually I did get robbed.
So here is the story: I had just taken money out of the ATM and had just walked out of the booth when a man swept past me into the ATM. It had been 30 seconds since I had walked out and I realized I did not have my card. I walked back inside the ATM building and started talking to the man in there and said my card was in the machine. He just kept on saying he didn’t know what I was talking about but had a huge wad of money in his hands. Frustrated, I stepped outside and asked my team leader to intervene. He came inside and started talking with the man. Shortly after, one of my team members, Nora, came inside this small booth as well. Imagine this, three of us surrounding this one man in this tiny ATM booth. Still this stubborn man stuck by his word and said he did not have the card. Nora said she saw the card in his pocket. She quickly reached into his pocket and took out a phone and another card. She held onto the phone and said “give us the card!” This caught him off guard and he began to laugh. This gave Eric the perfect opportunity to realize what was going on. The man had withdrawn money from my account and was going to keep on doing it until my bank account was depleted.
All my money gone.
Eric grabbed the money, grabbed my card and we quickly got out of there. We walked back to our hostel and laughed about the experience. In that moment I was not scared, I knew the Lord was protecting me. However things could have gone a lot differently. I don’t say this to scare any of you. But it’s just a reminder our God is not a safe God. There is a risk in following God, but also so much freedom in knowing that God is also a God of protection.
Finally,
We arrived in Bandung, Indonesia after about a 38 hour bus ride. This bus ride consisted of a lot of firsts for me (including riding a ferry, my first squatty potty experience, and eating some questionable food from various bus stations). Currently, my team is serving in an after school program teaching English to students. Since we have been here we have been shown hospitality that I can’t even find the words to do it justice. The people here are so kind and loving and have served us since the moment we got here. I’m just in awe of how these people love us so genuinely and without restraint. Our entire team (except eric) got sick and they went above and beyond to serve us. It has challenged me to love harder. To love genuinely. To love fiercely. To not hold back. I can’t wait to see what else God has in store for this next month!
Sorry for the lengthy post, but I felt the need to share some of what my life looks like on a daily basis. It’s definitely an adventure or you can luar biasa! (Which means awesome in Indonesian)
Prayer requests:
– Health of my team and myself (we all got pretty sick this first week)
– For our team to break down language and cultural barriers to share the gospel.
– TJ: that the Lord keeps revealing Himself to her in new and amazing ways. That she will continue seeking after Him daily.
– Fundraising (I have about 1000$ more to go to reach my next deadline the 28th)
