12/6/16
So this month we are on our own having to make ministry connections. Usually every month we hook up with a church or ministry that is established and doing things for the community and we stay with them and dive into what they are doing plus make relationships in the community with people. But this month we have no assigned church or ministry, but are sent out to seek out some that are in the area and see if they would be fit for hosting a future worldrace team to help them. In that we are being completely lead by the Holy Spirit on finding hostels and different places to stay and looking for churches.
Not to mention this is a totally Islamic city, (feels like I’m in Iraq lol) so by law it’s Muslim state we are in so it is illegal to evangelize. Which I love it because it makes it that much more that God will have to do the impossible!!! Just sounds like the book Acts!!! Come on Lord send me to the darkest places so I can beam forth your Light!! That’s why the Church is here!!! Not to cower in fear and hide from the dark, but to go forth into it with the Power of God and be the Light!!!
In the meantime we were led to this hostel out in the woods. During dry season it’s actually a camp. So of course I love it because we are on the river and the owner who is a muslim is super awesome and let’s us take kayaks out anytime. He also drove us around the city for a tour and has been giving us some rides. I am overwhelmed at the hospitality of muslims. They are some of the nicest people I have met.
I mean I just came down to ask some muslim dude who is staying at the hostel who was in the sitting area outside for directions. So I just plopped myself at the table making more conversation and he starts offering me his dinner. Which was Satay my new favorite food!!
Then I hung out in the sitting area with a man from Siria. So him and another guy that worked there walked me around the fruit and veggie garden. They picked a bunch of fruit for me, grabbed a huge bamboo stick knocked a coconut off a tree, cracked it open with a machete gave it to me to drink the coconut water out of it, then chopped it open more to cut out the coconut for me to eat. If you can only imagine me, I was like a kid in a candy shop number one thinking it was the coolest thing in the world how God created things and loved the fact I was putting this healthy stuff in me and just having a rolling laughing time with some muslims!!
No wait….but really picture this… me in my purple get up getting so excited jumping all around and reacting over fruit growing on a tree with some muslim from Siria in a white robe with his black hat they wear and he is getting excited for me peeling it making me try!!! I had a moment like, “what is going on right now?!! I’m in a Malaysia jumping around a garden laughing with some muslims!!” Holy Ghost set up!! Just letting the joy of Jesus shine and loving these precious people!!!
There is another guy from Estonia who is staying here who I have gotten to spend a lot of time with and tell him my story. He’s super open and I even invited him to watch Father of Lights (a documentary of these guys including one of my favorite preachers–Todd White go around the world and just pray for people, love on people and see miracles that take place and throughout it are preaching Jesus. He actually came and it was awesome!! Oh yeah and I told the muslim guy who runs the place to come and he came in and out for a bit of it too!! Seeds, seeds, seeds planting those seeds, and Holy Ghost can takeover!!!
We also got to lay lands on a muslim man who had a hernia and something else I don’t know the name of. He pulled up his shirt where it was and we laid our hands on him and just prayed in Jesus Name!! Pretty awesome!! God makes away where there seems to be no way!!
(Fast forward a few days)
December 10, 2016
So yesterday we had the most amazing God day!! We found a church called City Revival Church. When we walked in, the comfort of Christmas, scriptures on the wall and the sweet Presence of God met us there. In an Islamic nation where all we have seen is head wraps on all the women and not one white person. As we were greeted by such friendly people which most spoke English–in walks an American couple!!!! Whaaaa?!!! We were so excited!!
We were then invited upstairs where the church provides lunch and got to make some cool connections. The church was amazing I didn’t stick out like a sore thumb because everyone had their praise on and was loud, dancing and on fire for Jesus–my kind of church!! So our new friends from America Becka and Luke took us to their house to hang out and got to know them. They gave us cultural norms and they are also connected to some other Christian church’s that we could probably make connections with to do outreach.
They also found us a homestay a lot closer to town and by the church which is under our budget!! They took us there to look at it. Well it is luxurious compared to what we been in. All though I loved the woods and river, our last room had a layer of mold on the walls. There was also 7 of us staying in one room, a lot of bugs and the bathrooms were out houses across the campsite. I must say by the Grace of God none of that even phased me. And then I walked in this homestay with Purple walls and sheets!! The girls and guys have separate rooms and we have a living area with real couches, and a kitchen table!!!! And the sqautty potty has a flusher!!! I tell ya I’m getting super calloused to be in gross situations and even more thankful for the small things!!!
Tonight we meet the administrator from City Revival Church to see how we can get plugged in and serve. So keep us in your prayers!! This month has been super fun not having a plan or knowing what to do, but completely trusting in Jesus to open doors and make a way where their seems to be no way!! He is so faithful and so good and we are just overwhelmed with what He has been doing!!! I love to trust.
He has trained me to live completely by faith. Many times He has not given me a plan, but just a word, or scripture or a “go.” And honestly I have to take that step that He tells me in order to get the next step. You can see it all throughout the Bible in how He works with His people. So many people don’t believe God because they are always trying to figure everything out in their heads, but that’s why God says to have faith like a child. If a Father tells their child they will take him to the ice cream store after work the child is not tying to figure out how his dad is going to do it. The child just trusts and believes with all his heart that his dad will take him and the child will tell everyone they come across that his dad is taking him after work.
We just need to trust our Father no matter how much we don’t see, no matter how much we don’t feel and no matter how much it doesn’t make sense. To be honest God does not make sense to the carnal mind. If we are trying to figure things in our own strength we will only become stressed and exhausted, but when we trust Him then we are truly in His Rest. And in that we have nothing to fear and will never be disappointed because we put our trust Him. And when we really trust Him and believe we then will see the fruit of our faith and God do the impossible!!!
