Hello from Malaysia!!!! Oh my gosh you guys I have been here about a week and already God is doing some incredible stuff!!! First things first though, my suspicions were confirmed when last week there were changes made to the team dynamics. So now beginning in a new country with a new team. I am pleased to announce that I am now a member of team “imago Dei” with team members Brain and Beth Woods, Eryn Glicken, Jonathan Smith,Lyndsay Holly and Taniuska Barbosa.
Now after about four roughly four days of travel we arrived to our destination. We met our local contact earlier in the week and with him began preparations for our ministry here. One thing we are working on is going up to the local hospital and talking with people who have aids. We will be working at our contacts church and doing work around the community. Which will include going to peoples homes and other churches to helping out, putting on a series of seminars and speaking to the community, preaching and going to local small study groups.
Now speaking of the small groups, or cell groups as they call them, after being here two days we got a chance to go to one. It is a small youth outreach group were, the pastor’s wife of the church we are working with and a few other women from within the church lead youth to the Lord. Many of the kids they have been working with for a while and most haven’t been saved or ever heard the Gospel preached. So we were invited to go and put something together for the youth that night. Lyndsay gave her testimony which was pretty cool to hear because she is the daughter of a pastor and still had her own struggles. Taniuska brought her guitar and sang a song for them after which I had been asked to give a short message.
I spoke to them about the verse in Matthew 11 about taking on the yoke that Jesus offers us. I asked them if they new what a yoke was and explained to them that it is a rather large piece of wood that goes over an animals shoulders (like an ox) and is really heavy and is used to help plow fields in farming. I then talked to them about what Jesus meant when He said that His yoke is light and His burden is easy.
In speaking to them I explained what it was Jesus was offering us in that statement. He was offering us our salvation and redemption to God and that when it feels like the weight of the world is on your shoulders all we have to do is lift it up to Jesus. Because He has already bore the weight and carried it for us. It wasn’t anything real extravagant or profound, I thought, it was just what I felt God wanted me to talk to them about. The youth that were there ranged from around 9 to 17 but most were 14 and up. In closing I asked if any of them haven’t already to consider accepting what Jesus has done for us and accept him into their heart. Immediately, all of them raised their hand and said that they wanted to accept Jesus!!!!!!! Two of them I found already had accepted Jesus, so out of all the kids that were there that night all but two accepted the Lord!!!!! I mean PRAISE GOD PEOPLE!!!!!! PRAISE GOD!!!!!!!
Needless to say I am extremely humbled, honored and blessed to be here and it has only been a few days!!!!! I am excited that this has happened because now we get to speak to them and talk more in depth with them for the rest of the month. I take no credit for what happened the other night as the ladies from the church and the pastors wife had been speaking with the kids for awhile and all the credit and glory goes to God. I feel truly blessed that He would allow this new team to be in a new country, to be apart of a new beginning in the these youths lives. Praise GOD!!!! On top of that it is Easter weekend and the funny thing to me is that it is just more evidence that Jesus is alive!!!!
Thank you all for your prayers and support along this journey that I have been blessed to be apart of. Please continue to help in whatever way you can as I only have about two thousand dollars left until I am fully supported for the trip. Also my new team member Jon is in need of support as well he is an awesome man of God and needs your help as well please consider helping him if you are able and feel lead to do so. Thank you for your prayers for my step mother as well, I haven’t got anything new to report yet on her situation other than it is stage four breast cancer so please keep her in your prayers. Thank you all and God bless.
Your Brother in Christ Jesus,
Eric
