In Isaiah 58 it says, “The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy
your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be
like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Your people
will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you
will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of streets with dwellings.”
David read this during devotions one morning and talked about
how redemption is this community’s reality. This verse is so applicable to the
people here. The Lord will constantly guide them, even after we are gone and he
has to be the One to satisfy their
every need. I truly believe that the next generation in this community will
rebuild the ancient ruins. The children here are so full of life and so joyful.
They bring something amazing to this community that would be absent without
their presence. The hearts and souls of this community WILL be repaired and
restored through their Savior.
Typical day for us here:
We get up and have devotions together as a team around 10. It
is hard to do ministry here during the day because not many people are out due
to the hot weather. They stay up relatively late when it’s cool outside, and then
sleep/rest at various times throughout the day. We usually head out around 1
and try to find people in the community to encourage or talk to. This involves
house visits of leaders in the church or could be playing with children outside
under a tree. It completely varies from day to day. We usually do this for
several hours and then head back and eat dinner together as a team. Depending
on what night it is, we attend different things going on in the community.
Monday night is Ladies Night, so the first
Monday we were here we had a hair and nails night for them. Charlotte french braided
their hair, and we washed their feet and painted their nails and toenails. We
had a really good turnout for this. This past Monday we had a pretty good turn
out as well. Liz and I occupied all the kids, while Catherine told the women
about the story of Deborah from the Bible.
Tuesday night is Mens Night. Each Tuesday
that we have been here David has led a devotion for the men. He has had good
turnouts as well. David has done an awesome job of connecting with several men
from this community and discipling them. It is his goal to have the men here
open and feeding into one another-with older men discipling younger men.
Friday & Saturday nights are fellowship, which is
basically like their church service. We go between 8 and 9 pm and are there usually
until 12:30 am. It is way different than your “westernized” church service.
Many times people don’t know whether it is going to happen or not, and it could
during other days of the week as well. Basically someone gets there and sets
the keyboard and speakers up and starts playing. People then hear the music and
start coming. Attendance is rather small- the largest crowd that we’ve had is
around 15-20. Many times it will just be around 8 or 9 people, but we have seen it grow even during our short time here . We get there and
sing for a while, and then whoever feels like sharing will get up and talk-
whether that is sharing a verse, or a message, or a testimony. Then, many times
we will pray for people and sing some more. All of this takes place outside at
the end of a street. Throughout our time here, it has been amazing to spend
more time and get to know the women who lead these worship times. It is so remarkable
to me how people can come from completely different cultures, but all share and
believe in one faith that has saved us all. PS- One night we got there around
8:45 pm and it didn’t start until after 10, AND we left a little after 2am. So,
when I say that things are different here, they definitely are! ha 🙂
The first Sunday that
we were here we had fellowship time in the afternoon and then again that
evening. This past Sunday we helped out with a Sunday School that a lady here
in the community does. She has given us such hope for this community and is
such a strong, amazing woman of God. You can tell the children love her. She
helped translate the Bible into Kriol (the common language spoken by the people
here in this community). She translated the whole book of Psalms and also a couple
chapters in Deuteronomy!
It has been hard knowing how to get involved in this
community because we haven’t wanted to take over the ministries during our time
here- that isn’t why we are here. We are here to encourage them. If we try and
take over and lead everything, chances are that they won’t continue once we
leave. We want to encourage these ministries to continue on so that spiritual
fruit can be seen in the long run.
I can’t believe
that it is almost time for us to leave Australia and head to the Philippines-
month 3! Our time here has seemed like it has gone by so quickly. We fly out on
Sunday and will have a debrief time for a couple days with the rest of N-Squad,
our squad leaders, and our support coaches. It will be good to see everyone and
be able to sort through the past couple months with them. If you have any
questions, or want to know more specifics about our ministry here etc., please
don’t hesitate to ask me. You can e-mail me at: [email protected] I’d
love to hear from you all! Sorry for the lack of pictures- I can’t get any up due to the internet right now!
1 Thessalonians 1:3 says, “We continually remember before our God and
Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your
endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”
It is my prayer that each country’s people remember my team’s work that
was produced by faith, the labor that we pour out through our love, and our
endurance to finish the tasks set before us through our hope in Jesus Christ.
