Month 3 in began with our entire squad (41persons) staying in a rugged jungle beach hostel on the southern coast of Sri Lanka. It was a European tourist beach town where we miet with Adventures In Missions mentors to debrief our time on the journey thus far. (If you want to spy on them, click the link on the left side colum: “meet my squad”)
kimono dragons wresteling well^^
We evaluated what was difficult amongst our teams and we had times with squad leaders and mentors where we received encouragement, and a listening ear. We had a lot of free time to soak in nature and explore. We also had a day where we competed on the beach together and at night participated in song and dance and we rejoiced in personal victories. It was an awesome week of rejuvenation and learning!!
While at the bug filled hostel, the elderly catholic priest and his wife let us use their home next door to have teachings and sing songs….way cool)
I am so grateful for the prayers and selflessness of the people in leadership. I have more appreciation than I know how to express.
what not to wear when standing on holy ground^^
While there, iN UNAWATUNA, we had a small women’s retreat then split off into gendered teams.
So here is my new team that I have been doing life with in Sri Lanka the past month.
Team Salt & Light (S&L for short.)^^
All the men went one place, while the 4 teams (containing 7 women each) split up in city’s and towns across Sri Lanka.
We arrived in each place not having a ministry contact, connection or place to stay. That is why this month is called ATL = Ask The Lord month.
When you have a close relationship with somone yoy talk to them about everything. So people maintaining a relationship with Jesus… that includes me, our whole lives, all of our endeavors should be ATL….but this was a great and designated way to push the limits of a comfort zone and to be more submissive in trusting in His plan.
So we arrived in our town and began to pray, we booked a hostel in our budget ($5 per person per night) and began getting to know one another.
We were at the hostel for less than 24hours
And the owner noticed us praying, reading the Bible, doing normal life etc.. and without our knowing, he contacted the only local English speaking Christian pastor in town.
As we were finishing up breakfast the pastor arrived to check us out to see what we were up to. After getting to know what we were about, he invited us to come to the fasting, prayer, and church services held at his place throughout the week.
Essentially he became our part time ministry host from day one!!!
While there, we shared our testimonies, read and preached scripture, taught one another songs. We sang and worshiped the best we could in Sinhala ( the main language of Sri Lanka). We taught the pastor “Amazing grace” and got to hear awesome testimonies of pain, perseverance and deliverance from the members of the congregation. We did a lot of praying. I would say that is the most active and important thing we did…..do! (I will explain a bit more on this a little later.)
^^^^I am so honored.^^^^
In the specific area we were in Sri Lanka, Buddhism is the ruling force.
In the morning, many of the residents offer food and money to the temple. And the temple owns most of the land. Most everyone is born in this town is Buddhist, so if a person living there decided to attend church or practice a different way of life, their family, at the very least, verbally forbids them. Because of this, the people who attend the church often have to give up a lot. Or — they half way hold on to Buddhism to appease the people around them, and attend christian service every other week in secret.
I am so grateful to grow up un a place where I don’t have a government dictating what I can practice or who I can worship. Furthermore, I have access to so much choice and perspective.
prayer points:
Please pray that the church is able to acquire more land in order to keep peaceably worshiping God together. There is a current law that requires them to own a certain amount of land in order to not have their establishment destroyed.
It is evident (just with any governmental system) that their leaders are corrupt, as they take a big percentage of the locals business profits and donate it to the temple.
Please pray for boldness of believers. And our team.
(Romans 5:3-5)
Please pray for the Christ followers there to know that they have the same authority as the pastor to pray for and encourage one another.
The main way, as of now, that the congregation hears the wog is through attending church, this is mainly because they did not have easy access to Bibles.
A great joy that happened at the end of our stay is the pastor traveled with our team to Colombo (Sri Lankas capitol city) and we were able to buy the church bibles and bring them back.
Please pray for a deeper hunger and understanding of Gods word.
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The main thing I am learning / doing from this past month is the importance of prayer. Yes, we know talking to God is important. And we know He delights in hearing from us, even the small details, He loves to be told about everything. But I have seen urgency and importance of prayer in real way.
The humanitarian work done with hands will help, our life giving words will help, and the light we bear in His name illuminates the darkness, it’s true, I’ve seen it. and it has been so cool to see good things happen from what we “do”……but I never want to stop praying, I never want to forget about the person with the best plan, who knows what people need most, the one who comforts the soul, the one who sees the need above and beyond our scope. God!
And pursuing our own agenda or what we think is good at the time… pushing that aside won’t come so hard if we practice each day, fully placing ourselves under His authority. That starts and ends with prayer. And that also means we must be interruptible, willing to have our plans changed.
Submit your ways to the Lord and he will make your paths straight. Prov. 3:6
I am so greatfull this past month to have the privilege of seeing fruit, and am in awe of Gods perfect orchestration, and the people we have met, none were by accident.
There is way more to the story. So much more has happened since arriving in a new town this last week, but I will have to let you know later.
Please partner with me, this next month in India is partly assigned ministry and partly ATL with my same all female team pictured alove.
