Divine Appointment?

Yesterday was our day “off”. We try to take one day a week to just relax & recharge. However, I locked myself and Kayla out of the apartment. Oops :) We had to wait about 3 hours for our supervisor to get home. Fortunately, we were stranded by the pool sunbathing all day, and we did at least have water to drink and Bibles to read. By the time she returned, I was hungry so I started my way upstairs for a very late lunch when this young Middle Eastern woman stopped me. She had mistaken me for a European she had met before, but continued to talk. She just moved here for school and is looking to make friends because she doesn’t know anyone. So I introduced myself & my friends, and got her number so that we can go out to lunch soon. Please please please pray that I will get the opportunity to meet with this lady soon, and that she will be open & accepting of the Gospel. I believe that the reason we were locked out all day was just to cross paths with this lady at that point and time. I’m so thankful that God doesn’t take a day off! ;-)

Insufficient

2 Corinthians 3:5 “Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant...”

I am not competent to do this ministry. Honestly, it is tiring and very difficult. I am surrounded by people of false faiths or no faith at all, they will die and go to Hell if they do not believe in Jesus Christ as Lord. “How will they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without someone preaching to them?” (Rom.10:14-15) God has called me here to proclaim Him to these people. I am so unworthy of this privilege to be His ambassador. & the ONLY way this mission can be accomplished is by God. It is my eager cry to God today to make me competent, for the Spirit to flow through me and speak His truth to these beautiful people that God loves so much. Please pray with me for God’s strength and competence in ministry, & also the energy to serve.

My Chinese Name

Given to me last night at Bible Study. I was super excited about how cool it looks, then I asked about the meaning. The first character doesn’t mean anything, but the second character means “missing someone”. I know it sounds depressing, but weirdly enough its always true!

First 2 Weeks

Our first 2 full weeks of ministry have been great! We have victoriously overcome jet lag, faced some culture shock, and been introduced to many new Asian friends and Asian food! Along with the chicken feet, I’ve also tried baby octopus, sharkfin soup, jellyfish, fish eggs, & chicken butt. And no, I haven’t gotten sick yet, what a blessing!! It’s an amazing feeling to be serving God in such a beautiful place among beautiful people. We have established relationships with students at 3 different colleges. With some, we just meet up at the “cantine”, school cafeteria, to talk. And with others we go to the mall after their classes to hang out or eat. Seeing God bring people of peace into our path has been astounding. One girl in particular, we just met this week playing ultimate frisbee. She was very friendly and open to talk, although it was her first time there. For some reason, God really laid her on Kayla’s heart for us to reach out to her. So I texted her and asked her to lunch the next day, and she agreed. So we met up with her and she brought 3 of her friends for sushi. We had a great time & they invited us to do it again next week! I’m so excited to see how God cultivates these relationships that will ultimately point to Him! Tonight we are having a cookout and pool party for the student ministry we work with. We’ve invited a lot of our new friends who are not believers, some of them don’t even know we are believers yet. It should be a fun night and great time of growing these friendships :)

Sushi Lunch :)

Getting my eyebrows threaded!

Kayla and I went to "Little India” with a friend, and decided to try on some Indian clothes.

(This one’s for you Kat!)

Click here for the video of CHICKEN FEET!

Living the Glamorous Life

My first experience with the squatty-potty. It actually is not as intimidating as it looks!

A few snapshots ;)

Buddhist god at one of the temples

paul, kayla, myself, and joel

view from our apartment

Greetings from Asia!

Greetings from the other side of the world :-) I have been here a week now in Southeast Asia where I am spending my summer reaching out to university students. So here’s whats been going on since I left home 2 weeks ago:

The first 5 days were spent in Alabama doing team training with other students serving all around Asia. Training included evangelism, culture, team building, intense security training, and some language. Then we spent nearly 3 days in transit to Asia. Culture shock began as soon as we walked into the plane that took us from Houston to Dubai... Seeing a muslim woman doing her prayers on the back of the plane & also hearing the Call to Prayer for the very first time while we were in the airport really opened my eyes to where I would be all summer. The majority of this world worships no god or a false god. They are living and dying with no Hope, no true life, and spending eternity in Hell. We can’t just continue ignoring that.

We finally arrived in our city last Thursday night. It is a beautiful place, very diverse in culture and religion. And it is world-known for its cuisine! We’ve spent a couple days in orientation, getting to know the culture, trying all the food & even visited a couple Buddhist temples. And we’ve started going to campuses during the week. Our goal on campus is to meet people, hang out and talk with them, and build a relationship that will hopefully lead to sharing the Gospel. And that has started off well! :) We will be spending a lot of time with students we meet- eating out, going to the movies, ultimate frisbee, or whatever it takes to build those relationships. It should be a fun summer :) Also, Kayla and I may have the opportunity to disciple 2 girls who are believers while we are here. We are really excited about that and so excited about what God will do through us and around us. Please join with me in prayer for the people of this city. Pray for my teammates and I to have the energy and strength to effectively do ministry among these students.

I love y’all, I already miss the U.S. and I miss my fiance ;) But I know God has called me here. I have 52 days in this city to fulfill that calling, "In just 52 days, Nehemiah led his people to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, restore a nation, and revive a people. It was a short-term project that had eternal results." And that is my hope and prayer for the summer.

Coming Soon: Video of me eating chicken feet. :)