Feels like i have been here for a long time. I have been here a long time haha. But we are officially over half way done with the training course!
The past two weeks have gone by really fast though. What with us having to make out placement country decisions (Burkina Faso), having exciting lectures (spiritual warfare one week, and biblical basis for mission the other), and continuing to build great relationships at my community placement.
Spiritual Warfare was probably one of my favorite (if not my favorite) lecture sessions that we have had yet! We went through Ephesians 6 and talked through the armor of God. We talked about why each piece is so significant in the battle against the enemy.
Also, last Friday i participated in a football (soccer) tournament. My community placement organization (the Wallich) and 7 other charity organizations battled it out from 10 to 4 on friday afternoon! After 4 games and alot of fun, Zack's community group (Llanelli youth program) got first place and my team got second. It was a fun day! Out of all the excitement throughout the day the thing that made my day was having the opportunity to talk with Michael. He was probably about 30 years old and just a really nice guy. We just had some small talk at the beginning of the day, but then later after he found out that i was a Christian he seemed intrigued! He asked so many questions and his questions allowed others to join in conversation. It was so encouraging to see his genuine interest in what i believe, and to see the power of prayer at work. All week we had been praying for a spiritual presence to be on this large multi purpose room as we played. We prayed that there would be a revival right there in that room of addicts, convicts, and altogether hurt/broken people. Although we did not experience a crazy encounter with God that day, i am convinced that He was at work in the hearts of these guys.
Prayer:
-That i can stay in contact with these guys (Michael, Fraser) because God is definitely working in them.
-Team Life. That i can i have a good attitude in all circumstances and accept constructive criticism when it is given
-Prayer life. To daily pursue an on going prayer life.
OUR WAFRICA VIDEO (full version)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBszKAxgU68
Monday, October 31, 2011
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
This Time For Africa ♫
EXCITING NEWS!
I have officially placed my decision for my placement country (where i will be doing ministry from Jan-July). With much prayer and petition i have decided to go to Burkina Faso in West Africa.
If you aren't exactly sure where Burkina is:
(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAwaw2-PqKMC6RUp0_dQeHIKW8bymX5-PcwFb9hgSKAQXgo2NYIz8qN9wLpRZ3LkQ1cdjg3leuAiFI2cdQWJgNZYqRuI8FchM92xWmuO-ala2DXxs4A2YeXhUxWc-Ch0XFmYG9LD3Ix69d/s320/burkinamap.jpg)
Coming to Wales i had decided in my mind that:
1) i wanted to go to the deepest darkest country where the gospel had never been taken before
2) i want to work really hard to learn the language
3) i would go on my own
So at first i was thinking North Africa, but then God answered my prayers by shutting that door (they only accepted girls this year). So then the two that stood out to me the most were the opportunities in the Middle East, and West Africa. Again God opened and closed doors. After weeks of attempting to get ahold of the team in WAfrica we finally received a very exciting email. And at the same time the Middle East field leader (yay Mr. S!) decided it wouldnt be wise to send anyone to the placement i was thinking about. God decided to shatter all my expectations haha! Praise the Lord!
My gap year leader handed me the email from WAfrica and i began to read:
"Hello Debbie! We would love to receive Gappers! Some conditions however: 2 people is a lot less work than 1, as they can live together. 2 of the same sex please who are at least willing to learn French."
After reading that first two lines i put the paper down and said..."ohhhh nooo... i am going to go to west Africa with zack! Nooo!" I continued to read and EVERYTHING seemed to be falling into place. They asked for people who could coordinate sports clubs, teach english (both to elementary students, and the teachers of the elementary school), lead bible studies, teach the guitar, go on prayer/evangelical journeys, and babysit. All things that i have some type of experience in!
I took the email and prayed about it, and the next day i met with my one to one. He had alot of insightful things to say. I was worried about my attitude towards the whole situation, and he helped me realize that although i my want "my own adventure," who better to have with me than my best friend while spreading God's love!
The more i thought and the more Zack and i talked the more and more excited we got. We realize that there is a possibility that God is alining our destinies for the rest of our lives! I am SO excited to share in this adventure with Zack. We are already learning French (zack already knows alot), and reading up on the country. Turns out 35% of the country is unreached so that is really exciting, and Burkina is also one of the poorest countries in Africa.
Also, it was cool to remember the other day that i have already invested in Burkina Faso! Freshman year our bible study raised $4,000 to build a well in Burkina! Maybe i will see it when i am there :)
I have such a peace about my decision so i thank you for all who were praying that God would lead!
(Placement Video To Come)
Also, check out zack's blog at:
www.gapyearsmiley.tumblr.com
I have officially placed my decision for my placement country (where i will be doing ministry from Jan-July). With much prayer and petition i have decided to go to Burkina Faso in West Africa.
If you aren't exactly sure where Burkina is:
(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAwaw2-PqKMC6RUp0_dQeHIKW8bymX5-PcwFb9hgSKAQXgo2NYIz8qN9wLpRZ3LkQ1cdjg3leuAiFI2cdQWJgNZYqRuI8FchM92xWmuO-ala2DXxs4A2YeXhUxWc-Ch0XFmYG9LD3Ix69d/s320/burkinamap.jpg)
Coming to Wales i had decided in my mind that:
1) i wanted to go to the deepest darkest country where the gospel had never been taken before
2) i want to work really hard to learn the language
3) i would go on my own
So at first i was thinking North Africa, but then God answered my prayers by shutting that door (they only accepted girls this year). So then the two that stood out to me the most were the opportunities in the Middle East, and West Africa. Again God opened and closed doors. After weeks of attempting to get ahold of the team in WAfrica we finally received a very exciting email. And at the same time the Middle East field leader (yay Mr. S!) decided it wouldnt be wise to send anyone to the placement i was thinking about. God decided to shatter all my expectations haha! Praise the Lord!
My gap year leader handed me the email from WAfrica and i began to read:
"Hello Debbie! We would love to receive Gappers! Some conditions however: 2 people is a lot less work than 1, as they can live together. 2 of the same sex please who are at least willing to learn French."
After reading that first two lines i put the paper down and said..."ohhhh nooo... i am going to go to west Africa with zack! Nooo!" I continued to read and EVERYTHING seemed to be falling into place. They asked for people who could coordinate sports clubs, teach english (both to elementary students, and the teachers of the elementary school), lead bible studies, teach the guitar, go on prayer/evangelical journeys, and babysit. All things that i have some type of experience in!
I took the email and prayed about it, and the next day i met with my one to one. He had alot of insightful things to say. I was worried about my attitude towards the whole situation, and he helped me realize that although i my want "my own adventure," who better to have with me than my best friend while spreading God's love!
The more i thought and the more Zack and i talked the more and more excited we got. We realize that there is a possibility that God is alining our destinies for the rest of our lives! I am SO excited to share in this adventure with Zack. We are already learning French (zack already knows alot), and reading up on the country. Turns out 35% of the country is unreached so that is really exciting, and Burkina is also one of the poorest countries in Africa.
Also, it was cool to remember the other day that i have already invested in Burkina Faso! Freshman year our bible study raised $4,000 to build a well in Burkina! Maybe i will see it when i am there :)
I have such a peace about my decision so i thank you for all who were praying that God would lead!
(Placement Video To Come)
Also, check out zack's blog at:
www.gapyearsmiley.tumblr.com
Thursday, October 20, 2011
90 Toes. DT WEEK! (week 5)
D(evelopment)T(raining) Week.
I have spent the past two days debating whether to attempt to explain everything that went on over the past week or not. After spending 2 hours talking on skype with my dad and struggling/failing to explain everything that i experienced last week, i have decided to spare myself the days of writing, and you the hours of reading by forming a summary of all the things that we did. However, do not feel cheated! Because i will be sharing in depth all of the most important things (such as: what i learned about myself, God, and working with others).
WHAT IS DT WEEK? Who? Where? Why?
DT week is put on by a professional training group. They travel around the world doing leadership development, and social interaction for major companies. Technically they are not part of world horizons, but in reality they are. So their goal is to push us (the training program) to the limits both mentally, and physically. Consequently, bringing out feelings, emotions, and reactions to situations that may not normally surface. Then, by analyzing and reviewing the positives and negatives of our actions the goal is to be better aware of how we will react in certain situations, and what our general tendencies are and such.
The simulation it's self was very intricate and confusing so i wont attempt to explain it all. But basically, we were all working together to achieve a final goal by 10am Friday morning. But in order to achieve that goal we most do many other secondary tasks. Also, everything costs "welsh pounds." For example, we were required to go to this place and have 7 people rock climb to the top of a cliff in order to receive a piece of the puzzle (which we needed to put all the pieces together at the end to finish the week successfully), but in order to go climbing we first needed to purchase all the harnesses, rope, exc.
DAILY SUMMARIES
Day 1 (Sunday)
-Turn in computers and cell phones
Day 2 (Monday)
-Orientation, purpose of course
-Learn to use equipment (caving equipment, climbing harnesses/belaying, how to use a map/compass, bearings/pacing/contour lines)
Day 3 (Tuesday)
-DT trainers choose leaders (Zack=leader, Tim=secondary leader)
-Realize how much money we need to earn to buy equipment so we start doing "voluntary tasks" which are worth different amounts.
-Submerge yourself in the sea (600)
-Make star wars outfit out of junk that you can find (370)
-Write a 10 line poem about life in Wales (300)
-Eat a whole can of cold baked beans (600)
-Leapfrog 336 meters (1000) me zack joe and meesh were sore after this one
-30 sit ups and 30 push ups in 3 min (300)
-Take a random dog for a walk (i made a friend on the beach haha)
-LICK THE TOES OF ALL YOUR TEAM MEMBERS (400)
Lets just take a second to admire this challenge for a minute. Out of all the things i did last week, this may have been the one that bonded our group the most!
So we did all of this from 11am-6pm as well as planned for a very posh dinner party for the trainers that evening. Out of the MANY years (over 20 i think) of doing DT week we were told that out dinner, decorations, entertainment, and service was the best they had ever seen. WHAT AN ACHIEVEMENT! however tomorrow was a BIG day and we needed to clean everything for this night, and also plan for tomorrow. total sleep= 5 hours
Day 4 (Wednesday)
This was a very stressful day for me. The group split half and half. Some went to complete the climbing mission that we had to do, while i stayed back with the others for a "difficult raft making exercise." That is all the info they gave us. So i was put in charge of the rafting exercise, and also packing to go caving. We were told that we needed to pack food and clothes for 2 nights. So, while the others were climbing i had to pack everyones backpacks which was very stressful because i had no idea if we had all the supplies we needed. But i got it all finished with 30 min to spare.
-when climbers returned, we left for the cave and wouldn't be back till Friday morning
-navigated to cave
-climbed hill in awesome caving suits!
-climbed into the cave and established "camp" in the cave
-very uncomfortable w/sharp rocks and nowhere to sleeepp ahhhhhh....
-spent 1 hour stacking rocks to try to make a semi flat spot to sleep for girls
-total sleep= maybe 3 hours?
Day 5 (Thursday)
Expedition Day!
-Wake up in cave hike down to cars, breakfast (fruit bars.. yay...)
-Break up into two groups (guys and girls)
-Given map/compass. Must reach 3 different mountain peaks by navigating using bearing points. Joe and i were in charge of nav.
-Total of 20K (14ish miles) to finally arrive at the bothy by 5pm.
-Then given a mandatory assignment to go to a specific coordinate on the map.
-After 3 more hours of hiking (this time through marsh land) we were dead and ready for food. (considering all we ate that day was a muffin for breakfast, a chicken/mayonnaise sandwich for lunch, and at least 12 fruit bars throughout the day to keep us going)
-We finally got back to the bothy at about 9pm were the girls had a hot meal for us (noodles/mince cooked over a fire)
-We had our review meeting until 11pm and then went straight to bed knowing it would be a short night because we had a lot to do by 10am the next morning.
-Total sleep: 2 hours (11:30-1:30)
Day 6 (Friday)
-Wake 1:30am
-Pack, breakfast, hike down to cars 1:30-4am
-Drive back to World horizons.
-Arrive at 5:15
-Clean cars, caving equipment, and meal supplies
-I made the final mandatory video that we had to present, and others put together the puzzle that we now had all the pieces for.
10AM!!!.... failure. haha
By ten we did succeed to be back and cleaned up with our video done, however we failed to complete the two puzzles and failed to end the exercise with a profit ($12,000 in debt), but the good news is that very few teams/i dont know if anyone has ever "had victory over DT week." But in reality, that's not what it is for, it is to learn and examine.
Evaluations
SOOOOO... With a total of 10 hours of sleep in the last 3 nights, we headed into the meeting room to have review time. Yea right... haha. I was actually surprisingly awake! so that was good. We had group evaluation where we determined that as a group we all work really well together! VERY encouraging and we all put EVERYTHING we had into this week (I mean we licked each other's toes! lol).
Then we had individual evaluations. They told us "we only get 30 min with each of you so we are going to be very straight forward, so take what we have to say with a grain of salt. Think/Pray about it. These are just the things that we saw this week." So i was quite nervous that it was going to be all bad. When i walked into the room Carol (a woman i was already quite intimidated by. Very sweet lady, but i didnt know if she liked me) was leading the meeting. We prayed, and then the first thing she said was "Blake, each night the trainers would meet up and just talk about the progress of you guys, and i want to tell you that we were all very impressed with you.".....I let out a sigh of relief!!!
We then went on the talk about what it was like to be pushed new limits that i had never been pushed to before. I told them that i came into this week with two goals:
1) learn how to let someone else lead (because i suck at that)/servants heart
2) Be cheerful/happy no matter how little sleep we got, and no matter the circumstances
I told them that i felt like i had some aspect of victory in both areas. In the previous DT exercises it was obvious that i assumed leadership/gave myself leadership haha. So to go into this week prayerfully, and aware of my tendencies was so helpful in my pursuit of being a team player. And in my pursuit to keep the overall group morale high i found it to be fairly easy because everyone was so selfless. yes we were all tired and of course i got frustrated, but i really learned that i can control the way i react to situations. It is MY decision to make the best of things or not. It was cool to hear that the trainers agreed with what i saw in myself. They ended by encouraging and blessing me by telling me that i "have endless potential." Which is exciting to hear as a short term missions worker, coming from full time missionaries.
I definitely still have a LOT to work on when it comes to working as a team, or as a leader within that team, but i am sure that that is an endless journey. So as for now i will continue to examine and re-examine my heart, motives, and goals because that is the only way we can be sure that we are in sync with His plan.
I will posting another blog on saturday (2 days from now) giving my final information about my placement country!!! So PLEASE in the meantime be praying for guidance.
Thank you for your prays and support. Sorry this update took so long to get to you. LOT to process.
He is at work.
I have spent the past two days debating whether to attempt to explain everything that went on over the past week or not. After spending 2 hours talking on skype with my dad and struggling/failing to explain everything that i experienced last week, i have decided to spare myself the days of writing, and you the hours of reading by forming a summary of all the things that we did. However, do not feel cheated! Because i will be sharing in depth all of the most important things (such as: what i learned about myself, God, and working with others).
WHAT IS DT WEEK? Who? Where? Why?
DT week is put on by a professional training group. They travel around the world doing leadership development, and social interaction for major companies. Technically they are not part of world horizons, but in reality they are. So their goal is to push us (the training program) to the limits both mentally, and physically. Consequently, bringing out feelings, emotions, and reactions to situations that may not normally surface. Then, by analyzing and reviewing the positives and negatives of our actions the goal is to be better aware of how we will react in certain situations, and what our general tendencies are and such.
The simulation it's self was very intricate and confusing so i wont attempt to explain it all. But basically, we were all working together to achieve a final goal by 10am Friday morning. But in order to achieve that goal we most do many other secondary tasks. Also, everything costs "welsh pounds." For example, we were required to go to this place and have 7 people rock climb to the top of a cliff in order to receive a piece of the puzzle (which we needed to put all the pieces together at the end to finish the week successfully), but in order to go climbing we first needed to purchase all the harnesses, rope, exc.
DAILY SUMMARIES
Day 1 (Sunday)
-Turn in computers and cell phones
Day 2 (Monday)
-Orientation, purpose of course
-Learn to use equipment (caving equipment, climbing harnesses/belaying, how to use a map/compass, bearings/pacing/contour lines)
Day 3 (Tuesday)
-DT trainers choose leaders (Zack=leader, Tim=secondary leader)
-Realize how much money we need to earn to buy equipment so we start doing "voluntary tasks" which are worth different amounts.
-Submerge yourself in the sea (600)
-Make star wars outfit out of junk that you can find (370)
-Write a 10 line poem about life in Wales (300)
-Eat a whole can of cold baked beans (600)
-Leapfrog 336 meters (1000) me zack joe and meesh were sore after this one
-30 sit ups and 30 push ups in 3 min (300)
-Take a random dog for a walk (i made a friend on the beach haha)
-LICK THE TOES OF ALL YOUR TEAM MEMBERS (400)
Lets just take a second to admire this challenge for a minute. Out of all the things i did last week, this may have been the one that bonded our group the most!
So we did all of this from 11am-6pm as well as planned for a very posh dinner party for the trainers that evening. Out of the MANY years (over 20 i think) of doing DT week we were told that out dinner, decorations, entertainment, and service was the best they had ever seen. WHAT AN ACHIEVEMENT! however tomorrow was a BIG day and we needed to clean everything for this night, and also plan for tomorrow. total sleep= 5 hours
Day 4 (Wednesday)
This was a very stressful day for me. The group split half and half. Some went to complete the climbing mission that we had to do, while i stayed back with the others for a "difficult raft making exercise." That is all the info they gave us. So i was put in charge of the rafting exercise, and also packing to go caving. We were told that we needed to pack food and clothes for 2 nights. So, while the others were climbing i had to pack everyones backpacks which was very stressful because i had no idea if we had all the supplies we needed. But i got it all finished with 30 min to spare.
-when climbers returned, we left for the cave and wouldn't be back till Friday morning
-navigated to cave
-climbed hill in awesome caving suits!
-climbed into the cave and established "camp" in the cave
-very uncomfortable w/sharp rocks and nowhere to sleeepp ahhhhhh....
-spent 1 hour stacking rocks to try to make a semi flat spot to sleep for girls
-total sleep= maybe 3 hours?
Day 5 (Thursday)
Expedition Day!
-Wake up in cave hike down to cars, breakfast (fruit bars.. yay...)
-Break up into two groups (guys and girls)
-Given map/compass. Must reach 3 different mountain peaks by navigating using bearing points. Joe and i were in charge of nav.
-Total of 20K (14ish miles) to finally arrive at the bothy by 5pm.
-Then given a mandatory assignment to go to a specific coordinate on the map.
-After 3 more hours of hiking (this time through marsh land) we were dead and ready for food. (considering all we ate that day was a muffin for breakfast, a chicken/mayonnaise sandwich for lunch, and at least 12 fruit bars throughout the day to keep us going)
-We finally got back to the bothy at about 9pm were the girls had a hot meal for us (noodles/mince cooked over a fire)
-We had our review meeting until 11pm and then went straight to bed knowing it would be a short night because we had a lot to do by 10am the next morning.
-Total sleep: 2 hours (11:30-1:30)
Day 6 (Friday)
-Wake 1:30am
-Pack, breakfast, hike down to cars 1:30-4am
-Drive back to World horizons.
-Arrive at 5:15
-Clean cars, caving equipment, and meal supplies
-I made the final mandatory video that we had to present, and others put together the puzzle that we now had all the pieces for.
10AM!!!.... failure. haha
By ten we did succeed to be back and cleaned up with our video done, however we failed to complete the two puzzles and failed to end the exercise with a profit ($12,000 in debt), but the good news is that very few teams/i dont know if anyone has ever "had victory over DT week." But in reality, that's not what it is for, it is to learn and examine.
Evaluations
SOOOOO... With a total of 10 hours of sleep in the last 3 nights, we headed into the meeting room to have review time. Yea right... haha. I was actually surprisingly awake! so that was good. We had group evaluation where we determined that as a group we all work really well together! VERY encouraging and we all put EVERYTHING we had into this week (I mean we licked each other's toes! lol).
Then we had individual evaluations. They told us "we only get 30 min with each of you so we are going to be very straight forward, so take what we have to say with a grain of salt. Think/Pray about it. These are just the things that we saw this week." So i was quite nervous that it was going to be all bad. When i walked into the room Carol (a woman i was already quite intimidated by. Very sweet lady, but i didnt know if she liked me) was leading the meeting. We prayed, and then the first thing she said was "Blake, each night the trainers would meet up and just talk about the progress of you guys, and i want to tell you that we were all very impressed with you.".....I let out a sigh of relief!!!
We then went on the talk about what it was like to be pushed new limits that i had never been pushed to before. I told them that i came into this week with two goals:
1) learn how to let someone else lead (because i suck at that)/servants heart
2) Be cheerful/happy no matter how little sleep we got, and no matter the circumstances
I told them that i felt like i had some aspect of victory in both areas. In the previous DT exercises it was obvious that i assumed leadership/gave myself leadership haha. So to go into this week prayerfully, and aware of my tendencies was so helpful in my pursuit of being a team player. And in my pursuit to keep the overall group morale high i found it to be fairly easy because everyone was so selfless. yes we were all tired and of course i got frustrated, but i really learned that i can control the way i react to situations. It is MY decision to make the best of things or not. It was cool to hear that the trainers agreed with what i saw in myself. They ended by encouraging and blessing me by telling me that i "have endless potential." Which is exciting to hear as a short term missions worker, coming from full time missionaries.
I definitely still have a LOT to work on when it comes to working as a team, or as a leader within that team, but i am sure that that is an endless journey. So as for now i will continue to examine and re-examine my heart, motives, and goals because that is the only way we can be sure that we are in sync with His plan.
I will posting another blog on saturday (2 days from now) giving my final information about my placement country!!! So PLEASE in the meantime be praying for guidance.
Thank you for your prays and support. Sorry this update took so long to get to you. LOT to process.
He is at work.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Hi. My Name Is George. (week 4)
Monday-Wed Schedule:
7- Wake, Shower, Breakfast, Devos
9:30- Discipleship Lecture
11:15- Tea Break
11:30- Discipleship Lecture
1- Lunch
2- Discipleship Lecture
This may sound hectic, but compared to the last two weeks this schedule has been very forgiving! We were given most evenings off which was nice. I was able to Get back into the routine of going to the prayer room before bed. So yes Monday-Wednesday was fun and i learned a lot at the discipleship course, but the most exciting things happened on Thur and Friday of last week!
Thursday
So, every Thursday morning is prayer morning where people from all over meet here at North Dock and we pray for the different projects going on within world horizons, or for different missionaries that may come and do a presentation and what not. It was a great time of fellowship. But the thing that I was looking forward to all day (not that i wasnt looking forward to prayer...) was playing football with some kids from my Community Placement (the place where i volunteer from 10-5 on Fridays). So meesh (michelle) and i walked there and met up with Nigel (you'll hear more about him in a min) and Paul (the director of Wallich-the place i volunteer). I ended up playing 5 on 5 football with a group of drug and alcohol addicts for nearly 2 hours. It was cool to earn their respect and finally feel more accepted (the past 2 weeks it has been hard to talk/connect to the kids at Wallich b/c they are very independent).
Friday
Soooo... The next day I showed up at the residents center and hung out with Nigel(who works there) for most of the day. I could tell that Nigel was a Christian by some of the things he had said the other day when i was there, so i was excited to ask him about it. When I did I was BLOWN AWAY by his testimony! (Message me on FB if you would like to hear his whole story, but i will always remember it!! dont be shy). It was a relief to have a passionate Christian brother working along side me in, what seemed like, a Godless place of fear and frustration. I had an awesome opportunity to go to lunch with one of the addict residence Mikey! He was super friendly and easy to talk to. So, for the first time (out of the 3 times i have been to Wallich) i was beginning to see God's plan for me there.
Then, FRIDAY NIGHT EVANGELISM! Again God decides to blow me out of the water. We show up at the church at 8pm to set up the room that we invite the homeless/drunk people to come and have tea/coffee and biscuits(cookies for you americans). Right when the doors open a man called Justin walks in and i pick up conversation with him. He was drunk (although it was hard for me to tell, maybe "merry" is a better word for it) but the first thing he says to me is "if the man Bryan comes tonight i am going to hurt him, he is always judging me saying i am a sinner." Bryan is one of the guys that usually comes to evangelize and for some reason i said "Is that what Jesus would do?" I dont know why i thought he would care what Jesus would do, but i said it anyway. He responded by going into sermon mode and preaching to me about Jesus. We ended up talking right through prayertime (where we pray that God would do big things during tonights evangelism) and though i was still a little scared that i was going to get socked in the face if i said anything about sin we ended up talking for the next 3 hours. Turns out he was a preacher for 10 years and then let the demon of alcohol get to him. To make a long story short we took a walk around downtown Llanelli and talked.
We got to the point where instead of him doing all the talking, i began to ask questions and sharing why i believed in certain things. And by this point i was fairly certain we were on good terms (i.e. i wasnt too worried about being attacked) so i went ahead an laid it all out there. He kept talking about being a christian and how no one can take that away from him. He preached to thousands of people and converted many people. And i challenged him by saying "you dont know you are a christian by saying 'i once accepted jesus into my heart, i once preached and converted people, i once did really good things' but you know you are a christian by choosing DAILY to pick up your cross, deny yourself, and follow after Him." He understood and i asked if he was satisfied with his current life, he said no. i asked if he was satisfied back in the day when he was preaching, and he said yes. So right there i asked "do you believe God has the power to heal you of this alcohol addiction?" He said yes. So I stared praying for him right there on the street. I had only said maybe 10 words when a big black van drove slowly by and someone started yelling "HEY, stop Kissing, hey you twooo!" The devil was obviously trying to intervene. But it threw me off guard and i didnt really know what to say. The van stopped a little way down the road and just watched us. Justin said to me "Dont be intimidated" which was really powerful to me.
We walked across the street to the church and i wasnt sure if Justin still wanted to pray for the addiction, or if i missed that opportunity or what. But Justin walked in, touched Steve's (on of the elders of the church) shoulder and said "george (he obviously forgot my name because he called me george all night, i was going to tie this in better to make it much more funny... but i got too into the story) here wants to pray, can we use the prayer room?" So the three of us went into the prayer room and steve and i laid out hands on Justin and prayed. At one point Justin got down on his knees and put his hands out and was speaking in a different language. We finished and to be honest i am not sure how much Justin will remember, b/c even after we prayed he said he was ready for a few more pints, but i know that there was a reason for me to spend my friday night with that man Justin.
PRAYER:
-DT (development training) this week!!! Super intense so pray for sleep and for safety
-Placement! i have to decide FOR SURE in a little over a week. So pray that i have some CRAZY revelation this week! haha and if not that i will make a wise decision :D
THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS AND SUPPORT!!! PRAYERS ARE BEING ANSWERED AND LIVES ARE BEING CHANGED! sorry this post is so long :/
7- Wake, Shower, Breakfast, Devos
9:30- Discipleship Lecture
11:15- Tea Break
11:30- Discipleship Lecture
1- Lunch
2- Discipleship Lecture
4:30- Free Time
6- Dinner
7- Clean up
11- Lights out
This may sound hectic, but compared to the last two weeks this schedule has been very forgiving! We were given most evenings off which was nice. I was able to Get back into the routine of going to the prayer room before bed. So yes Monday-Wednesday was fun and i learned a lot at the discipleship course, but the most exciting things happened on Thur and Friday of last week!
Thursday
So, every Thursday morning is prayer morning where people from all over meet here at North Dock and we pray for the different projects going on within world horizons, or for different missionaries that may come and do a presentation and what not. It was a great time of fellowship. But the thing that I was looking forward to all day (not that i wasnt looking forward to prayer...) was playing football with some kids from my Community Placement (the place where i volunteer from 10-5 on Fridays). So meesh (michelle) and i walked there and met up with Nigel (you'll hear more about him in a min) and Paul (the director of Wallich-the place i volunteer). I ended up playing 5 on 5 football with a group of drug and alcohol addicts for nearly 2 hours. It was cool to earn their respect and finally feel more accepted (the past 2 weeks it has been hard to talk/connect to the kids at Wallich b/c they are very independent).
Friday
Soooo... The next day I showed up at the residents center and hung out with Nigel(who works there) for most of the day. I could tell that Nigel was a Christian by some of the things he had said the other day when i was there, so i was excited to ask him about it. When I did I was BLOWN AWAY by his testimony! (Message me on FB if you would like to hear his whole story, but i will always remember it!! dont be shy). It was a relief to have a passionate Christian brother working along side me in, what seemed like, a Godless place of fear and frustration. I had an awesome opportunity to go to lunch with one of the addict residence Mikey! He was super friendly and easy to talk to. So, for the first time (out of the 3 times i have been to Wallich) i was beginning to see God's plan for me there.
Then, FRIDAY NIGHT EVANGELISM! Again God decides to blow me out of the water. We show up at the church at 8pm to set up the room that we invite the homeless/drunk people to come and have tea/coffee and biscuits(cookies for you americans). Right when the doors open a man called Justin walks in and i pick up conversation with him. He was drunk (although it was hard for me to tell, maybe "merry" is a better word for it) but the first thing he says to me is "if the man Bryan comes tonight i am going to hurt him, he is always judging me saying i am a sinner." Bryan is one of the guys that usually comes to evangelize and for some reason i said "Is that what Jesus would do?" I dont know why i thought he would care what Jesus would do, but i said it anyway. He responded by going into sermon mode and preaching to me about Jesus. We ended up talking right through prayertime (where we pray that God would do big things during tonights evangelism) and though i was still a little scared that i was going to get socked in the face if i said anything about sin we ended up talking for the next 3 hours. Turns out he was a preacher for 10 years and then let the demon of alcohol get to him. To make a long story short we took a walk around downtown Llanelli and talked.
We got to the point where instead of him doing all the talking, i began to ask questions and sharing why i believed in certain things. And by this point i was fairly certain we were on good terms (i.e. i wasnt too worried about being attacked) so i went ahead an laid it all out there. He kept talking about being a christian and how no one can take that away from him. He preached to thousands of people and converted many people. And i challenged him by saying "you dont know you are a christian by saying 'i once accepted jesus into my heart, i once preached and converted people, i once did really good things' but you know you are a christian by choosing DAILY to pick up your cross, deny yourself, and follow after Him." He understood and i asked if he was satisfied with his current life, he said no. i asked if he was satisfied back in the day when he was preaching, and he said yes. So right there i asked "do you believe God has the power to heal you of this alcohol addiction?" He said yes. So I stared praying for him right there on the street. I had only said maybe 10 words when a big black van drove slowly by and someone started yelling "HEY, stop Kissing, hey you twooo!" The devil was obviously trying to intervene. But it threw me off guard and i didnt really know what to say. The van stopped a little way down the road and just watched us. Justin said to me "Dont be intimidated" which was really powerful to me.
We walked across the street to the church and i wasnt sure if Justin still wanted to pray for the addiction, or if i missed that opportunity or what. But Justin walked in, touched Steve's (on of the elders of the church) shoulder and said "george (he obviously forgot my name because he called me george all night, i was going to tie this in better to make it much more funny... but i got too into the story) here wants to pray, can we use the prayer room?" So the three of us went into the prayer room and steve and i laid out hands on Justin and prayed. At one point Justin got down on his knees and put his hands out and was speaking in a different language. We finished and to be honest i am not sure how much Justin will remember, b/c even after we prayed he said he was ready for a few more pints, but i know that there was a reason for me to spend my friday night with that man Justin.
PRAYER:
-DT (development training) this week!!! Super intense so pray for sleep and for safety
-Placement! i have to decide FOR SURE in a little over a week. So pray that i have some CRAZY revelation this week! haha and if not that i will make a wise decision :D
THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS AND SUPPORT!!! PRAYERS ARE BEING ANSWERED AND LIVES ARE BEING CHANGED! sorry this post is so long :/
Monday, October 3, 2011
Using The Weak, Broken, and Reluctant to Magnify His Glory (Week 3)
Can you think of examples? Moses. David. The Israelites. Gideon. Just to name a few! God glorifies himself so much more when emphasizing that he doesn't NEED us to fulfill his plans, however through His grace He allows us to take part in His ministry. This is the topic i shared with the training team during friday morning devotions. But God decided that just sharing in the morning wasn't enough, He would make the devotion applicable to my life. Satan constantly tries to convince me that i am not ready to be used by God, or uses my sin as a way to distract me from feeling worthy to be used. Despite my misconceptions of God's grace, He did use me and the other's at Friday night street evangelism to impact lives! Please pray for:
-Jack: He was drunk when we talked to him, but we talked for nearly 40 min and he may come tomorrow night to Tue night Football with the church. pray that he does and that he will receive the Gospel message.
-Liam: Was raised a christian, but after his best friend committed suicide he went down hill fast and was addicted to heroine at the age of 16. He has cleaned up and is really searching. We talked for a little while before he said "there is a reason that i ran into the three of you guys tonight." and proceeded to shake each of our hands. He said he was ready to make a commitment to follow Jesus right then and there, but then decided that maybe he should take 24 hours and think/pray. I wanted to seal the deal right there you know? but i have realized that the Holy Spirit is at work. The best think i can do for Liam is pray and trust that God will continue to work in him.
On monday and tuesday of last week we had all-day evangelism courses which were really enjoyable and then on Wed we had a DT (development training) day. It was really fun, but also difficult. The point of DT is to bring out one's character when working towards an objective. Leadership skills, following skills, and practical skills are all needed. The challenge was to build a raft out of barrels and wood and rope in two hours and have the entire team standing on it in the middle of North Dock Lake. And if that wasn't difficult enough we had to do other tasks to buy all the materials needed for the raft. What a challenge!
I learned (and was very aware going in) that i am not a very good follower... haha i tend to he strong opinions and either state them, or just say nothing at all. So it was definitely a learning experience for me :) I am continuing to examine myself in new ways, and learn alot about serving others.
Looking forward to what is in store for this week! Thanks for all the prayers!
-Jack: He was drunk when we talked to him, but we talked for nearly 40 min and he may come tomorrow night to Tue night Football with the church. pray that he does and that he will receive the Gospel message.
-Liam: Was raised a christian, but after his best friend committed suicide he went down hill fast and was addicted to heroine at the age of 16. He has cleaned up and is really searching. We talked for a little while before he said "there is a reason that i ran into the three of you guys tonight." and proceeded to shake each of our hands. He said he was ready to make a commitment to follow Jesus right then and there, but then decided that maybe he should take 24 hours and think/pray. I wanted to seal the deal right there you know? but i have realized that the Holy Spirit is at work. The best think i can do for Liam is pray and trust that God will continue to work in him.
On monday and tuesday of last week we had all-day evangelism courses which were really enjoyable and then on Wed we had a DT (development training) day. It was really fun, but also difficult. The point of DT is to bring out one's character when working towards an objective. Leadership skills, following skills, and practical skills are all needed. The challenge was to build a raft out of barrels and wood and rope in two hours and have the entire team standing on it in the middle of North Dock Lake. And if that wasn't difficult enough we had to do other tasks to buy all the materials needed for the raft. What a challenge!
I learned (and was very aware going in) that i am not a very good follower... haha i tend to he strong opinions and either state them, or just say nothing at all. So it was definitely a learning experience for me :) I am continuing to examine myself in new ways, and learn alot about serving others.
Looking forward to what is in store for this week! Thanks for all the prayers!
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