Intro:
Greetings from Asia! A special thanks to everyone who is reading this and has supported us through prayer and/or financial giving. We treasure your prayers and couldn't be doing this without your support.
Well, we are coming up on the 3 week mark and it already feels like home. Not that we don't miss home, cause we do, but the Lord has given us great favor and it feels like we just blended right into the culture and ministry here. We love everything about this place. The people, culture, and food are all incredible. There are a few minor quarks like only having cold water, and the water and power constantly going out on us, but honestly we enjoy the simple lifestyle and feel like we are fitting in better this way.
We are both healthy and enjoying every moment out here. We were talking the other day about how there is not a single task in the day that we don't look forward too. Even helping clean up around here is a blessing to be able to show the students what a servant leader is like and of course it is better to give than to receive.
Ministry:
The ministry has already been so fruitful. Our main work is teaching at the Bible college but as you will see there is always something to be done and ministry opportunities. We each teach 4 times a week for 90 minutes each class with a translator. Brandon teaches Ephesians on M/W/F and Colossians on Tuesday while Dane teaches Ezra/Nehemiah on M/W/F and James on Thursdays. As you may see that is a lot of studying each week since neither of us have taught a Bible college class before let alone these books. But the labor of studying the Word is glorious haha! We are pretty much the main teachers besides pastors that come and teach block classes. This really frees up the staff to do things like plan outreach and get our Bible College accredited and lead and disciple the students better. We are stoked about teaching these classes!
Perhaps even more exciting than teaching these students the word is living it with them and investing in their lives. Again, the Lord has given us such favor with students especially the guys! The girls are extremely shy but slowly warming up. We do evangelism on Sundays and prayer on Fridays with all the students. It's optional and yet they have pretty much all come every time. They are hungry for the Word and are on fire for Christ. We eat every meal with them except when we go out and we are with them for a majority of the day. They ask us questions about the Bible and the christian life constantly and we are always doing something fun like freestyle rapping, dancing, or playing spoons the card game (they love that game). We do a work out session with the guys most the nights and it always turns into a prayer meeting and worship session. Our goal is to get prayer meetings every day of the week and maybe multiple times a day. We want to see revival happen here and these students are ready for it as much as we are.
Other ministries include the Promise Child Girls Home, where there are 12 girls who are all orphans and potential victims of human trafficking without us taking them in and providing for them. It's an awesome work and the 'dad of the home' who lives there with his wife and son comes to our classes. We visit them every Thursday with the students and then play soccer with them on Sunday's. We will occasionally go over and teach their devotion they have every night.
We also help out at the Calvary Chapel here as much as we can as this is the church we call home for the next 9 months (besides when we come home at Christmas). We teach occasionally at their mid week service and try to serve the church the best way we can. Looks like many discipleship opportunities and meeting up with people who are considering christianity and have questions about the faith.
I could go on and on especially in talking about the fruit we are already seeing from one time of evangelism and from the people we are constantly sharing with around here. As you can see the harvest is plentiful!
Prayer:
- Us: Pray that we continue to stay strong in His grace, always abiding and being filled with the Spirit as we spend time in Hid presence daily.
- Teaching: Pray that we are effective even through the language and cultural barrier but far more importantly that we study to show ourselves approved and preach the Word diligently knowing it will break through all barriers.
- Students: Pray that they continue to gain a passion for Jesus every day and that they become christians who can impact this Nation and this world. Pray we continue to establish relationships and disciple them diligently.
- Other: Pray for boldness and wisdom with this new law that is passed about not being able to evangelize or even teach here as a foreigner or convert people at all even as a citizen.
- Pray for Asia and all the great works happening here and also for more laborers to be sent.
- Pray for our evangelism and prayer meetings to be effective and glorifying to God.
- Pray for an opportunity we have in October to spend a few weeks in a village area where there is not church and we potentially will share the Gospel with entire villages that have never heard!
Here are some pictures of our time so far:
The Students:
Study Session
Class Time
Language Class
Hanging with the Students:
Promise Child Girls
