“Hey! Here’s what’s been going on in Southeast Asia the past week.
We’ve been able to do street evangelism, university evangelism, and some prison ministry as well. One day at the university, some of our team felt led to go to the back of the campus where they found a group of students talking to each other on the steps. Some spoke English and translated an introduction between the groups. Turns out they were taking a break from dance practice. We asked if we could watch what they were rehearsing but they were shy, so one of our students, M, said she would show them a dance if they showed her a dance. They agreed. So after they finished dancing, M put on Steffany Gretzinger’s Morning Song and danced for the students. The students were in awe, and clapped loudly at the end. M then got to share with the students that she loves to dance because Jesus has set her free!
At the prison we had the opportunity to share about the meaning of Christmas! We broke up into small groups after to talk with the inmates. One of our students felt like there was someone in his group who was having strange dreams. A Hindu man admitted this was true and said he had had a dream a couple nights ago that he didn’t understand. He dreamed that he came to a big river where a voice told him to take off his clothes and cross the river. The voice also said that he would receive a new pair of clothes at the other side. In the dream, he didn’t think he could do it, but the voice said he would be with him and he could do it. So he took off his clothes, stepped out, and the river dried up in front of him so he could cross. One of our students felt that he had an interpretation for the dream, and told the man that God is with him and will be with him when he has to make a big decision, and that God will make him clean when he trusts in Him.”
“Hello from The Middle East!
We recently had the opportunity to go with a local pastor to an Indian work camp to do some ministry. When we arrived we lead worship with 20 men in a tiny room. A member of our team was then able to share his testimony as our pastor friend translated. He shared his testimony of coming from depression back to joy, from lust to purity. Then one of our students read out some words we had felt for them during intercession earlier that day. We shared that we felt that God was washing away depression, healing joint pain, and providing supernatural rest. Literally everyone in the room responded and came up to the front for prayer! They were so hungry to engage with what the Holy Spirit was doing. After our team laid hands on everyone, we asked if anyone felt something shift, or felt any pain leave their bodies after praying. Half of the room raised their hands! We praise You Jesus for bringing healing, and feeding Your hungry children. We praise You Jesus that even though not everyone one in the room was a believer, every one of them was hungry for YOU. Praise God!
This past Monday we were in a cab on the way back to our house and felt God say that the driver had back pain. After arriving and paying for the cab we asked him about it. He confirmed that he had had ongoing back pain for years. So we asked if it would be okay for us to pray and he said yes. After the second time of praying he said the pain had completely left! After this we were able to share about Jesus and how he had worked through us to heal his back.
Praise Him for what He is doing in the Middle East!”
“Hey Fam! [From the Explorer’s team]
We were recently able to work with a refugee program for Africans, which was an amazing opportunity to build relationships and also share the Gospel. As a team, we grew especially close to a few guys from Somalia. They said over and over that there was something different about us, the way we talked and loved God was different than anyone. We were able to share the full Gospel with them and explain what we believed. The guys on our team met with them for 6 hours and talked about God, answering all the questions they had concerning Christianity. The last night, we took them out on a Falukka (a 30 foot wooden sailboat) on the Nile, treated them to an Egyptian meal, and taught each other our cultural dances! It was a GREAT way to end our time in this nation – and a great way to show them God’s loving heart! We got to shake up their world and show them what it truly looks like to be a Christian. I think we got to share the gospel with at least 40 people, answer questions, we had about 5 coffee dates where we talked about Jesus in-depth, and we got to serve and encourage the persecuted church. We had high expectations for our time in this nation, and I can say that our expectations have been met!