one week in...
Hello again...
Firstly, forgive me if this post is a little short... I know we're due to go out for tea soon but I'm not sure when... I'm not expecting to have time to write much....
Secondly... I plan to write a post at some point when I get the time about my friend and team mate todd, please remember him in your prayers...
Ok... so I've been here for a week now, well I've been here (in Malaysia) for 6 days but I set off from the UK a week ago... how's it been going? ... pretty good... we've seem some really big blessings, but are also encountering some challenges...
The main challenge has been coming to terms with an entirely different culture... you may have encountered me complaining about not being able to sleep or it being too hot if you are a regular reader... on the surface and in isolation these kind of things seem a bit trivial to me... but when they all come at the same time and you don't have anyone with you who you feel you know well enough to show weakness to and be really honest with it gets pretty hard... This has been teaching me a great thing, something I suppose I should already know... to rely on God...
1 Peter 5v7 says "cast your anxieties on Him (God), because He cares for you" I've been realising that when God says He cares for you, He is not merely offering friendly words to temporarily boost your morale, He means it and He acts upon His care... for example one time this week I was feeling a bit worn out (physically and emotionally) and so I asked God to comfort me, soon after Todd asked if we could pray together for a while, we did this and shared scripture with each other... all of a sudden, the comfort of God's words broke through the worry and apathy and rejuvinated me... I thank God that His Word (the Bible) is living and active...
Another big challenge is not knowing how much, and it what way we can speak to the people we meet about our Lord and Saviour, the author and perfector of our faith (Jesus). For example, after we made the brochures for the SPICE program Keng Yin (the navigator lady) and Big Guy (the navigator guy we live with) went through and took out any mention of the word "Christian" or "Jesus" or "Christ" as this might cause us problems... at first i think we felt a bit discouraged, I felt a bit like i was being dishonest, or deceiving people to come along to something other than what it was...
I think its clearer in my mind now and I'm beginning to understand that explicit Christian language might cause us problems if it gets into the hands of an authority figure, also it seems that we can talk to people about our faith but giving them literature are different things here and to be approached in different ways... I'm still not sure that I understand... Today I was talking to a Chinese girl about Religion and saw what would usually (in England) be a clear opportunity to present the gospel, however i am still uncertain of the "rules" so I kept the conversation at a less personal level... this felt a bit odd... but i think in the situation i did the right thing...
Another challenge is that we have a day (or two maybe) to meet people and get them along to an English class we are teaching (we are being taught how to do this later tonight) which starts on Tuesday... please pray that God would surpass any of our expectations...
A big blessing has been the kindness of the guys who we are living with, between the seven of them, there has always been someone about to help us out whenever we needed anything (food, transport etc.) Kelvin taught us some chinese today, which i seemed to pick up pretty well and was a lot of fun...
I suppose the major blessing of the first week was the Bible studies we have been doing with Cheun Hoe and Kelvin, we've done two now and i think it has been really good for them, and for us... please pray for them :-)
Todd and I have also be been blessed by spending time each day praying together... please pray that we will continue to see this is a necessity, and that we will continue to place our work here in God's hands...
We went to Kuala Lumpur today with Kelvin and three girls from his course (TY, Elsie and Kar Leng), it was good fun, I'll post about it (including some pictures - hopefully!) another time :-)
Thankyou so much for your thoughts and prayers
posted by dave @ 18:53
3 Comments:
Great to hear from you and get a summing up of the week, what you've done, what you're learning etc. We updated everyone at church this morning and people are continuing to pray for you.
One of great things about God's Word is He is faithful to it - He does what He says! So when you cast your cares on Him, He will care for you. Sometimes we can be a bit slow to learn but He is always faithful - see Lamentations 3 v 22-24 which in the Good News version reads; "The Lord's unfailing love and mercy still continue, Fresh as the morning, as sure as the sunrise.. The Lord is all I have, and so I put my hope in Him". God's love and mercy are as certian as the fact there will be a new day tomorrow and that the sun will rise - so keep on casting your cares on Him and He will be faithful.
Enjoy the rest of your day - missing you and praying for you,
lots of love
Mum xxxx
Hey buddy! So much for the short blog post! I'm gload i was not short because it mad for interesting reading. It is so true what you and your Mum say about God fulfilling our needs. Something God has been teaching me recently and in the most extroadinary way (i locked myself out and after trying two other houses ended up on Bernards doorstep!) That no matter how old you get and how spiritualy mature you are God uses us the most and meets with us most powerfully when we come to him exposing our weakness and being as honest and open as is possible when we come before him not hiding those negative or faithless thoughts from him regardless of how stupid they sound or that they seem like the thoughts over an old problem we thought we had solved. THe only thing that stops God working is when we try and do it all ourselves! If you remain in me and my words remain in you ask whatever you wish and it will be given you part of remaining in God is sharing everything of ourselves with him!
Sorry that comment was probably longer than your blog posting itself and that was probably as much for me as it was for you! I love ya buddy take care man and keep up the fellowship wit todd sounds excellent...i'm a little jealous!!
natex
Hey up!
Just wanted to pop my head around the metaphorical door and say hi!
Got 5 days til i fly out and peeing myself...sorry for that detail!
Just done a week of Bournemouth Summer outreach and it just goes to show that even when we are blind God is BIIIIIIG! :)
Well, id better dash but will be in touch on the email soon
Much love
Kat
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