Cultural Toddlerhood

Kasto cha? ... Tapaiko nom ke ho? -

(How are you?... What is your name?)

    My first phrases to learn in Nepali.  And I was saying it wrong for at least a month before I had my first official Nepali lesson and came to understand the correct grammar.  My first few days in Nepal, I went to visit one of the many projects that Iris Nepal is involved in, Banquet House.  They gather every Thursday to spend time with and feed lunch to a group of homeless people in Kathmandu.  I didn't know how to help or say anything, but here I was with 50-100 Nepali people sitting around me and wanting to do my best to love them well or at least show some interest in them but I didn't know how to say a word.  So I quickly reviewed and began to practice "How are you? …. What is your name?"  

   Then I began going down the row introducing myself and asking the same 2 phrases to each person and smiling and nodding with my best enthusiasm.  I had no hopes of understanding their names at the time, but figured if I just started out, then eventually some of the names would become recognizable and familiar.

   I used those 2 phrases a lot over the next few months.  And did become better at recognizing names and was always proud if I remembered it thru the entire conversation and could repeat it to them as I said goodbye, and show that I valued them and remembered their name.  Then one day, after saying goodbye to an elderly woman by name, my friend Sadhana explained to me that its actually not respectful in their culture to call older people by name.  Its considered respectful to call them simply "Mom" or "Dad".  And still weeks later, sitting around the cooking fire one night, Rabina explained, that its not even respectful to call peers by name, but by 'big brother or little brother or sister' respectively.  So after all these months trying to honor people by remembering their names, I found that it wasn't honoring at all to them, and would have been better if I just forgot all their names.  

   Culture!  What a challenge.  And always so humbling to begin as a new baby in a foreign culture and learn how to communicate and how to love and honor well.  

   In Nepal compared to America, there is a higher value placed on family relationships than friendships.  And there is a higher value placed on the relationship than on the individual.  Hence, after making a friend there, you don't call them by name, you call them brother or sister.  And there is a different title for each individual family member.  For instance, there is not just one word for "aunt".  There is a word for the 'older sister of my mother' or the 'younger sister of my mother' or the 'oldest brother of my father' or 'my father's brother's wife'.  So effectively you can call them by their title as they are related exactly to you, and without using their name, you can know exactly which of 6 aunts you are referring to.  And to call someone you are a little bit close to, friend, is almost slightly offensive, like if I were to refer to a friend in America as an acquaintance.  It would create intentional distance in the relationship.  But instead, in Nepal, you call your friends brother/sister.   

   Honor looks different where values are different.  Its so interesting and challenging to learn to love people, not just in the way that seems best to me, but in the way that they can understand and receive it.

Rabina, me and Sadhana.  Sisters :)

(p.s. I also later found out that the more respectful way to ask "how are you?" is a totally different phrase!    ;)

Sadhana and Rabina's village

    Zoe and I went with our new friend Anabel a hilarious Mexican American who has been volunteering with Iris here in Nepal for the past month or so.  We went with two faith filled Nepali sisters, Sadhana and Rabina, to the villages where they grew up and planted churches and where Sadhana is now raising 4 foster/adopted children.  Their family was some of the first believers in that area and now there are hundreds, and a church in both their communities, these women were revolutionary in so many ways and are pioneers, I am so happy to learn from them and partner with them.  Our time was marked by worship, play, encouragement, declarations of faith and joy, prophetic words and songs and encouraging activating the local believers even more to see the Kingdom come more and more again in their area and nation.

    One day we went to worship and pray over their family's land where they hope to rebuild a house for the kids (the one they are currently using is full and is declared structurally unsound after the earthquake).  They want to build a playground and garden, and home for the kids, a home for elderly, and a training center for discipleship seminars and Bible training.  

    With the help of Sadhana's invitation and translation, we got to minister at a youth service Friday night, which ranges from teenagers to 30s.  Anabel and Zoe shared testimonies encouraging them to go for all that the Lord has for them and to step out in faith and in the Spirit.  Then I led them in some prophetic encouragement games with each other.  It was so fun, they really went for it and were so encouraged.  Then praying with several people afterwards, one woman was healed of pain from her womb where she had been struggling with issues for some time, and her husband and one other person were healed of back pain and they each started praying for each other and for me.  Meanwhile others shared about recently losing a family member and were loved on and ministered to.

     Afterwards we headed up the mountain a small moonlight hike to a home group.  We sat in their upstairs room as the whole room filled with people of all ages and we worshipped together.  And we shared a bit and prophesied over some of the group and then just had a soaking worship time and so enjoyed the presence of God, our friend Raju (who with his wife, Sabina, helps Sadhana staff the kids home) broke into some really freeing spontaneous worship songs.  It was such a sweet time, topped off with milk tea :)

    Free time was usually spent worshipping around the house and making up songs, learning Nepali and pulling the kernels off the corn with awkward hindi soap operas playing in the background, and playing dutch blitz with Aamaa's 6 adopted sons (they are living in 2 rooms above the church since the earthquake, until they have resources to build a new home, and they graciously gave us girls one of the rooms for the few days we stayed with them)  We left them the card game, and left Sadhana a ukulele to learn and keep worshipping and making up songs with.  :) 

   Our first day there, Sadhana took us to pray for some believers who were sick and needed encouragement.  Mahesh and his wife are young and very active believers who help with the youth and raising up disciples.  His elderly mother has been sick with respiratory problems, asthma, and what sounds like COPD for sometime and requiring oxygen at home (which is a very big financial burden in their community and economy), and recently had gotten worse with an infection.  She also is a believe but was soo discouraged and lying in bed seeming quite hopeless and feeling miserable in bed.  We spent quite a long time just praying and worshipping over her in their room and then praying over and encouraging Mahesh and his wife, and then just laughing and enjoying fellowship for a while, and finally she started to brighten up a little bit.  They reported to us a couple days later that she had begun to get better that day and require less and less oxygen and had turned a corner in being encouraged and hopeful.

    My favorite moment of the trip was worshipping and praying over a couple in their roadside cafe.  They were also believers, he had been struggling with low blood pressure issues for over a year.  They were preparing food for the lunch crowd when we came to pray, but he was so encountering the Spirit of God, and all of us, that we just kept worshipping as several people came to look in the doorways of the tiny 3 table cafe/kitchen looking for lunch.  They stayed around listening and watching as we worshipped and then shared some testimonies of miraculous multiplication of food.  And afterward he told us that usually when he tries to pray or worship he has a tightness and heavy spirit that bothers him, but that now he felt so light and free and was able to experience the presence of God.  So sweet!  

    Oh, I almost forgot another favorite moment, the photo below reminded me:  One afternoon a few Hindu friends stopped by to visit after school and we busted out the oil pastels and everyone got creative.  Sita (sitting on the bed with a pink scarf) drew this picture of a flower, and afterwards Zoe and I began to prophecy over her and encourage her based off what God showed us about the picture she had drawn herself.  All about a seed that was already planted in her and the promises of God coming to pass for her... she was soo encouraged, and then told us that she was 4 months pregnant with her first child!  So we got to pray together for her and the baby and she took home her picture with a big smile.

Nepal Update - First week in Kathmandu

Stories from the village of Salgado :)

We loved our little hikes between houses in the hills

     Sitting on their porch shelling beans, was one of my favorite times to share the gospel, in different ways and stories everyday.  But the story I will always remember with Salgado, is the picture of the gospel in shelling beans.  That Jesus takes us together with the dead part of our flesh and sin, and washes us clean and peals of the death and presents us to the father full of joy and proudly as a handful of fruit, just the beans, the good life giving part.  "Look, Pai, I brought you good fruit, they are alive in you, I pealed off their death and took their punishment and present them to you holy and blameless and perfect and full of life in your presence."   I hope this message of the gospel stays with them and wrecks them with deeper revelation everyday as they sit on the porch, shelling beans for hours a day, their main staple food.  I hope that they can't escape from the revelation of the goodness of God.

- Anderson - 

     This morning, on our last full day here, we went up to visit Lara, who wasn't home, so we went to Dona Nelda's, who also wasn't home.  Dona Nelda lives with 8 grandchildren, 5 of whom's parents died a few months ago.  The story is that the father killed the mother, and then the oldest son killed the father.  And some of the children saw it happen.  Most of the other details were lost in translation, but needless to say the family has been through a lot of trauma and difficult times.  Dona Nelda and some of the children are believers, but not very firm and haven't had much teaching or discipleship and the nearest local church is about an hour or 2 walking.  It was one of the families that God directed me to most focus on in my time here, and especially Dona Nelda and Leticia the 14 year old daughter.  

     But Anderson was home today.  Anderson is the 16 year old son in this family.  He was usually around the house when I came by to visit, and would come by to say hi but not stay in the room long, or maybe listen from outside the door.  But usually he had another teenage friend around so he wasn't totally open to listening.  But he also had a wound on his foot that week that I helped bandage a few times and just checked in on him and his foot.  But today after sitting one-on-one with Leticia for a while and saying bye to her, we were about to leave and Anderson came to the doorway to say bye as well. But suddenly I felt the intentionality of the Lord to stop for him, and to share the gospel with him, personally, just for him.  To tell him that Jesus really died for HIM.  That it was personal, this good news was a message for him, for his heart and his life.  That God was calling him.  I was there with Jenn and Jess, and I think all 4 of us felt the intentionality of God in that moment.  It was like I could feel the Holy Spirit calling his heart, his heartbeat beating faster, feeling that tug toward heaven.  We talked about the power of forgiveness and the suffering that Jesus paid with joy so that we could become free and friends of God.  We talked about Saul becoming Paul and the power of redemption.  And he believed but wasn't ready to say yes with his life to this message.  But he did want to pray that he would feel even more of God's presence and to ask God to increase the call on his heart that he was feeling.  It was a such a sweet moment.  I want it to feel like that every time I preach the gospel.  Thats how it felt in Chuuk the day I was sharing with the youth in Losap.  Free, and full of love and the passion of the Holy Spirit.  I love to be in the room and feel him tugging on hearts like that.  

     That was our last day in the village. I'm not sure where Anderson with his decision to follow Jesus today.  But part of the team is heading back there this next month so I pray to hear the testimonies of victory and opportunities for him to have discipleship as he does decide to step into this wonderful grace and new life.

 "Amendoim" ~ 'Amendoim' means 'Peanut'  in Portuguese, which is what I understood him to say his name was for the first few days until the rest of the community found out and laughed really hard because thats not his real name, but it was so fun that it may stick, at least for me it is stuck. His actual name is Raimundinho, and his wife Rita, and daughters Ana Paula, Andrealina, and Nazare.  I was marked by his openness and eagerness to hear the gospel and to learn about people from other languages and cultures for the first time.
     After they found out that tapioca is one of my favorite Brazilian snacks and that I know how to make it, for our last afternoon together, they were really excited to offer me to use their kitchen to make some (since they said they didn't know how to make it). It was so fun for me and I felt so loved and we all felt so much joy.  It was one of those crazy short term relationships that it just doesnt really make sense how much love and joy you can have for each other in such a short time.  Especially for the quiet women in that family, I don't think they are used to having that much attention or feeling that loved as what we gave them so simply in our few afternoons together.  Enough that Rita was saying bye with tears in her eyes.  The youngest two daughters got baptized and the rest of the family confessed Jesus as their Savior and opened their hearts to walk with him into friendship with the Lord for the first time.  They seem really surprised and hungry to know more about God and really discover the life and heart that he has.

Happy Missionaries

the boys bedroom ;)

Jess had gotten a prophetic picture/vision the week before our trip of a little boy with a yellow shirt and red shorts leading us into people's houses.  So she drew the picture and put it in her pocket as we left the house,  and as it turned out, here was Levi, our village tour guide.  He was almost happy to hear that God had known about him in advance, but was slightly offended that the stick figure didn't reflect how big his muscles were :)

Next month I am heading from here to Nepal, meeting up with my friend Zoe to work with IRIS Nepal for a while as they are helping rebuild in a village outside of Kathmandu.  If you want to meet her, she wrote an amazing little update that explains our upcoming journey  http://eepurl.com/brIXV9   

Bless you!!  Thanks for reading ;)

the wait. and the struggle to wait

Historically I don't post much when I'm home in Texas.  Probably for a lot of reasons, which are not based in the truth, so I'll repent and take a step in overcoming those lies. I'll post, and begin to show that I value what God is doing and revealing in this part of the process.

And this is a great time to share because its good for us to boast in our weakness, so we can be aware of the strength of God. Right now, and while I am here, I feel weak, and confused, easily and often.  I don't know the plan, and I'm really trying to track with God, but feeling more unsuccessful than not.  I struggle to find things to do that seem meaningful in day to day life here.  I struggle to plug into community when I've been coming and going (and planning to continue going) so much in the past several years.  My closest friendships are scattered around me in all directions, primarily in other cities, states, and nations.  I can see God moving through the lives of people around me, believers who are planted here and connected thru relationships and ministries that are committed to seeing the Kingdom come in various areas.  But I'm not planted here.  

I'm like a potted plant that wants to be outdoors but got moved inside for the winter.  I'm sure its for my own good and protection, but I want to go back out in the sun.  And I want to be planted, to see what can happen with roots.  Outdoors, in the sunshine.  Thats what I want.  But simultaneously, I feel this "wait", in my spirit.  I want to feel "go".  But I feel "wait".  

I would like to know, what exactly am I waiting for.  haha.  But sometimes that ruins the point, because the point is to TRUST.  The journey is all about trust.  Both the going and the waiting. The whole point is to KNOW GOD in the midst of everything.  To know him.  And he is the author of both the going and the waiting.

That would be a nice place to end this post.  But then my thoughts argue back and forth saying, 

"but faith without works is dead…. you cannot just wait… you know God's heart is to share his love, you have to go.  You cannot just wait for a perfect plan or team, just go in faith….."  and so my mind argues back at me, with many other fine sounding arguments.

But I cannot deny the calm, quiet but steady whisper in my spirit, "wait."  (I don't hear it, I feel it.)

 ' ...its time for waiting.  Wait on me and I will fulfill my promises.  Wait for Isaac.  Don't rush out making an Ishmael.  Trust me.  There will be a time for rushing out, but it won't be rushing in vain, it will be rushing out to claim my inheritance, to bring in my bride, to bring in the children.  Right now is the time to be still and know that I am God.  Wait and learn to be still.  Trust in what I have said and HOPE.  Let hope be your anchor.  Let me be your hope.'

Happy Wanderer

As I lay awake last night, adjusting to my great new mattress and sleeping in air conditioning, I suddenly realized, "Wasn't it miraculous that my air mattress lasted over 8 months of daily use in Micronesia?"    I think thats in the same category of miracle as when God kept the Israelites' clothes from wearing out for 40 years…

I know that the Israelites time in the wilderness and their route may have seemed like "wandering in the desert for 40 years" when it could have taken only a few weeks.  And I know that part of it was because they didn't have the faith to enter straight into the promised land when they believed the report of the intimidated spies.  But, I realized that I wouldn't really have thought of it as wandering.  

They were following the presence of God in a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night!  They were being led by God.  Camping, and moving from place to place as he moved and led them.  They were learning about the character and nature of the mysterious God who had appeared to their ancestors a handful of times and promised to make them his very own people.  They where learning about the faithfulness and tender loving care of the mighty God who delivered them into freedom with such awesome signs and wonders.  They were on a journey to get to know their God.  They needed to know him and have so many personal and corporate encounters with him before they entered into the land of Canaan so that they would have a chance of staying faithful to worship him in a land influenced by countless other gods.  

God took them on a journey to know him.  They discovered him as "the Lord my banner" who gave them victory over their enemies, they discovered him as the provider of their daily food, manna and quail.  They discovered him as the giver of rest, as he provided enough manna on the 6th day of the week to give them a day of rest on the 7th day.  They discovered him as water gushing from a rock, and the one who leads them to oasis in the desert.  They discovered his faithfulness and might to lead them by his own presence in the cloud and fire.  They discovered that he listened to their complaints, even though he preferred them to trust him in thankfulness than to complain….  

They learned a lot about this amazing God, and he became their own.  They began to learn what their identity was like, what it looks like to be the people of God.  What pleases him, what makes him mad.  His justice and mercy….  They looked like wanders.  They camped out for 40 years, just like their forefathers, they camped, they moved, they were the people of God, moving towards something.  Moving towards knowing him and his character, and trusting in his faithfulness, and the fulfillment of his promises.

I have looked at my life the past few years and so many transitions and nations, languages, teams and families…  and sometimes it seems a little bit like wandering.  haha.  But I have known his presence and his faithfulness more and more in every step.  He has me on this journey of knowing him and seeing him making himself known in all the world.  

As I get on airplanes between cultures and languages and comfort zones, I feel him, he is with me.  He is my real home.  I am one of His. Who wanders in his Presence.  Happy to be one of His wanderers. 

...

"We don't take Jesus to the ends of the earth, He takes us." - Paul Otoko

Power of Forgiveness: the Miracle of Reconciliation (Rick's Story)

Chuuk has a reputation among the islands for being violent.  And the men from Losap are known to be very tough and unforgiving.  The youth and young men stand around looking very tough and up to trouble most days, they all dress like American gangsters, but with more interesting hairdos.  God has really been putting them on my heart and I know that they are central to the revival and awakening of love that he wants to bring to these islands.

Rick was attacked from behind on New Years Eve, and injured pretty badly.  The young man that had attacked him, accepted Jesus during one of our meetings and wanted to get baptized, but felt that he needed to apologize and make peace with Rick first.  But he was afraid for his life to even be seen by Rick.  So Saturday morning, it was on Mama Rose's heart that we go visit Rick.  We took his brother, also a new believer, with us.  And T.K. was there (a deported ex-con who had met Jesus in an American prison and backslidden, but had great english and was often in the right place at the right time to translate for me during really powerful moments of the love of God and repentance).

Rick asked us to pray that he wouldn't take revenge or murder the guy who hurt him.  Even though all the culture and his history is to always fight back and always take revenge.  We shared with him the power of Jesus' forgiveness for him and the love of God, and the importance of receiving his love and grace to forgive one another.  And Rick and T.K. were both in tears as we prayed and the presence of God and the power of Jesus' sacrifice impacted them.

The next morning, before our ship arrived to take us home, Rick came by the house to ask Mama Rose to go get the man who'd hurt him so that he could forgive him with us as witnesses (so that the guy would be brave enough to come around).  So we prayed for them to receive the love of God and grace to forgive and humility to apologize.  Then I thought they should talk it out or whatever they needed to say to make peace.  

They just stood up in front of us and said one word to each other and shook hands.  

The guy who was forgiven, as Rick shook his hand, he looked at me in utter shock and surprise and relief and thankfulness.  

And that was it.  That was the miracle of peace and reconciliation for them.  

Afterward Rick said he felt so strong and joyful, he had never been able to forgive like that before and he had never felt this way before.  He had never experienced the love and forgiveness and presence of God like that before.

Crazy Transformations

Two more stories from our trip to Losap Island this month

Sabine - Crazy Transformation:  

We heard about Sabine, who is known to be crazy and have violent outbursts and attacks people frequently for years.  So we began praying for him and a few days later we got to visit him.  He welcomed us into his empty living room and pulled out an old chair for me to sit in.  He sat just inside his bedroom doorway on a bucket.  He wouldn't make eye contact, and he picked up an old thesaurus and pretended to be looking through it like a Bible while he listened.  I figured I might only have a few minutes because I didn't know what his attention span would be like, and what other voices he might be hearing.  I just knew that he needed Jesus asap.  So Mama Rose and I shared the gospel in the shortest, simplest way possible.  (God really loves you and he wants to live in you and change your whole life.  And he sent Jesus to forgive all your sins.) And he just kept nodding his head and saying "Ewer. Ewer" (Yes. Yes.)  

"Do you believe that is true?"  Ewer.

"Do you want know the love of God?" Ewer.

"Do you want the forgiveness of Jesus?" Ewer.

"Do you want to repent and ask him into your life right now?" Ewer.

So we prayed with him.  And then he looked smiling and his whole face had changed.  He looked us in the eyes and started to have a normal conversation with us.  He came to the meeting that night and sat there smiling the whole time.  

Early the next morning we were baptizing several people, and waiting for everyone to gather.  I asked someone to go make sure Sabine was awake and let him know we were baptizing because he had wanted to get baptized.   When the locals heard me ask about him, they all just laughed in disbelief.  But Sabine came, and he was baptized that morning.  And every meeting after that he came, joyful and peaceful and no more attacking anyone.  Jesus really came to set us all free!  And he really changes lives!

Kevin climbs:

Kevin and his wife Kandice had been believers for a long time, but been kind of discouraged and asleep in their faith.  But they asked us to come pray for them because of curses that were being put on them by some other famliy members.  They were really eager to repent and learn about their authority as followers of Jesus over all the powers of darkness and even sickness.  We read Mark 16:15-19 and Kevin was so excited to hear it he asked us to read it again.  God healed arm from numbness and pain that day.  They were both baptized later that week, and went home so excited to share with each other for hours about what God was stirring up in their hearts.

A couple nights later we were teaching on the Holy Spirit and how he works in the lives of believers and I was really trying to activate the people to pray for one another to be healed of sicknesses.  But no one was willing to step out in boldness yet.  Except Kevin.  He came up to the front and was so excited to share that his arm had been healed but asked that we pray for his strength to come back because he still had generalized muscle weakness. (Most of the islander men can climb straight up coconut trees from the time they are young boys.)  So we prayed and asked if there was any way he could test his strength there.  He looked around and pointed to the pillar next to him. 

"I could climb this pillar right here."  "Ok sure, try that."  

So up he went, he climbed to the top of the pillar right there in front of the church meeting.  Hahaha.  He was so excited and I couldn't believe that I had just seen someone climb a pillar in the middle of a church.  He has the personality and faith like Peter, to just jump out of the boat.  So that night he was the only local man bold enough to start to pray for the sick, and they were healed too!

Losap Island: Revival begins

   Mama Rose, my adopted Chuukese grandmother, and I had the opportunity to spend the past 4 weeks in her home island of Losap.  We really had a heart to encourage them and bring the love of God and revival there.  Its a small island that takes about 30 minutes to walk around, maybe a 100-200 people live there.  We took a wild, long, wet, sick, ship ride to get there, but well worth the journey.  Losap has one old traditional church there, and plenty of coconut trees and crabs.God showed us that he was going to "awaken hearts to love" there, and that he wanted to pour out his love and his Spirit in a new way.

me and Mama Rose, the Kingdom Bringing Duo

     Everyday we just spent time praying and shared together and then went and did whatever we felt God was telling us to do, and visit whoever he showed us to.  The first week or so I felt like we just kept declaring and prophesying what God was doing and for them to get ready to receive his love and his Spirit in a new way.  We spent time in homes listening and blessing people and praying for the sick and visiting the widows.  And we met with the hungry believers and taught and encouraged them.  And saw God do so much to awaken hearts and stir up hunger for him.  

     We really had a heart for the young men and youth who were pretty excluded and caused a lot of violence and worry on the island.  So our last week there we had meetings in the school to preach the gospel to the youth and young men and so many of them met Jesus for the first time!  I still cry with joy when I remember the changes on their faces as they lit up with hope and began to receive the love of God in their lives.  We have so many stories to share, that I'll try to get out on my blog soon.  Healing, restoration and reconciliation, restored peace, repentance, joy, and lots of new life in Jesus.  And Mama Rose and I had the time of our life believing God and pressing through when we felt crazy for believing him, and obeying anyway, and seeing him light a fire in the hearts of people.

     One story I'll share is about Saingo, a 12 year old boy, who offered to help us and came by to see us wherever we passed him on the island.  I had felt for several days to stop and pray for him individually when we passed him.  Finally we had the chance and we just encouraged him, I saw such a tender and hungry heart for God and the Spirit of Jesus in him to love and serve and grow into an example and leader in the Kingdom of God.  Later I found out that he had a terrible reputation among the island for something bad he had done, everyone hated him.  So Mama Rose testified in a meeting that night about what God had shown us about him, and how God changes Sauls into Pauls.  His older sister cried as she was listening. I had been trying to teach about prophetic and hearing God and encouraging each other, because I know that God is going to be moving in new ways with them and they haven't experienced it yet.  But God taught his own lesson as he transformed a boy and his family's lives and an island's perspective with one simple blessing.  The next day Saingo and his sister got baptized and later several others in his family also decided to follow Jesus!

Remote Island Christmas?!

Merry Christmas friends,
Looks like I may have Christmas on Losap Island.  My Chuukese grandma,Mama Rose, is from one of the smallest outer islands of this state,Losap.  I have been praying about how and when to go to as many outerislands as I can to share the love of Jesus in the more isolated and remote islands.  And last week some people here invited us to come toLosap and also to a neighboring island, Piis (pronounced Peace), whichis where a bunch of my friends in Pohnpei are from.  So we startedpraying about when we can go.Last week one of Rose's relatives who we had been praying for in thehospital, passed away.  He is from Piis, so they will take a ship outto that island December 18th to have a funeral.  Mama Rose and I areplanning to travel with them and stay in Piis a few days, then go toLosap for probably several weeks or a month until another boat canbring us back to the main island of Chuuk.  Rose went to every home onthe island to share about Jesus several years ago, and wants to dothat again.  She said that last time, only one person, wanted to befilled with the Holy Spirit, Nesu, and she is the one I met here lastweek who invited us to come.  So my partner in the gospel and I arelooking forward to and praying for this next adventure.Please pray with us for Piis and Losap!Meanwhile a woman's back was healed yesterday, she went from barelywalking with a limp and pain, to smiling, glowing and walkingnormally, and having us pray for others in her family!  Come on God!I'm really praying for opportunities to love on unsuspecting peoplehere and also to encourage and empower the believers here to hear fromGod's heart and perspective and pray in faith for Kingdomtransformation in their land.  Also heading to the laundrymat againthis afternoon, so you never know what might happen there!  hahahaI love you and Bless you guys,Andrea

Sweet Pohnpei Moments

It was such a sweet Pohnpeian experience this morning walking with Zoe(Welsh) and Darlene(Pohnpeian) and being invited over for breakfast egg salad sandwiches and tituhs (fried banana donuts) by some people we didn't know Utleen and Anderson.  So easy to become friends in Pohnpei. 

Wow, here I am Lord.  In Pohnpei.  You brought me here.  I've been here a month and I still can't believe it.  You brought me to an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, to teach me about humility, honor, what it means to serve, boldness in preaching the gospel, character and discipline, hospitality. 

And I remember sitting with Darlene and Una last night at dinner, and Darlene brought over a huge water jug to fill my waterbottle for me.  So sweet, she demonstrates to me what it looks like in Romans 12:13 to "show genuine affection for each other, and to take delight in honoring one another, and to never be lazy but work hard serving the Lord."  wow.

I learned how to clean and scale and gut fish and cook them or cover them with lime juice and eat them raw (sashimi).  And snorkeled over some beautiful reefs and spearfished at night.  I caught one small fish, but I was so proud.  But swimming at night by flashlight was amazing all by itself.  With little glowing bubbles all around.

We had another outdoor outreach in the city park.  And after dancing and drama and a short message, tons of people came up to accept Jesus and then they prayed for themselves to be healed if they needed it and were filled with the Holy Spirit.  My friend Una's mom was instantly healed from back issues that she has had 3 surgeries for and still had a lot of pain and limited range of motion in her whole body.  And she was so excited moving all around and saying, "I feel God, I feel God!".   Everywhere we go on outreaches, we make friends so fast and people just really want Jesus!  The harvest is so ripe in these islands, God is really moving and the people are so hungry, the gospel is so simple, and its such good news.  I am really looking forward to being a part of this revival even in some of the islands that have more oppressed cultures and some who have never heard of Jesus.

We had a guest speaker from the Philippines this week, Hiriam Pangilinan, who has been experiencing revival and healings and signs and wonders and deliverances and lots of new believers in his local church for years.  He taught us a lot about principles of a revival that will be sustained until the end and not burn out like the ones through out history.  And he taught a lot about deliverance, which was so good to hear from an eastern world perspective and someone who has had tons of experience with it since thats where I'll be for a while.  Super helpful tools.  

I will miss this island, two weeks till graduation and heading to another state far away in Micronesia, Yap, and to some islands that haven't heard the gospel yet. Jesus is breaking in :)

Village of Peace :)

A few stories and moments from my last few weeks in Pohnpei, Micronesia:

  My team went to stay 2 nights at the Village of Peace last weekend.  A family of Christians there had really been crying out for renewal and encouragement and revival in their community, and invited us to come stay with them.  It was like being at a family reunion, tons of kids running around and playing with us, volleyball, tons of cousins, and food.  They really wanted to honor us, because they felt that the more they honored us, the more they honored God and they wanted every blessing he had for them.  They cooked every meal for us, and played the ukelele and sang while we ate, and the kids came into the house where we were sleeping early in the morning and played and sang songs all day long with us.  They even roasted a pig for us one night, which is a food reserved to show honor for very special occasions here.  The weekend started out with awkward silences between us, but by the end we were all crying and hugging and making plans to visit each other again, and we washed the feet of the representatives of their families and they gave us each a traditional dress.  

 We had worship services in the yard in the evenings and went in small groups to visit houses nearby in the day time.  Each family that we prayed with, asked for more love, either personally or for their family and marriage, and for their community to be unified again with more love.  It was such a sweet time.  Several people were healed of heart conditions, blindness and deafness.  And some delivered as they received prayers for impartation of joy.  And we were all encouraged in the Lord together.  

  A friend shared a testimony of a teenager being raised from the dead in an American hospital in the name of Jesus.  One of the cousins of our friends who were hosting us in the village, had died a few days before and was to have a funeral the next day. That evening some of us felt to go to the morgue to ask the husband if we could pray for his wife to be resurrected.  It was the middle of the night when we arrived, and he was sleeping in his car in the parking lot of the hospital/morgue.  So we got to visit with him, and he apologized saying that he didn't want us to pray for her because she had had so much peace with dying, and had time to make peace with everyone, and he didn't want her to come back to life if she might have a sudden death next time and not have a chance to make peace.  So we honored his request, and my friend gave him a donut (which she had brought to give the woman if she came back to life hungry) and encouraged him to remember to eat.  His eyes got so wide and surprised with this simple act of compassion.  He said, "how did you know I haven't been eating?"  She said, "well, you're grieving, a lot of people don't eat when they are grieving."  It was the most practical and matter of fact, simple gesture of empathy and encouragement.  And it opened the door for us to pray for him, and for his 5 year old son.  And he felt the presence of God so much while we prayed with him that he invited us to come back and share more, he and a drunk friend who was awake in the parking lot.  So we just got to share more of the love of God and invitation to know him more.  Meanwhile the others who had come to pray, went into the emergency room and prayed with people there and saw healing and had amazing God encounters in a woman's hospital room.  It was the craziest faith building middle of the night hospital ministry I've ever been a part of.  And we got so close to our Pohnpeian hosts who were driving with us!  What a crazy Jesus kind of night.  

  

   Growing in obedience-  While we were praying for one man to be healed, I saw in my imagination, Jesus washing his feet.  Which is one of the ways I ask God to speak to me, especially when people need healing, I ask for him to show me what he is doing, so that I can do that to release his kingdom on earth.  But I have been entertaining the enemies ideas that my part in a group is not necessary or significant, and so I ignored the Lord in that moment.  I didn't do what he showed me to do.  So even though we prayed for the man, I knew in my heart that I had been disobedient to the Lord, and really wonder what he wanted to release through that.  So I just repented and asked him to show me any other lies I had been believing that had made room in my heart to disobey in that moment.  Wow, so he also showed me that sometimes I am looking for him to show up in such unusual and different ways, or visions, that I missed him when he was speaking through the simple act of foot washing.  I thought I was just making it up, because its not original, its been done before.  But hello, if it was powerful enough for Jesus to do it, obviously it can be a powerful thing when God is doing it!  And wow, I want to listen to the gentle whisper and recognize that that is my King speaking!  So yeah, I just wanted to share this part of my journey, so that I can share the next story when God redeems it and I learn to be obedient next time, and you will know that it came through a process :)

Arrows, Coal, Spears, Scrolls- I cannot even express the work God has been doing in my heart and the commissioning that is being confirmed here. God is showing me his hand in fulfilling dreams he put in my heart from a young girl, and prophetic words from 7 years ago that are being birthed in my life for such a time as this!

  

Micronesia - Gospel is Good News!

It is beautiful here, even more than I imagined.  And getting to know many crazy lovers of Jesus. My group has had this weekend to "explore the island"  so we went to some waterfalls and the legendary ruins of this island.  One of the waterfalls, I got to jump off, and it was the highest jump I've ever had, and super fun.

The RUINS: 

     We visited the historical ruins here on Pohnpei  this weekend.  It has a really intense history.  It was an 18 kilometer city that was built about 800ish years ago, by sorcerers.  They used their sorcery to fly in giant stones (too heavy and large to have come on any ship of that time).  To build the city and did human sacrifice, and were a huge stronghold of fear and control in the island.  The filmmakers of Ghosts, came to film an episode there and were killed by demons there.   Jesse and other believers had come to pray and cleanse the land with the blood of Jesus, and its quite peaceful there now.  Now I am reading a book about the spiritual history of Hawaii and other Polynesian Islands, "God of Light, God of Darkness"  by Daniel Kikawa.  And I am soo humbled to discover the way that God has been working all along through the culture and history of peoples that I have never heard of or known.  And to see how good and faithful he is.  And what good news Jesus is.  The freedom of the gospel is incredible.  The love of God is soo good, so powerful.  I am so humbled by the way I am discovering him in the Pohnpeians here.  

The Gospel is Good News:

    This morning I was also really convicted to repent of a lie that I have believed for a long time:  "That the gospel is hard to accept, that its not really that good of news, that people won't usually want to hear it or believe it or have their lives transformed by it".  I am finding that in this time and season in the world, actually that is the rare exception, that people will hear and not respond.  The norm is that they will believe when they hear and see the gospel, because it really is good news!  And Love is really powerful.  That lie has discouraged me and made me hesitant and timid to share in many opportunities.  And I have judged people's hearts that they were hard, when really God was likely already there, calling them to himself.

     This shift in my mindest was confirmed today by a jog down the road and my jogging friend just started up a conversation with the local woman walking on her way to work, and it was so evident in her eyes and countenance that she was hungry for that good news.  And then a friend shared this verse for the school, 

Isaiah 55:5 "You also will command nations you do not know, and peoples unknown to you will come running to obey, because I, the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, have made you glorious."

This weekend:

  My group will be gone hiking for a mountain survival weekend.  The group that went last weekend had amazing stories challenges and of God healing one guy immediately of (what sounded to me like altitude sickness, or severe dehydration and vomiting).  So... we are pretty excited about a slightly shorter, amazing challenging weekend of hiking.  And this morning Jessie and Tanya shared a story with us of them visiting a hard to reach, unreached mountain village in Nepal, and the crazy dangerous bus ride and hike, and then how a woman was healed of the cancer she was dying from and her whole family and doctor became believers in Jesus.  And many other people in those villages.  Jesus is worth the pain, he is worth the risk.  He is beautiful!  He is great news!

One of the Pohnpeian students here with us, broke his finger playing volleyball last week, then another student prayed for him immediately and he was healed and felt something like electricity going through his body.  And of course a lot of heart healing is happening for all of us, because thats what God does...

Praying for more and more of God.

Really love. Not just pretend to love.

God I want to see your Kingdom Come through my life!  Use me.  Release your Kingdom through me.  Wherever you want me to go, for whatever purpose you have.  Use me to bring your Kingdom in the land of the living.  I want to see your Kingdom come.  I want to see people meet their King.  I want to be used for your purposes.  I want to be willing God, to be a sacrifice, to be a sacrifice of love, like you.  I want to love like you.  I want to be so overwhelmed and obsessed by your love and the joy of intimately relating to you, that I am willing to suffer any cost that those in front of me can know you.  I want to see the joy set before me as you see it.  I want to know that joy more, that I would count it all joy to give my life away in the process.  

I want to be willing to give my life away today, not just in the future, in some lofty idealized time or situation.  I want to consider my life today as not my own.  To consider my life as yours.  Already yours.  That it doesn't belong to me.  And if you want to spend it on any one person in front of me, then that is your choice.  My life is yours and you can do whatever you want.  You are my King.  You are the King of my life, the King of my heart.  I don't want to be begrudging of love or stingy with things, or gifts, or time.  I repent of all the so many times that I have been withholding and held back from loving people the way that you meant for me to.  I want to trust you in deeper ways, that I am free to love.  I am free to give and to spend my life, to waste my life on love.  

I want to really love.  Not just pretend to love.

Psalm 103:13-

"The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him.  

For he remembers we are only dust.  

Our days are like grass; like wildflowers, we bloom and die.  

The wind blows, and we are gone-- as though we had never been here.  

But the love of the Lord remains forever with those who fear him.  

His salvation extends to the children's children of those who are faithful to his covenant, of those who obey his commandments!  

The Lord has made the heavens his throne; from there he rules over everything.  

Praise the Lord, you angels who serve him and do his will!  ( I want to be one who serves you and does your will.  I want to be one who waits for and clings to your very words and notions for direction to act.)

Praise the Lord, everything he has created, everything in all his Kingdom.  

Let all that I am praise the Lord."

God I want to respond not just to your voice, but to the inclinations of your heart.  To the tiniest whisper and the look in your eyes.  I want to be moved by you.  I want to be aware of your Spirit moving in me.  Like the creatures and the wheels, I want to move with your Spirit.  I want to be moved by you.  Where you go, send me, bring me with you God.  I want to be with you, and move with you and do what you do. 

He is With Me in the Migration!

He leads us beside awesome waters :)

Well, I am at the coffee shop to journal, and without a pen.  So probably this will be a blog, hahaha.  I guess if I bother to type it I may as well share it.  

I'm so touched by the kindness of God to speak to us.  His voice is just so kind to lead.  He loves us so much.  And I love the journey with him.  I love the mysterious way he reveals himself all the time.  After teaching about 4 times in Brazil about "hearing God", I think I am really starting to believe that he speaks to me all the time.  

I have really been encouraged by friends testimonies of all the different ways that God speaks to them.  He reminds us of his love in secret personalized code just for us.  haha.  For one he reminds through frequent sitings of ladybugs, for one its cardinals, for one its emotional breakdowns on mountaintops in various countries, for some its reoccurring numbers that we see everywhere with some kind of significance, a reminder, and encouragement.  Whatever it is, its this constant whisper, "I am with you always. I will never leave you. I AM with you."  

I am on a journey with the Lord.  I am watching for him and listening for him in the ordinary, everyday.

A few days ago, I was riding the train/bus from my friends in Fort Worth to my family in Allen.  It was my first time to be making the transfer at night at the bus stop in Dallas.  Things get a little interesting at night in public transportation in Dallas.  So I am standing there, and I notice the big number 121 lit up on the train.  And I notice it in that way, that I know is the Lord wanting me to pay attention.  So later I looked up Psalm 121, its all about the protection of the Lord. 

Ps 121:7,8 

The LORD will keep you from all harm—

he will watch over your life;

     the LORD will watch over your coming and going

     both now and forevermore.

Thank you God.  His promises are so sweet, especially when he whispers them to us and lets us know its real for us.  He is so personal.

Commissioned with love by the children Brazil

I went out of town visiting friends for the past 3 weeks.  And I felt that the Lord was going to give me some specific direction for the next steps for my life.  And I felt that it would be really fun and honoring to ask my parents to ask him for specific words about my next steps and wherever I go.  So I did.  

And this morning, one of the things God showed my mom was this revelation about how the Lord leads birds in their migration and seasons and they listen to him and follow.

Jeremiah 8:7

Even the stork in the sky knows her appointed seasons, and the dove, the swift and the thrush observe the time of their migration….

And the Sunday before I left Brazil 6 weeks ago, I had been really touched by a friend prophesying over me that I was like a bird in migration, who would come and go in the right seasons…

Thank you Jesus for confirmations.  And for speaking to us as a body.  Thank you that we prophesy in part and we get to share our parts and see more of the picture.  Thank you God for speaking.  And that you are always with me!  The great I AM.

Welcomed with Mangoes!

So it was really fun to have an opportunity to adventure with God yesterday to a place where we didn't know anyone or what to expect, and to just ask him to do what he wanted to do and to connect us with whoever he wanted to.  We went to a small community on a mountainside about 30 minutes outside of Fortaleza.  They were listed on the website as an unreached people group so we went to investigate :)  A man who gave us directions at the gas station in the town nearby said, "watch out for the arrows."  Which was funny except he didn't smile or laugh when he said it... but thank God, he was joking.  The people we met were very hospitable to us.  We weren't totally sure if it was ok to enter, so we just kept asking people on the side of the road as we went, "are we there yet, is this it, how do we get there, and is it ok to drive in further to visit...".  

When we arrived, we saw a church building, and were surprised!  Weren't expecting that.  The church has about 30 members, 20 from one family, and the rest from outside the reservation.  Its planning to close soon.  A lady was there cleaning and let us come in to tell us about the community.  

Then she introduced us to a 76 year old woman, Deuzete, who had an amazing conversion story and a mango orchard :)  She had lived there her whole life.  And about 15 years ago, was dying of throat and lung cancer and tuberculosis.  Her daughter tried to convince her to come to church to get prayer, but she said, "No, I hate believers!".  But she was healed, and now her whole family are believers.  And she is fearless.  She took anointing oil and prayed around a big tree where the village preforms rituals, one day before they were going to have rituals there.  And then they were all mad at her because they couldn't connect with spirits there!  But she said, "If my God is for me, who can be against me."

She showed us around her property and we picked 5 sacks full of mangos and other Brazilian fruits that I can't spell.  And she said, next time you come you can put your tents here, and we will have so much more to give you.  She was excited that for the first time a group of missionaries might come to her community.

They told us where the chief's house was so we went to meet him.  His wife, Luisa, welcomed us in immediately.  And talked to us, mostly looking at the ground, telling us about their community.  She and the chief, Daniel, don't really have an active faith.  They both claimed to believe in God in a general sort of way.  Their native religious leader just practices macumba now. (which is an african witchcraft/ idol worship which is common in Brazil)  And she was crying because thats not even native, nor the drugs that people have brought in.  Really it sounds as if they have sort of lost their identity.  And that their is almost no witness of the living God and real relationship with him there. 

We prayed with the chief before we left, for rain so that they can plant their crops (its been a super dry year in this state).  And he welcomed us to come back anytime.  

So we will pray for heaven's strategy for these people!  And can't wait to see how God wants to introduce himself.  It seems so crazy to have this little group, that no one has really gone to, right by a huge city full of many believers and all kinds of religion.  Like this tiny little forgotten people.  But they are not forgotten!  The light of the world is coming to them.

It was a simple and wonderful beginning.  A door cracked open...  What a blessing to participate.  Love will flood that place.  Thanks for praying for us!

Andrea

Fighting Terrorism - One Hug at a Time

We had a missions training weekend camp here a few weeks ago.  God brought some amazing Brazilian young people and youth who are really hungry for more of God in their lives, and we got to really encourage them in their dreaming with God.  It was a wonderful time of worshipping together and sharing our experiences and dreams and passion for adventuring with God.  I got to teach on hearing the voice of God, and we did some games to practice and stir up the gifts of God in each of us.  Then we took the bus to the beach for a treasure hunt :)

I decide to take a little notepad of paintings with me, in case I felt to give some art away.  Our enthusiastic friend Alyson, was talking with a young man for a long time, trying to excite him for a different life, with a God of love and joy.  While I watched them talking from a distance, I felt to give him a picture and took it to him and shared a word of encouragement with him, and smiled and blessed him and gave him a hug, and while I was talking with him noticed the tattoos on his arm:  the twin towers and a portrait of Osama Bin Ladin.   He seemed so touched by my simple gesture of blessing him, and his countenance seemed so surprised, and really affected.  It wasn't until the next day that I realized why he had been so surprised, and that he had tried to apologize for his tattoos.  I am clearly American.  And his arm clearly stated that he at some point in his life thought it was cool to hate Americans.  Little did he know, it was my greatest pleasure, and the most fun I had all day.  My favorite people to love, are those who aren't expecting it!  Because I think that is how Jesus loves, part of what is so good about his love, is that its so unreasonable and unexpected.

Neighborhood Stories

One of my favorite things to do in Fortaleza is visiting people in the community.  IRIS has a House of Prayer there that we rent from one of the old drug dealers.  He doesn't live in the community anymore, I think for fear of his life from rival drug dealers.  A couple months ago, someone burned down all his other properties, but they left our House of Prayer alone - they know that we are using it to bless the community and represent mercy and grace in that place.  God has given us so much favor and protection.  I never feel afraid there at all.  Of course I always walk around with friends, but still, our level of protection is ridiculous.

Last week at soup night, Ned and Herb sat outside the house of prayer on the sidewalk, praying with one of the neighbors and preaching the gospel to him.  He was very sick with Tuberculosis and thought that he was about to die, so he really was open to hearing about Jesus.  They prayed for him and promised to come by and check on him and share with him more when we are visit again.  Last week Ned and I saw him in the street, looking strong and healthy and with a bright shiny face and a big smile.  I couldn't believe it!  (But Ned just told me as I am writing this that he got sick again and Andrew took him to the hospital for care last week)

Rosie - One of my favorite women to hug and pray for there.  She has a really soft heart and soaks up love when she can get it.  She has two daughters and is really addicted to drugs, and begs and used to sell her body most of the time for food for her kids and herself and to take care of her addiction.  But everytime I see her she smiles and cries everytime I hug her.  One day I walked across the railroad bridge into the community to meet my friends there, and she walked up behind me without me seeing her and gave me a hug.  I would have thought it would startle me, since I hadn't seen who it was, but by the feel of her hug, I knew immediately that whoever it was, they loved me and had my best interest at heart.  It really was so welcoming!

Marcia - She is one of the most joyful people I have met in the community, she became a Christian last year, and got free of her drug addiction too!  Now she is a testimony to her family and neighbors of the power of Christ living in her.  She is really hungry for more encouragement and discipleship and I am hoping that God will show us more clearly how to help those who are hungry to grow up in him.

Thanks for praying for us and with us!  More of you Lord!!