Outreach Phase
It is hard to believe it but this will be my last journal entry written in Hawaii. Lecture phase has concluded and tomorrow my outreach team of 9 people will start our 7,000 mile trip to the Himalayan Mountains. We will be taking 3 planes with a combined airtime of roughly 20 hours and combined layover time of 22 hours then an 8 hour bus ride to our base location. I cannot share our exact location or nation because we have been told to keep it off social media and the internet for the protection of the long term missionaries that will be hosting our team. Being a missionary is no easy task and definitely not a safe one either. The missionary life is as gangsta as it gets. They are some of the most hated people on the face of the earth, and in most countries it is incredibly dangerous to be a christian. Missionaries risk their lives daily so they can share the truth and love that is Jesus Christ and the Gospel. They sacrifice their safety and comfort everyday so that they can save the souls of those who are lost. There revelation of who God truly is has captivated their hearts and minds so strongly that they have no other desire other then to share it with the world and live out what God has commanded them to do which is to go out into all the world preaching the gospel and making disciples.
Adventurer
As it is written there is many parts in the body of Christ, body meaning church, and church truly meaning followers of Christ. Not every person is called to be a missionary in a foreign country because for a body to function properly you need different working parts, but we are all called to make disciples. I am overwhelmed with gratitude that I have been called to go out into the nations and be apart of the greatest profession in the world. I could not be more honored that by the grace of God I get to pursue him as I teach others and explore creation. When I was a child I was always fascinated by people like Lewis and Clarke or Columbus because they got to adventure the unknown and go places people had never been. I always thought I was born too late to be an adventurer but because God's faithfulness and because he cares about what I care about I am able to live out my childhood dream. I get to go to villages that no outsider has ever been to. I get to trek over treacherous mountainous terrain and down steep valleys, sleep on the floors of village huts, eat foods I did not know existed, meet people different then myself, and immerse in cultures different then anything I have experienced. All of this is a blessing, but if I was to do it only for the experience it would be in vain. If I trekked miles on miles because I wanted to experience a new culture or reach a village that has never been reached and did not do it with the motivation of Christ and did not share Truth then I would live a desultory life. Something that is so beautiful about what I get to do is that I am bringing the ultimate truth, divine knowledge, the only real answer to this life we live. I am not just bringing the love of Christ that overflows from my heart but I also have the honor of bringing the only thing that truly matters, it is the firm foundation, the bread of life, the everlasting water that will quench the thirstiness of any soul and that is the Bible. Because even if I disciple the people of a village and they accept Christ as Lord of their lives but do not have scripture then they have no way to grow. It is through meditating on scripture that they will build a firm foundation on Christ. If they build a life of salvation without truth it will falter and be knocked down, but a house built on truth and with truth will continue to prosper and will not backslide into the transgressions of the past.
Train of His Robe
There is a song that our class loves to sing that has a really cool meaning and the chorus goes "The train of His robe fills the temple". This comes from a verse in Isaiah and it is a vision that Isaiah had. When Isaiah says His, he is talking about God. The train of a robe is the long back portion that trails behind the wearer. When a king would win a war he would cut the train of the opposing king's robe and it would be added to the victorious kings robe, so in saying that the train of God's robe fills the temple means that God has taken such a victory over sin and death that his train fills the entire temple. That in itself is a beautiful image of God's sovereignty but it does not end there. In 1 Corinthians 3:16 it says "Do you not know that you are a temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in you?" when Christ died on the cross and rose again then ascended to heaven and gave us the Holy Spirit we became the temple. Our flesh became the dwelling place for God; therefore, the train-the victory of Christ fills us. That means whatever battle, uncertainty, pain, or struggle we are going through has already been defeated by God. We are filled with victory when we allow the Holy Spirit to enter our lives because we become the Temple off the Most High. We do not need to worry when high waters of anxiety rise because Jesus is the one who controls the wind and waves. Though it may feel as if we are drowning sometimes we need to surrender our own battle and let the King of kings fight for us. So many problems and calamities in my life could have been solved or resolved so much sooner if I would have just surrendered the fight and given it to God, and let him fight it for me. This has been a beautiful revelation for me and is something I want to carry into the rest of my life and especially outreach.
Outreach
For those of you who do not know I am in a six month discipleship training school. The first three months which just ended was lecture phase. It is the training and classroom phase. This is where we learned about the character of God and allowed him to work in our lives. We looked deep unto Christ and inwardly upon ourselves and in the process found healing and breakthrough in trauma, previous lies, and strongholds in which the devil was using to hold us back from stepping into the full identity that God has designed us for. We started removing the earthy identity that was found in transient counterfeit things and started planting our identity in truth and Christ. We also learned the practicals of how to preach the gospel and go into the nations with respect and humility. my team specifically not only trained mentally and spiritually but also physically because we will be trekking. Now that we have trained for three months we get to go out. We are getting out of the classroom and are entering the field. My team will be spending the first three weeks getting acclimated to the elevation and training to trek. We will also be doing tons of serving in the areas around our base. Our team will figure out more once we get there because on outreach and when working with missionaries in different countries it is very common for plans to change often and run into roadblocks. That is why I want to boast God's victory over any uncertainty while on outreach because I know that things can happen that are unplanned. It is pretty set in stone for our team to be helping at a hospital and serving in our first three weeks. Our goal is to be a catalyst in whatever the long term teams are already doing. It is important for us to remember that God has been moving and working in this nation long before we decided to go. In that we are not Bringing God to them but instead partnering with what God has already been doing.
After three weeks on base camp we will start trekking for two-three weeks. While trekking to unreached villages there will be known villages on the way. Our plan is to make it to a village by night each day so we can sleep and recuperate. Villages have what they call a "motel" which is really just an open home for us to stay at with an open place on the floor. When we make it to an unreached village we will start handing out Bible's and with the help of the translator we will speak with them and share the gospel with them. There is a chance we trek for days on days over mountains just to arrive and have them reject it, but that is not in our control and as a follower of Christ it is not about the fruit in which we produce but rather the obedience that we have. After a couple weeks of trekking we will return to base and continue helping the long term people on base and serve. We will also probably be using our fitness abilities as an avenue to reach the people by setting up nighttime sport activities. Like getting a group of people together for a soccer night then using it to show them love and share the gospel with them. If we are to go overseas and trek day and night and tell a thousand people the gospel just to see only one soul gained in the kingdom of Heaven then it will be worth it. If in these next three months I tell hundreds of people about God and all I see is rejection I will still rejoice because I got to plant seeds of truth and will have faith that God will water them.
Prayer
This last weekend my family visited me and we flew to Honolulu then went to the Pearl Harbor Memorial. We took a trolly boat to the Arizona sunken ship Memorial. When we were in the boat the way in which the captain parked the boat sparked a revelation in my mind. We were driving directly toward the dock then he whipped the boat sideways, we then floated toward the dock because the waves he had previously created moved us. I told my dad "dang, we are getting pushed by the waves in which we created." At this moment I realized just how powerful that was and how it is so similar to prayer. I am blessed to have had many people praying for me before I came to Hawaii. When I arrived I could feel the strength of their prayers pushing me toward the direction of God's will for my life. I could feel the power of my own prayers and faithfulness of the past like a splash and while here I got to sit back and ride those waves in which I and my supporters created by the grace of God. I believe sometimes we pray for specific things or have people praying God's will over us but because we do not like the discomfort of God's waves we try to fight it and often feel as if we are drowning. Because the waves we are riding are not what we had envisioned or prayed for we instantly think that things are not going our way when in reality we should take a look at the bigger picture and see the dock that the waves are pushing us towards. We become afraid at the excitement of living out God's will causing us to never make it to the destination of our desires because the process to achieve what we yearn for is too scary. We should surrender and let God push us in his direction because not only do we end up where we are supposed to be but we also go in peace and joy because we are not fighting the waves of his will.
If you would like to create waves for me and my team to ride on, some prayer requests are:
- Safety from injuries and viruses
- Unity within team
- That we can have steadfastness in prayer and worship daily
- To prepare the hearts and minds of people we are going to encounter
- Boldness to speak and live as Christ
- That we can find joy in all things - Vitality
- That we will Boast God's perfect strength in our weaknesses
- Anything else that God puts on your heart!
Prayer truly is so powerful and every single prayer helps! Thank you so much for all the prayers already and support financially in these first three months. Every dollar given has gone toward my YWAM expenses and I am overwhelmed with gratitude with God's ability to provide exactly what I have needed.
I do not know if I will have the ability to write while on outreach, so you may not hear from me for a couple months. Hopefully when I return I have some crazy stories and testimonies to share. Whatever may happen may my soul say it is well.
Thank You,
Through Christ
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