AAAHHH!!! It’s technically the first day of missions already!
It has been a whirlwind of weeks for me. This will be my last update before we begin serving the Bali Hai community this week :O
Thank you for all your support and prayers! Truly I have seen God work through prayer in the past month.
Family
My Lolo — my mom’s dad — passed away last month. I went to the Philippines for a week to grieve with and support my family. Praise God, Lolo is a believer! My family is doing well, though still grieving. Thank you all who have been praying for my family and I.
Ministry
Our small group ended! If you didn’t know, Sujin, Rachel, Alex, and I colead a “small” group of 24 members! The group in itself is a testimony of God answering prayers and blessing us. It is definitely the highlight of my past year at Renewal Church.
Short Term Missions
Non-stop missions prep of course! Every person on our team — Ender, Beebee, Michael, Celina, Esther, Sam — has shown incredible initiative. No one’s giving orders, we’ve all slid into our roles.
Last Saturday, we had Local Love, our food/grocery ministry at Bali Hai Apartments — the same place where we’ll do VBS this week. It’s the most kids I’ve seen on a normal Local Love Saturday! I’m excited to see what God has in store for them.
Personal
I was supposed to host all of the missions team this week, but due to a possible bed bug situation, I’m only hosting half the team. This has been a surprising source of anxiousness for me; places of sleep should feel safe!
What’s happening today (Monday)
Today’s our first day of Vacation Bible School — VBS. From 9am-3pm our goal is to be messengers of the Gospel to the kids and family at Bali Hai Apartments. We will be doing dance + worship, games, crafts, Bible Lessons, Bible-centered skits, and memory verses! Local middle schoolers will be helping us throughout the day; they feel ownership in this VBS. Deeper bonds are forged when serving together for a greater cause, and that’s exactly why I’m stoked that the Bali Hai middle schoolers are volunteering with us!
Prayer Requests
Prayer that the kids and families would come to know Christ! Whether it’s their first time hearing the Gospel, or finally accepting Christ as the savior, our hope is that each person at Bali Hai Apartments will come to personally know the perfect God who redeems and loves us.
God will work in amazing ways. Two different people shared this same prayer with me. On top of that, the topic was prayed over at last Tuesday’s Renewal Church Prayer Meeting: To faithfully expect God to do amazing things this week! Specifically, to prayerfully expect God to work in the kids that they may know Christ, in our team that we will see God work despite our weaknesses, and in Renewal Church that this will light a greater fire of local missions. Hearing this prayer from three different people is showing how God wants us to center our hearts!
Rest for myself (and probably the rest of the team haha); to center our hearts on God despite chaos. Unexpected things always happen. The past two months have been some of the most eventful, challenging how I navigate my family, work, personal, and ministry priorities. It’s the same for my team as they have shared with us. God prepares a table for us in the midst of our enemies — in chaos, God invites us to be close and rest with Him. God is with us and he is victorious!