Summer Ministry Update

This summer was packed full of ministry. I love having teams come and get involved in who we are and what we are doing. They pour into our ministries, our family, and our community.  It was especially neat to watch so many of the teams involve our church in what they were doing. If they went out to do evangelism, they invited the pastor to go with. If they wanted to pray for the sick, they took church members with them. If they did ministry in one of our partnering communities, they included the local church leaders. Part of my job that I love is getting to watch the visiting teams and the local church collaborate together to reach this zone for the kingdom.  It was awesome on Sundays during the visitor time, to watch people stand up and say how they heard about the church. Or how people came by, visited with them, and invited them to worship on Sunday.  God is at work in our community and throughout this zone.

The past few months were full of times of great joy, but also times of heartbreak as well. The reality of life here is hard, but God was faithful in every situation. During the surgery week, the doctors had patient needing to have a fibroid removed. Yet when they started operating, they realized she had cancer that had progressed pretty far. They couldn’t operate and asked the pastor to meet with her and her family to talk about what they found. It was hard to watch a family we love and serving alongside daily go through such heartbreak. But that Sunday, our pastor reminded us of something so important. He stated that the doctor used his earthly knowledge to provide the best information he could; however, what the doctor had forgotten was the God we serve is able to do far more than we could imagine.  They didn’t expect her to live long and to be in great pain. We spent time praying with her and her family. Her friends and church members came from other towns to pray over her and encourage her. Imagine our surprise when she walked through the gates the other day. She said she felt the best she has in years and she looked the healthiest many have seen her. While we don't know the progression of her illness, we do know that she is a beautiful reminder of leaning on Christ alone in the face of trials.  Thankful for moments when we are reminded of God’s sovereignty.

I think one of my favorite moments this summer happened on a Wednesday afternoon. Each Wednesday afternoon, we have Bible study at the brothel downtown. We’ve been doing it for about a year and half. It’s one of my favorite times of the week. This particular Wednesday, we were blessed to have a team member who works with exploited women leading the Bible study. She had prepared a game, study time, and a craft on our identity in Christ.  For the craft, each women received a piece of paper that said I AM. They then received another paper with a list of adjectives. They decorated their I AM paper with glitter, stickers, and the adjectives. Many of the girls have never thought of themselves in a positive manner so they had to think of what positive words they thought about themselves. I noticed one girl wasn’t cutting up her paper so I offered to help her. She said she didn’t want to cut the adjectives out yet; she wanted to pray about what words she used because those words had power in them.  The best moment of that Bible study was when I looked over in the window. Inside the brothel, there is a small room with a window that the “security guard” usually sits at. That day, it was the brothel owner.  Not only was he present during Bible study, but he actually participated in the craft and decorated his own I AM paper. It was such a good reminder that God is working, even when we can’t see.  I was encouraged because it can hard to watch the girls be put in horrible situations, but I know that God is moving in his heart. Even though it’s a simple glitter covered paper, it meant that he himself was seeing his value. In which, my hope is by seeing his own value in Christ; that he will see the girls value in Christ and that God will use him to do mighty things.