Hey everyone, thank you all for your continued support and prayers. They are greatly needed and greatly appreciated. Today, I have exciting news to share with you all! Last Wednesday, two teenagers I met accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior!!!!!! Their friend did not get saved, but I am still in touch with him. I am extremely grateful that I was given the privilege to see God give the increase on seeds planted and watered. It is even more exiting for me to think about afterwards because I can clearly see God’s hand throughout the whole experience! Also, last night, I was able to share the Gospel with one of my bus kids and his mom when I was not expecting to run into them on my outreach!
The three young men.
That morning, I overslept and was late for class. Naturally, I was not happy with myself. I decided to pray before I got dressed, though. I prayed that today was a new day with new mercies and grace. That I would be submitted to God’s will and be able to please Him. That someone would be saved. This put me in a good mood on the way to School. When I arrived, though, my attitude plunged, and I felt drained. When I got home after class, I decided to take a nap before I drove over an hour to the Church I intern at. Four hours later, I woke up feeling frustrated again because I was probably going to miss doing outreach before AWANAS started. That is a big problem to me since I am the one responsible for building the Outreach route. If I don’t go, then no one will be going (please pray for laborers to rise up and help me). My drive to Church really helped me though. I listened to a sermon that pumped me up. When I arrived at Church, I decided to take the hour I had left to go door knocking. I had a place in mind that I wanted to go to, but I ended up passing it. I was going to take a U-turn, but I felt convicted to turn into a neighborhood that I was about to pass. This place was massive, and I quickly got lost. I couldn’t find a place to park and the road kept taking me further into the maze of houses. Finally, I came across a playground with parking next it. After parking, I saw three young men working on some bikes at the playground. I was going to go door knocking, but I felt led to talk to them. I was able to help them with their bikes, and afterwards I was able to share the Gospel with them for almost an hour. One of them had been in Church when he was a boy. Another was in a non-Independent Baptist Church and the third young man was Muslim. The three of them didn’t know where they would go if they died. God allowed me to open up the Bible and show them how to be saved. At first, the Muslim young man was hesitant to read the Bible, but God dealt with his heart and allowed him to read it! After I finished, I was able to have a time of review and questions. They told me no one had ever told them what the Bible had said about these things. Before I left, I put them at a crossroads. I couldn’t make the decision for them, and they could make it at another time, but one day they would stand before God on the judgement day having been warned. Before I left, two of them told me they accepted Jesus as their Savior. The Muslim young man didn’t get saved, but the one of the other young men told him that he was going to start sharing the Gospel with him every night and leaving literature with him! I was also able to encourage him to share the Gospel with his dad and everyone he comes into contact with. This experience brought great joy into my heart. I was lost in that neighborhood so that they would be found and saved by God!
Running into an unexpected family
Yesterday was very good. I was able to beat the traffic to go to my Church. During the ride, I was able to listen to another sermon talking about long suffering and ending right. This was something that I have been struggling with. I have been facing a lot of spiritual warfare, and I have been getting a lot of discouragement and depression. This sermon helped me realize that I need to be faithful to the end and not let the devil dictate how I feel. I can choose to dwell on things that will bring me down, or I can choose to turn to God and rejoice in Him. When I got to Church, I was able to meet with the Spanish Pastor. At the end, he gave me a few places to go to for Spanish Outreach. One of them was a Spanish market that I decided to check out. Before I left, I prayed that God would guide me and allow someone to get saved. When I got to the place, I bought some coconut milk and ice cream, but my boldness was limited to leaving a tract with the cashier. I hope to go back with better Spanish later, and that the seed planted will be harvested. On the way back to Church, I noticed a trailer park that looked massive right next to me as I was stuck in traffic. When traffic finally started moving, I decided to turn into it. After getting lost again, I drove by a teen who looked like one of my bus kids. After parking, I realized he was that kid. (I had never driven there myself, so I didn’t realize that it was part of my route)This led to me being able to meet his siblings, cousins, aunt, and mom! During that time, I was able to share the Gospel with him and his mom! I am not sure about his mom since I wasn’t able to talk with her that long, but her son told me that he would think about what I told him and read the Bible that is in the house. Please pray that he would be saved.
Conclusion:
Overall, neither of these stories would have happened without God working in my life and the lives of those I met. I am not the one who brings people together. I am not the one who can save someone. I am not the one who can transform someone. I am just the messenger. God, however, can do and has done all of those things. What is awesome is that our prayers can affect God accomplishing His will on Earth! Our prayers can affect people getting raised up by God, our prayers cn affect people getting saved by God, our prayers can turn impossible situations into possible through the power of God! So I would like to encourage each and everyone of you to be a prayer warrior and pray always. Your prayers do make a difference in this world.
Prayer Requests:
- Pray that the two young men who professed Jesus as their Savior would be able to come to Church.
- Pray that their friend would be saved and come to Church as well.
- Pray that the teen on my bus would be saved as well as anyone else in his family.
- Pray for laborers both foreign and at home
- Pray for more opportunities to share the Gospel and for boldness to act on them.
- Pray for protection over me, and those who are actively serving God.