The 6 Disciples

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9

This week has been the calm before the storm, as we prepare to be at “the farm” this upcoming week. The farm is an agricultural training experience to get us better acquainted with how to support ourselves off the land and to use farming as a form of ministry. But that is tomorrow/next week, today/this week has also been quite eventful in its own way. Particularly, now that I have 6 Filipino disciples.

Their names are John, Joseph, Jason, Jericho, Ethan, and Ralph and this weekend has been an extremely sweet time of getting to know them on a relational level and a spiritual level as well. So far we’ve done 4 bible studies together (2 each day) specifically focusing on training them how to study God’s word. We’ve also had an awesome worship night, prayer times, swimming trips, frisbee throwing, meals together, and side by side evangelism with them, as we strive to grow them in their faith as Christians. This part of ministry, mass discipleship, is completely new to me. However it is sweet in its own way as I live life with these guys and work to be a good example to them of what it looks like to follow after Christ and be obedient to his call. I only have 4 weeks, but I hope that God will use me to make a big impact on them and exponentially increase their faith and passion for sharing the gospel before I leave.

Some other spiritual highs of this week have been, the house to house bible studies with the members of the church were serving at, and the dominant theme of our classes this week being on confession. Confession is an often overlooked essential piece to spiritual growth. One way it impacts the Christian is that when we confess and repent to God, we are renewing that relationship with him and setting our lives back on the straight path. However another powerful aspect of confession is sharing your struggles to other people. God has given us community for many reasons, and some of those reasons are to affirm truth and to have another voice to hold you to God’s standard of living for him. Oh the freedom we have from sin now that Jesus has died and rose for us. But also what a freedom we can experience, from our deepest darkest hidden sins, when we confess them to our brothers and sisters around us. I’ve heard so many testimonies, including my own, that have been transformed by confessing a sin struggle to others and in return receiving gracious and loving accountability from them. One lie the devil tells us when were stuck in sin is that were alone in our sin. That others will look down on us or maybe will disappoint God by saying it aloud. All of these claims are completely twisted lies. We all struggle with sin, it doesn’t matter what other think of you, and God loves you and is proud of you when you turn your back on sin. Confession is essential to the Christian walk. Utilize the people God has given you and strive to come back to God and away from sin. He is waiting for you with arms open and he’s given you all that you need.

Some fun highlights from this week were:

-Swimming at a pool with the team (playing water ultimate frisbee, stupid ninja game, and holding breath contests)

-A Japanese underground tunnel tour

-American cookout food at our leaders house + fish bowl game

– 1-1 confession exercise, laying all our life’s sins on the table

-Leading a small group Bible Study with some of the team

-Multiple funny moments on ministry, including falling out of a chair while sharing the gospel

-Sleeping on the hard floor at our new church + waking up at 4am the next morning

-And the 2 birthday celebrations we had for Haley (Wednesday) and Maggie (Friday)

So many fun experiences with many more coming this week at the farm!

Finally some prayer requests are;

• For the church were at right now + another one of our team’s church in the area not to get demolished by a government project as it’s scheduled to this upcoming January
• For the young adults at the church to grow in their faith
• For patience/unity within the team as we continue to live together
• For continued humility and servant heartedness to those around me

One thing that God has done this week, and that has been an answer to many of our team’s prayers, is to finalize the teams/locations for all our hands on terms. While there was a lot of stress and anxiety about it, in the end we all gave it up to God, and he has been incredibly faithful in giving us the clarity that we needed along with working all this out for his glory and kingdom. Off of that blessing, a final note to y’all is to keep trusting God with your plans, short-term or long-term, and let him guide your steps. He wants what’s good for you and he is in control. Trust him, he is with you.