Dear Lord,
Thank you for giving every single one of us the chance to serve you in Barquisimeto, Venezuela. By grace alone, we were able to have such a wonderful and fruitful time. Thank you for each and every face that we met. They are all so sweet and adorable.
Praise Your Name for those who were touched by You. May you continue to speak to them and strengthen their faith in You. May you continue to guide every one of us to follow you step-by-step.
Amen, your children.
Dear All,
We would like to share with you our GREAT JOY & EXPERIENCE. Please check it out here.
in Him,
Elizabeth, Enoch, Kevin, Nathanie, Nicole & Priscilla
STM Schedule 8/1 to 8/14
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Sunday, August 29, 2010
8/14 - Day 13 - Leaving Venezuela and Going Home
Oh, can’t believe it’s the last day and it’s the day for us to head back to the US
簡直不能相信已經是最後一天了, 我們要回美了
Last “night”, all of us slept at about 2am since we were busy packing and finished the one last evaluation for the whole missionary trip. If the previous blog didn’t say what we did “last night”, we gave comments to each one of us and telling what is good about our B&S and what they could be improved. That’s why the meeting ended pretty late. Pastor Wan and Cmo were really energetic and they were never tired of giving their all to God’s work.
昨晚我們約在凌晨二時睡覺, 我們忙著收拾之餘也因為我們要做最後的一個 “宣”後檢討. 如果之前的部落格沒有提到的話, 我們昨晚互相給了大家意見, 分享我們對各弟兄姊妹的優點和可以改進之處, 好像是我們第一次這樣給弟兄姊妹這樣的意見, 但對我們的幫助很大, 當我們知道自己的優缺點後, 我們更可以肯定神對自己的恩賜, 和更注意我們有什麼可以改進的地方. 溫牧師和師母也竭盡所能, 即使已到深夜, 但他們也盡力為短宣做到盡善盡美, 讓我們和日後的知宣隊得到最大的幫助
So we started the day by waking up at 6 am and getting ourselves ready by 7 am. Pastor Nip and Fernando (a brother at the Caracas Church
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| Wait Wait Wait 1.5 Wait for Check In 等等等一點五小時的等候 |
1) we have to pass through 3 X-ray check, and 2 of them were just 20 meters apart and we don’t know why after we got our bag X-rayed just seconds ago, we have to put in the X-ray belt again in 20 steps
2) Our bags got searched thoroughly: our wallet got opened, and our bible got opened and flipped. The snacks in the paper bag got taken out one by one, we joked with the officer that we could sell him each snack one dollar each
3) After the security check, we were close to the boarding time, but before we could get on the plane, there was another X-ray check. While we wonder how they could keep X-ray check our bags, different people give different answers:
a. A brother suggested that it is a kind of strategy adopted by the airport, it is use to 疲勞轟炸 the real smugglers that they will finally surrender and admit they carried prohibited items
b. A Venezuelan suggested that they want to have more X-ray check than the US to show they are superior to the US
c. I like both of the explanations, how about you?
當日, 我們六時起床, 七時多委京教會的聶牧師和弟兄Fernando接載我們到機場. 我們提早三小時到機場, 通常在美國我們會漠視三小時前check-in的要求, 但原來在委內瑞拉, 我們不能忽視這要求, 即使人龍不是太長, 但我們真的等了一個多小時才能跟空中先生相見, 還有好幾樣在委內瑞拉發生的奇事趣事
1) 我們要經過三個X-ray帶, 其中兩個只有二十米的距離, 我們真的不知道為什麼當我們剛從X-ray帶上拿完行李後, 二十步以內, 又要再把我們的行李放在X-ray上
2) 他們仔細地搜索我們的袋: 我們的錢包給打開, 我們的聖經給翻開, 我們盛滿食物的紙袋給官員完全搜索, 我們以為他很想吃那些零食, 便說笑跟他說每個一元賣給他
3) 我們經過這林林總總的搜查, 已幾乎來不及上機, 但臨上機前他們還要我們過最後一叢的X-ray. 當我們不明為什麼我們要經過這麼多X-ray時, 不同人有不同的答案
a. 有一弟兄說這是委國機場的策略, 要疲勞轟炸真的有帶違禁品的人, 讓他們受不住壓力, 自首說他們真的有帶違禁品
b. 有一委人說因為委國的搜查要比美國更嚴謹, 如果美國有兩次X-ray check, 委國要有三個
c. 這兩個解釋我都很喜歡, 不知道你喜歡那一個?
We finally got on the plane and arrived at the Miami airport, our leader originally proposed visiting a beach in Miami
1) We touched down at Miami
2) It took us “hour” to walk from the gate to the custom, a brother commented that the distance from the gate to the custom was 3 mi, and all of us agreed it is the longest distance we have walked from a gate to a custom historically (just kidding, but I believe it really took us 20 minutes to walk to the US custom) I start wondering if Miami has the biggest airport in the world
3) Most of the announcements were broadcasted in Spanish, we almost want to go to the officers and ask them to be considerate about our situation (of not being able to understand Spanish) We felt like we were still in South America !
4) As I have mentioned, we touched down at Miami at 3 pm, and takes 20 minutes to walk to the custom, 10 minutes to wait in line to get our “I-94” stamped L Guess how long does it take for us to get our baggage? We don’t know how long, but we took a picture when we got the baggage, which is at 5 pm. Wow, 2 hours from the time we touched down at Miami Miami
5) Once we were at the departure level, everything becomes different, at arrival, the Spanish words were as big as the English words, but at departure, the Spanish words become smaller and were probably vanishing. So we start being able to understand the announcement again :)
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| MIA -> SFO |
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| MIA -> SFO |
最後我們終於上到飛機了, 也抵達了邁阿密的機場, 我們的領隊提議我們到邁阿密的沙灘一趟, 我們當然舉手贊成, 可是, 有更多的奇事趣事發生, 讓我分點說明那大家便容易看了
1) 我們在三時安全降落邁阿密機場
2) 由閘口到過關需要步行 “一小時”, 有弟兄說閘口到過關的距離大約三英里, 我們每個人都同意這是歷史上距離最長的閘口到關口的距離 (說個小小的笑話而已, 但我們真的用了二十分鐘的快走時間才到過關地, 也在懷疑邁阿密機場是否全球最大的機場)
3) 大部分的廣播也是用西文的, 我們就來要叫當地的職員顧及我們這些不會西文的人的感受, 我們覺得我們真的仍在南美 :)
4) 第一點已提及我們三點降落, 二十分鐘走到過關的地方, 十分鐘等他們蓋印在我們的I-94 :( 請猜猜我們什麼時候拿到我們的行李? 我們不知等了多久, 可以當我們拿到行李時, 已經是五時了, 我們到沙灘的希望幻滅了, 但感謝神, 我們開心的享受了我們的哈根達斯雪糕和別緻的壽司
5) 當我們在離境層時, 整個感覺更截然不同了, 西文的字變細了, 廣播已經沒有了西文了, 想不到只是一層之差, 我們猶如在兩個不同的世界了
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| 兩小時後終於拿到行李了 Getting our baggage after 2 hours! |
Finally we arrived at SFO, our HOME. We were treated with honor as we got 3 cars to pick us up: Beatrice taking Kevin and Enoch, Ronald taking Nicole and Priscilla, Wilson
最後, 我們終於抵達三藩市, 我們的家, 我們受到了星級的待遇, 有三架房車接載我們, 有培瑩接載逸安與之諾, 建安接載詠姍與瀅茵, 國偉接載燕妮與質政, 跟著我們便到了在聖馬刁市的甲乙丙餐廳, 還拍了以下的照片
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| ABC at San Meteo 在聖馬刁的甲乙丙 |
Thank God that we have a wonderful and perfect trip. We learned a lot and we gave little but we achieved a lot because God worked with us. We were all very happy and fulfilled and we will be sharing with you more in the passage that we were mandated to write and the presentation that we have to sharing the coming Friday (8/27) So stay tune with us!
感謝神我們有著完滿的短宣. 學了很多, 付出不多卻因著神的作為而得著很多, 我們每人都很滿足, 很開心, 但我們的短宣不停在這裡, 我們還要寫我們的分享文章, 也要在這個星期五的團契分享我們的所感所得, 所以, 請繼續留意我們的消息
Prayer requests:
1) See the sad face above? Nathanie lost her I-94, please pray for her so this will be settled
2) We were so used to sharing gospel with people we don’t know in Venezuela , please pray that we will do the same in the US
3) We were very serious preparing the program in the church in Barquisimeto
4) Through this STM trip, we treat praying seriously, we prayed when someone got stick, we prayed when a seminary student had trouble entering Venezuela, in the morning we praised, shared and prayed for an hour, we prayed before we out reached, we prayed during we were outreaching, we prayed after we did the out reach, we prayed before the night program, we prayed during the night program, we prayed after the night program, we prayed when we sowed seed, we prayed when we did the harvesting, we prayed for those who received Christ, we prayed for those who were not ready receiving Christ, we prayed those who were weak in us, putting the following into practice:
16Be joyful always; 17pray continually; 18give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5)
代禱事項:
1) 看見了上面的傷心樣嗎? Nathanie遺失了I-94, 請為她代禱讓她的I-94能找回來
2) 我們在委國習慣了跟陌生人傳福音, 請為我們代禱, 讓我們的習慣能延續. 現在我們在夢咖啡, 希望神能為我們預備人讓我們能跟他/她分享福音
3) 我們在巴城很認真的為神的工安排, 希望我們認真的態度能延續, 讓我們在全恩堂也能全力以赴
4) 我們這個短宣後看重了祈禱, 有人生病了馬上祈禱, 有人進不了委國國境馬上祈禱, 早上有一小的早禱會, 出門探訪前禱告, 探訪時禱告, 探訪後禱告, 預備聚會前禱告, 聚會時禱告, 聚會後禱告, 傳福音播種時禱告, 傳福音收割時禱告, 為接受福音的人的成長禱告, 為還未接受福音的人禱告, 為我們當中軟弱的弟兄姊妹禱告, 實踐了聖經所說的:
「要常常喜樂，不住的禱告，凡事謝恩；因為這是神在基督耶穌裏向你們所定的旨意。」 〈 帖撒羅尼迦前書五：16-18 〉
8/13 - Day 12 - Leaving Barquisimeto to Caracus
Time flies! It's finally the day of leaving Barquisimeto!
These two weeks have passed by very quickly without our notice. On Day 12, we were all packed and ready to leave for Caracus, but we left our hearts with the brothers and sisters in Barquisimeto. Brothers and sisters from IBCB came at 745am to give us ride to the bus station where we took the bus to Caracus.
After settling down our tickets and luggage, we had a quick breakfast with these brothers and sisters. Same as the first day, they were busy buying food and drinks for us. This is exactly the example of “serving one and other with love”. We were all very touched!
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| Our Bus |
The end of this quick breakfast marked the time of leaving. We walked back to the station and stood in line for getting on the bus. We all knew that we will miss everybody in Barquisimeto so much!
It took us around 6 hours to travel from Baquisimeto to Caracus. Thanks God that there was a rest stop where we could move our legs.
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| Lunch at the Rest-Stop |
It was around 4pm when we arrived Caracus. Pastor Nip and a brother, Fernando, picked us up from the bus station. We first put down our luggage at the church where we stayed for the night, then they were very kind to take us to buy some souvenirs as we did not have any chance to walk around (well, we walked around a lot but not for sightseeing nor shopping! :P) in Barquisimeto. We then had dinner with Fernando’s family.
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| Shopping |
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| Waiting for Dinner |
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| Post-Dinner with Fernado's Family |
We went to visit Pastor Nip’s church after dinner. We also had the chance to listen to the sharing of Pastor Nip, his wife, and one of the deacons of the church. Mrs Nip’s sharing was very touching and encouraging – even though she has kidney problem which requires her to go to the hospital three times a week, she still put her faith in God and use her own sickness to testify God’s grace. She shared that although she is always tired after medical treatment, she always feels energetic on Sunday morning! She believes that God gives her energy to serve Him on every Sunday and she treasures it very much!
After the sharing, we went back to the church where we stayed. However, our night didn’t end there. We still had our final evaluation! We were asked to say make appreciation and suggestion to every other team member. From this evaluation, we knew what we had done well and what we need to work on more. This is really beneficial to our future serving.
It was around 1 to 2am…we finally got to take shower and go to bed! We needed to get up early the next day to catch the flight back to the US!
8/12 - Day 11 - Revisiting, Answering Challenging Questions and Farewell
We began the day with the morning prayer meeting led by Kevin. Kevin's sharing had a really nice conclusion about the whole missionary trip :) After that, we went to revisit the people whom we outreach before to say goodbye with them. Enoch, Marion and Nathanie went to revisit Carolina, Lisa, Linet and Wai who have received Christ previously and dropped them Bibles. Please pray that they will know about God more through reading Bible. We also went to say bye to the nail lady Fong Siu Lam, David (worked in the same store as Caroline and Lisa) and Jenny who showed interest on Jesus. We were really encouraged that some of them said they wanted to go to church the past Sunday but due to something happened so that's why they couldn't come. Kevin, Nicole and Eliz also went to say goodbye to other folks they had previously talked to. Please pray that God will remove the obstacles so they will be able to go to Church the following weeks.
It was our last evening at IBCB, the church has invited us to hold a Q&A session for the brothers and sisters. Prior to our trip, the brothers and sisters from IBCB have prepared for us a set of tough questions mainly regarding the issue of salvation. That evening, our team tried to answer those questions based on biblical teaching, and Pastor Wan concluded the meeting with a presentation explaining God’s grace and human’s responsibilities on the issue of salvation and Christian living.
It was our last evening at IBCB, the church has invited us to hold a Q&A session for the brothers and sisters. Prior to our trip, the brothers and sisters from IBCB have prepared for us a set of tough questions mainly regarding the issue of salvation. That evening, our team tried to answer those questions based on biblical teaching, and Pastor Wan concluded the meeting with a presentation explaining God’s grace and human’s responsibilities on the issue of salvation and Christian living.
After the meeting, the brothers and sisters surprised Pastor and Mrs. Wan and our team with a very special gift. They have custom-made for each one of us a mug with our pictures on it. We were very surprised and touched by this farewell gift and the love the brothers and sisters have shown to us during our stay in Barquisimeto. And of course, there was some more picture time...
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| Our gifts :) 我們的禮物 |
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| Group picture 團體照 |
At the end of the night, it was hard to believe that we have already spent about two weeks in Barquisimeto. We are still very amazed and encouraged by the power of the gospel, and the presence and guidance of God in all the ministries that He has allowed us to take part in during our stay. And, we are all very excited to see people coming to Christ everyday and that the brothers and sisters at the church come to learn about God and His Word. It has been such a blessing to witness God’s great work among His people! God is good!
And you know what, on our last day in Barquisimeto, God brought us 2 fruits. Do you remember Ah Fa's housemate Ah Fung? Her Husband Mr. Sze To came to the meeting at night and Kevin and Cmo shared gospel with him and he was willing to receive Christ. Ah Fa's another housemate's Ying Ying's Mum also came to the meeting at night and she was willing to receive Christ as her Savior as well. Praise the Lord, Fa's whole family received Christ and we heard that they just had a bible study session in their house the week after we left Barquisimeto. There were a total of 6 people:
Ah Fa, Fa's husband, Ah Fung, Fung's husband, Fa's cousin Chun, Fa's housemate Ying's mum
How Great is our Lord!
Please pray that the bible study session will continue in their home and they will grow in Christ continually
And you know what, on our last day in Barquisimeto, God brought us 2 fruits. Do you remember Ah Fa's housemate Ah Fung? Her Husband Mr. Sze To came to the meeting at night and Kevin and Cmo shared gospel with him and he was willing to receive Christ. Ah Fa's another housemate's Ying Ying's Mum also came to the meeting at night and she was willing to receive Christ as her Savior as well. Praise the Lord, Fa's whole family received Christ and we heard that they just had a bible study session in their house the week after we left Barquisimeto. There were a total of 6 people:
Ah Fa, Fa's husband, Ah Fung, Fung's husband, Fa's cousin Chun, Fa's housemate Ying's mum
How Great is our Lord!
Please pray that the bible study session will continue in their home and they will grow in Christ continually
And for those who have been reading this blog along the way, we simply want to thank you for your support and prayers, for we know that it is all because of His grace and power that this trip could be so wonderful! May all the glory be unto Him.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
8/11 - Day 10 - Outreach, Follow-up and Prayer meeting
Time flies, it's the second Wednesday already, and tomorrow will be our last day here in Barquisimeto. Words are not enough to count God's blessings throughout.
Today, once again, we targeted our outreach to strengthen some new believers in the church or those who have accepted Jesus Christ last week. We divided into two groups. Kevin, Nathanie and Nicole went to Fa's home. They have arranged to meet with Fa and her husband (Wai), Wai's nephew (Chun) and a lady who lives in Fa's house (Fung) to go over the first chapter of a discipleship booklet. The session went really well and each of them showed a seeking heart towards God's words. Kevin also took the chance to encourage Wai as he still has the habit of smoking and finds it difficult to quit. All in all, it's evident that God is working through Fa to her friends and families.
Enoch, Elizabeth and Priscilla went to visit the shops workers on Carrera 22 who have accepted Jesus Christ last week. Marion and Carolina from the youth fellowship joined them as well. They first visited Lik, the owner of a candy & snack shop. They gave him a booklet of discipleship material in Spanish. Marion and Carolina invited Lik to study the discipleship lessons and also invited him to go to the spanish youth fellowship. Then they moved on to visit a couple, Chiu and Miu Yu. Chiu works at a Hi-Fi shop and Miu Yu works in a small grocery just a block from Chiu. Although it was difficult to talk long with them individually due to the the surroundings, the group encouraged them to continue to read the devotional booklet and go to the spanish fellowship. En-route to the last visitation, the group visited Isabel's (JuJu) grandma to say Goodbye. They saw Adolfo at the shop and they also went to see Adolfo's dad, Kwok Wa - one of the leaders of the church, as well. The last visit is for Miu Miu, a girl who works at a home supplies shop. Elizabeth and Priscilla introduced Marion and Carolina to her so that they can care for her spiritual needs continuously.
Wednesday night is again the church's prayer meeting. In addition to the regular chinese congregation, the mission team invited the spanish speaking youths to come for a special prayer meeting as well.
Kevin, Priscilla and Nathanie was in charge to hold the adults prayer meeting. The focus of this prayer meeting is to encourage them to learn how to pray publicly. After singspiration, Kevin and team continued to leverage the ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication) praying pattern. But this time, everyone has to take turn participating in praying out loud. In God's grace, the prayer went really well and everyone had a chance to pray publicly.
On the rooftop simultaneously, Enoch and Nicole led the prayer meeting for the spanish youths. They also introduced the ACTS praying pattern. To everyone's surprise and in awe of God's blessings, 26 youths came even knowing how danger it could be for them to be out at night. It was more than double the number of adults (12) who came. During the third part (T - Thanksgiving), Enoch asked the youths to try sharing things that they thanked God for. Amazingly, every single one of the 26 shared. It was evident that God was speaking to all of their hearts. Manuel, the spanish youth pastor, was also able to attend the prayer meeting. The mission team pray that God will use Manuel to strengthen the prayer mission for the youths.
Amen.
Today, once again, we targeted our outreach to strengthen some new believers in the church or those who have accepted Jesus Christ last week. We divided into two groups. Kevin, Nathanie and Nicole went to Fa's home. They have arranged to meet with Fa and her husband (Wai), Wai's nephew (Chun) and a lady who lives in Fa's house (Fung) to go over the first chapter of a discipleship booklet. The session went really well and each of them showed a seeking heart towards God's words. Kevin also took the chance to encourage Wai as he still has the habit of smoking and finds it difficult to quit. All in all, it's evident that God is working through Fa to her friends and families.
Enoch, Elizabeth and Priscilla went to visit the shops workers on Carrera 22 who have accepted Jesus Christ last week. Marion and Carolina from the youth fellowship joined them as well. They first visited Lik, the owner of a candy & snack shop. They gave him a booklet of discipleship material in Spanish. Marion and Carolina invited Lik to study the discipleship lessons and also invited him to go to the spanish youth fellowship. Then they moved on to visit a couple, Chiu and Miu Yu. Chiu works at a Hi-Fi shop and Miu Yu works in a small grocery just a block from Chiu. Although it was difficult to talk long with them individually due to the the surroundings, the group encouraged them to continue to read the devotional booklet and go to the spanish fellowship. En-route to the last visitation, the group visited Isabel's (JuJu) grandma to say Goodbye. They saw Adolfo at the shop and they also went to see Adolfo's dad, Kwok Wa - one of the leaders of the church, as well. The last visit is for Miu Miu, a girl who works at a home supplies shop. Elizabeth and Priscilla introduced Marion and Carolina to her so that they can care for her spiritual needs continuously.
Wednesday night is again the church's prayer meeting. In addition to the regular chinese congregation, the mission team invited the spanish speaking youths to come for a special prayer meeting as well.
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| Singspiration |
Kevin, Priscilla and Nathanie was in charge to hold the adults prayer meeting. The focus of this prayer meeting is to encourage them to learn how to pray publicly. After singspiration, Kevin and team continued to leverage the ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication) praying pattern. But this time, everyone has to take turn participating in praying out loud. In God's grace, the prayer went really well and everyone had a chance to pray publicly.
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| Adults' Prayer Meeting |
On the rooftop simultaneously, Enoch and Nicole led the prayer meeting for the spanish youths. They also introduced the ACTS praying pattern. To everyone's surprise and in awe of God's blessings, 26 youths came even knowing how danger it could be for them to be out at night. It was more than double the number of adults (12) who came. During the third part (T - Thanksgiving), Enoch asked the youths to try sharing things that they thanked God for. Amazingly, every single one of the 26 shared. It was evident that God was speaking to all of their hearts. Manuel, the spanish youth pastor, was also able to attend the prayer meeting. The mission team pray that God will use Manuel to strengthen the prayer mission for the youths.
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| Youths' Prayer Meeting |
Amen.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
8/10 - Day 9 - Outreaching and Preaching Practice
Enoch began the day by sharing Jeremiah 29:4-14, which is about the Lord's love and faithfulness towards the Israelite exiles in Babylon. Enoch likened the Chinese in Venezuela to the Israelites, who are living in a different country and being captured by the burdens and desires of this world. However, the Lord is compassionate and Jesus came to free us from our captivity. All of us need to accept Christ as our Savior. Not only we have eternal life, we can also cast our worries and burdens in this life onto Him.
Today our visitations were scheduled in the afternoon, thus we stayed at IBCB in the morning to prepare for the upcoming programs. At about 2pm, we divided into teams and headed out.
Kevin, Pris and Nicole went to visit a friend of Lily's, who came from a Catholic background. She and her husband have a Chinese restaurant in Barquisimeto. Although she was born in Venezuela, she spoke fluent Cantonese and she was very willing to share about her life. She shared that she was kidnapped about 3 months ago. While in captivity, she kept praying and had faith in God that she would be released. Praise God that she was finally released after 12 days and her outlooks on life completely changed. Having been in a life-threatening situation, she realized that it's much more important to spend time with family members than making more money. Although she knew of God and had faith in Him, she did not have the assurance of salvation. Thus we shared the Gospel with her and invited her to have a personal relationship with Jesus. Praise God she accepted Christ right away and Lily prayed with her in Spanish as she invited the Lord into her heart! Later on her husband came to say hi to us but he was too busy to chat. At the end, we left him with some Gospel tracts and invited him, his wife and his mother-in-law to church. May God continue to protect and guide this family so that they will all eventually turn to Jesus!
Enoch, Eliz, Nathanie and Marion went to revisit Fong Siu Lam (the nail lady) and Eliz dedicated her nails to God's work and willing to get her nail job so that she could share gospel with the nail lady. The lady showed interest and willing to talk to us for 2 hours. She was so nice that she gave Eliz a free manicure. Please pray that she will be willing to receive Christ one day. Also, Marion guided us to a store where there is a Chinese there. Nathanie and Eliz went to share gospel with the Chinese guy called Wai and he was willing to receive Christ at the scene. Please pray that he will be growing in Christ and will be able to go to Church despite the poor safety in the city.
At night, there was preaching practice #2. It's brother Keung and sister Ling's turn! We paid close attention to them as they preached God's words in Psalm 8 with fervency and shared their personal testimonies with passion. Their faithfulness to God is exemplified by their humility and willingness to serve at the church despite their daily duties. We all learnt a lot from their sermons and constructive criticism from Pastor Wan. For non-preachers, it's equally important to learn how to listen to sermons so that we can understand God's words better and apply them in our lives.
Praise God for another great day filled with His grace and love!
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| Buying fried chicken at a Chinese Restaurant |
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| Our lunch! |
Today our visitations were scheduled in the afternoon, thus we stayed at IBCB in the morning to prepare for the upcoming programs. At about 2pm, we divided into teams and headed out.
Kevin, Pris and Nicole went to visit a friend of Lily's, who came from a Catholic background. She and her husband have a Chinese restaurant in Barquisimeto. Although she was born in Venezuela, she spoke fluent Cantonese and she was very willing to share about her life. She shared that she was kidnapped about 3 months ago. While in captivity, she kept praying and had faith in God that she would be released. Praise God that she was finally released after 12 days and her outlooks on life completely changed. Having been in a life-threatening situation, she realized that it's much more important to spend time with family members than making more money. Although she knew of God and had faith in Him, she did not have the assurance of salvation. Thus we shared the Gospel with her and invited her to have a personal relationship with Jesus. Praise God she accepted Christ right away and Lily prayed with her in Spanish as she invited the Lord into her heart! Later on her husband came to say hi to us but he was too busy to chat. At the end, we left him with some Gospel tracts and invited him, his wife and his mother-in-law to church. May God continue to protect and guide this family so that they will all eventually turn to Jesus!
Enoch, Eliz, Nathanie and Marion went to revisit Fong Siu Lam (the nail lady) and Eliz dedicated her nails to God's work and willing to get her nail job so that she could share gospel with the nail lady. The lady showed interest and willing to talk to us for 2 hours. She was so nice that she gave Eliz a free manicure. Please pray that she will be willing to receive Christ one day. Also, Marion guided us to a store where there is a Chinese there. Nathanie and Eliz went to share gospel with the Chinese guy called Wai and he was willing to receive Christ at the scene. Please pray that he will be growing in Christ and will be able to go to Church despite the poor safety in the city.
At night, there was preaching practice #2. It's brother Keung and sister Ling's turn! We paid close attention to them as they preached God's words in Psalm 8 with fervency and shared their personal testimonies with passion. Their faithfulness to God is exemplified by their humility and willingness to serve at the church despite their daily duties. We all learnt a lot from their sermons and constructive criticism from Pastor Wan. For non-preachers, it's equally important to learn how to listen to sermons so that we can understand God's words better and apply them in our lives.
Praise God for another great day filled with His grace and love!
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
8/9 - Day 8 - Home Visits and Chinese Adult Fellowship
After the programs on Sunday, we were amazed by how the Holy Spirit worked in each of us. He did not only show His power when we were preaching the Gospel to others, but He also empowered us individually when we needed the courage, strength and the right words to say. =) In the morning we headed out to different stores again to preach the Gospel. We were glad that Marion and Carolina teamed up with us and happily we dashed into the busy streets of Barquisimeto with our Gospel tracts and tools. Maybe because of the traffic and smog from cars I felt a little peculiar sometimes when I crossed the streets. It's like a parable reflecting the life of Chinese in this city, that they're obscured and choked by the smog of fear, because of the frequent robbery and kidnapping. Their souls are like the lost sheep in the Bible, and the Gospel is the only way to lead them to Jesus, our Good Shepherd. He is the Prince of Peace and King of Glory!
So off we went, we walked from door to door, and Praise the Lord that four more people accepted Christ as their Savior. One of them is Alex, who worked in a grocery store. He's born in Venezuela so he couldn't read Chinese. Our team prayed for his heart at the back while one of us was talking to him, amazingly he turned to Christ and accepted Him. Jesus says, if you have the faith as small as a mustard seed you could move mountains. Indeed during the trip we saw how God moved the hearts of people like the mountains. When Kevin, Nicole and Priscilla first talked to Aunt Wan, they were muddled by her Yanping dialect. For the first 10 minutes, as they didn't understand anything she said, they prayed to God in their hearts together. Then surprisingly they could understand what she's talking about afterward and shared the love of Christ with her.
Enoch, Marion and Nathanie went to revisit Carolina, and since Carolina was busy, Nathanie and Marion had a chance to share gospel with Carolina's sister, Lisa. Once again, Nathanie spoke in English, Marion translated and thank God that Lisa was willing to receive Christ. We also had a chance to visit a Manicure lady Fong Siu Lam, unbelievably, we share Christ with her for more than half an hour and she was so nice that she treated us some soft drinks. She showed immense interest about Christ and was moved by the gospel of God. Please pray that God will open her heart and she will be receiving Christ as her Savior
Enoch, Marion and Nathanie went to revisit Carolina, and since Carolina was busy, Nathanie and Marion had a chance to share gospel with Carolina's sister, Lisa. Once again, Nathanie spoke in English, Marion translated and thank God that Lisa was willing to receive Christ. We also had a chance to visit a Manicure lady Fong Siu Lam, unbelievably, we share Christ with her for more than half an hour and she was so nice that she treated us some soft drinks. She showed immense interest about Christ and was moved by the gospel of God. Please pray that God will open her heart and she will be receiving Christ as her Savior
At night we had a scrumptious supper cooked by the lovely brothers and sisters from IBCB. Their smiling faces and hospitality reminded us so much of AGCC. We enjoyed much the fellowship with IBCBers! It is Jesus' command to us that we ought to love each other, and that's what brought us here. :) Jesus is our shelter, and in Him, we share our laughter and tears, and we are one big family in Christ after all no matter where we are from.
After the dinner coffees were served, and Mr. Leung led us to praise God and devotion. Although there were things in the passage they didn't understand, they were eager to seek the answers and listened to Pastor Wan's explanations. Happily and freely they shared their points of view, and at the same time the kids were having a good time in the room as well. The church was filled with liveliness and joy.
After the dinner coffees were served, and Mr. Leung led us to praise God and devotion. Although there were things in the passage they didn't understand, they were eager to seek the answers and listened to Pastor Wan's explanations. Happily and freely they shared their points of view, and at the same time the kids were having a good time in the room as well. The church was filled with liveliness and joy.
Another heartening story of prayer I would like to share is about our Venezuelan sister Marion. Her parents are missionaries and she was taught how to pray for the nations since she was a child. Therefore she has a devoted and loving heart for God and His kingdom. Before the missionaries from Hong Kong and our STM team came, she already spent much time praying for IBCB. She mentioned that IBCB was like a baby in her eyes and growing in God's hands day by day. Not only she supported the church with prayers, she also joined us to preach gospel to Spanish-speaking Chinese. It's totally God's abundant grace He sent His daughter to serve the Chinese community! Even though she's not Chinese, her love and care to them reflected the love of Christ. How about us? Are we willing to pray for the Chinese Christians around the world, or even the people of different colors?
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