Showing posts with label Resurrection Power Active and Alive. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Resurrection Power Active and Alive. Show all posts

4/09/2016

Missionary Report ~ POWER in the Little Things ~ RESURRECTION Season Meditation

Embracing the REALITY of Mission Work 



A YOUNG MISSIONARY'S JOURNEY

" I always play Easter music --- loud --- on Easter morning ! " wrote our friend, a young woman who works for the Kingdom of GOD in South Dakota. “ So, I played the HALLELUJAH Chorus ! ”

" Our Sunrise Service was beautiful out here ... and I imagine it was the ONLY Sunrise service in the country attended by drunks!  But thankfully, they did not cause a problem."

Our friend, Shanna, teaches in a small Christian School in South Dakota under the auspices of Olive Branch Mennonite Missions.

Her REAL work, however, is evangelizing the youngsters and adults she meets in this bleak, out-of-the-way place, among the Native Peoples of the Lakota-Sioux tribes on the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation.


Here is her recent report about her experiences.

" GOD is faithful!  That is the first thing that comes to mind when I think about the months I have lived in South Dakota.  I do love it here, the rugged, wild hills... the town with its dear but hurting people... and the many opportunities we have to share CHRIST Who+ is Life.

I can't say it has all been easy.  I have had struggles along the way. But those are what The LORD is using to stretch me and show me that I can't do it on my own.  Since being here, I have seen greater than ever my need of depending completely on HIM+ for wisdom, for strength, for even enthusiasm and love.

I recall one day when I was feeling weary of ministering to people and was frustrated with myself.  I was struggling to even have a love for the girls that I work with in the evening.  Going for a walk, I was headed out of town, but somehow my steps found me turning to climb a hill where some children were sledding.

Soon, I was enjoying being with these youngsters who were doing the best they could with the sledding material they had.  Some were using cardboard and broken sled pieces.

Suddenly... one of the girls couldn't find her glasses.  She had put them in her pocket and went for a slide down the hill and now they were gone. Lost. Probably covered over with the white snow. 

I could tell she was distressed, so I started helping her look for them. As we went up and down the hill, I was feeling less and less confident that we would find the glasses.  I prayed quietly to myself, but a persistent thought told me I should stop and PRAY OUT LOUD with the girl. 

I found my faith wavering under fear. 
What if... 
GOD didn't answer with a "Yes " ?
Then what ?

Finally, I told the sad girl we should pray about it, so I stopped and prayed out loud as I was led to do, asking The LORD to help us find the glasses.

The search continued.  Then I heard a glad cry near the bottom of the hill. The lost was found ! 

NOW I prayed ALOUD to thank The LORD for answering this prayer!   As I left the hill that afternoon, my heart rejoiced ! HE+ had showed Himself+ mighty once again, even in the small things. HE+ cares.


As a teacher, I spend a lot of my time with just a small group of children.  This has its own challenges, but it's also a great opportunity for impact.  I was reminded of this when I found a note scribbled to me in a student's text / workbook:  " I am watching you, Shanna."

Though this student likely did not intend the note to mean what it did to me, I was sobered by it.  

I am being watched by many pairs of eyes. 
What I say, how I respond,
what I laugh at ---
--- all my choices are being observed.

Oh, I long for CHRIST and His+ Kingdom to be exalted here!

~  ~  ~


Shanna teaches grades 2-8 through the day in the Mission's Christian school and in the evening, works with the neighbors she meets in this small town... all for the love of JESUS CHRIST .  She has left the comfort of her family home to minister JESUS to these “dear but hurting” people in far away South Dakota. May The LORD reward her faithfulness to Our LORD JESUS CHRIST, as she shares HIM+, in season and out , by both Word and by example. 
+  +  +

 Matthew 9: 35-38

And  JESUS went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.

But when HE+ saw the multitudes, HE+ was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.

Then saith HE+ unto His+ disciples, 
The harvest truly is plenteous, 
but the laborers are few;

Pray ye therefore the LORD of the harvest, that HE will send forth laborers into his harvest.

+  +  +

4/06/2016

RESURRECTION POWER ! Active and Alive in Nepal ~ Report by Asia Harvest.org


Generic photo of a  Nepalese young mother and child.





RESURRECTION POWER !

TESTIMONY CORNER
from Nepal 
 

“I was born into a Hindu family. We prayed to many idols and also worshipped nature. I had heard about Christianity but didn’t understand why it was any different from other religions.

My wife and I had a son. While I was away working as a driver he fell sick and was admitted to hospital. I rushed back home but by the time I arrived my beloved son had died.

Two evangelists heard the sad news and visited us. In her desperation, my wife asked them to pray for our son so that their GOD might raise him back to life.

Before praying, they asked us to close our eyes. I did not believe, so I kept my eyes open. To my surprise, I saw the two Christians pray very intensely.

When they finished their prayer, my son sat up.

He was alive! My heart leapt with joy to see this great miracle. I left my sins behind and became a lover of JESUS CHRIST.

I committed my life to Him+ and received His+ wonderful salvation. I am now burdened to tell other unreached people what GOD has done in my life.” 
+  +  +

Surendra is one of hundreds of Asian evangelists we support through the Asian Workers' Fund. We have dozens needing support right now. We invite you to join us as we help them.

Asia Harvest Newsletter #135, April 2016, pg. 9...an exciting newsletter to read ! It is available online.  Look for Newsletter Archives , April  2016 #135. 

Asia Harvest is an out-reach ministry which works with and helps supply Bibles and other materials to house churches in China, Southeast Asian countries and people-groups of Asia.  

Asia Harvest also supports humanitarian aid programs that are ALWAYS ACCOMPANIED BY THE PROCLAMATION OF THE GOSPEL.



Their newest out-reach is very exciting, called “Bless the Children.”  It focuses on reaching the children in the more than one million rural villages of India who are OPEN to the GOSPEL.    

 In India, the population is 40 % children, according to the information in the Newsletter. 
 
More details of this out-reach at :  www.asiaharvest.org

NORTH AMERICA:
353 Jonestown Rd #320, Winston-Salem, NC 27104, USA

AUSTRALIA:
36 Nelson Street, Stepney, South Australia 5069

NEW ZEALAND:
P.O.Box 1757, Queenstown 9348

EUROPE:
Stiftung SALZ, Johannes-Kepler-Str. 6, 71083 Herrenberg, Germany

MALAYSIA:
STAMP Bhd., P.O.Box 8036, Pejabat Pos Kelana Jaya,
46780 Petaling Jaya, Selangor

SINGAPORE:
Clementi Central P.O.Box 119, Sinagpore 911204

UNITED KINGDOM & IRELAND:
AsiaLink, Mill Farm, Fleetwood Road,
Wesham PR4 3HD, England