In writing this blog I try to give you all regular updates and pictures of our life here in Aurora. But sometimes I feel the need to take a step back and give you a glimpse of the bigger picture of what's going on here.
Since all of our visa requirements were finished, we have been able to spend our longest time yet in the province. It has been very enjoyable and very busy. I used to long for a busier schedule (thank you American culture) and now that I have it, I bask in the down-time moments :) But this really has allowed us to invest in the ministry opportunities we've been given. Most of our time and effort- whether planning, praying, doing, or reviewing- is spent in these three areas:
1. FAT Group: This is a group of believers/leaders from our church. Upon starting the group, we requested that they be faithful, available, and teachable (FAT). If they couldn't be these things, then it would be nearly impossible to become a disciple maker. The group has grown in members from the last update, even as we've told the members not to invite their friends. Instead, they should start new groups with their friends. The group (now 17) has been split into four smaller groups for portions of our weekly training time. Additionally, everyone has a ministry partner within the group. We wanted to do this to keep the amount of accountability and practice/training each person gets at a higher level than we can do with one group of 17. We do start and finish the group together as a whole. The intention of the group is to train these members to make disciples. They're currently in the process of starting Bible studies with people who are Lost/Far from God within their circle of influence and possibly even training others who are currently walking with Christ. Our prayer is for these two things to continue taking place for the rest of their lives.
2. Kids of the Street: Let me clarify that these aren't "street kids". Although they may have dirt floors in most of their homes, they aren't homeless. We've had some people think it's so amazing that we're working with "street kids". It is an awesome thing to work with the homeless, but these are just the neighborhood children who play near our house. It's simply loving on our neighbors' children and helping them learn God's story. We've had less kids lately as some of the children go to their relatives' for summer (March-May here), but we've got a nice little core group that's pretty faithful. Three or four of them are doing well in their memorization too. Again, we're moving through God's story from Genesis to Christ. We covered God's promise to Noah last week, and as of right now two of the girls can quote Genesis 1:1, 1:27, 3:13, Romans 5:12, and Genesis 6:6. We're practicing Genesis 9:15 this week. We're really proud of the ones trying to memorize and do appreciate your prayers for them. The ones who are memorizing well are beginning to push some of the others also because we told them whenever 7 people have 10 verses memorized, then we'll have a picnic.
3. Calabuanan: Since previous blogs about our work in Calabuanan, we've started a Discovery Bible Study within the community. We have one member who is faithful and seems very hungry for God. The other adults are in and out (mostly out as of now), but their children always come. The faithful one is around 20 years old, by the way. Anyway, the children really come every week, and they listen attentively for the most part. They're precious and their presence is enjoyed, but we've got plans within the next two weeks to start taking them through God's story from creation to Christ like we do with the kids that live in our neighborhood. The goal is to teach the kids, but also to teach the youth of the church how to minister to others relationally. We think it'll be a good starting point, a helpful way for the kids to learn, and it'll allow the DBS to be just for the adults of that small family compound. Please pray for guidance in this area, and for hunger for God's Word among these families. There's so much potential in this poor community. It's right next door to a tourist town that's growing. The influence really could be island wide.
And now I give a big thank you to Josh because I was able to copy and paste this from a newsletter that he wrote to our supporters this month. Many of you have probably already read it.
Anyways, those are the areas where we have been really pouring into lately. We're very thankful for the doors the Lord has opened. Please join us in praying for each of those three as well as a youth camp that we will be involved in next week. Josh is speaking on the last night so please pray for him.
And here are a few random things I've been meaning to share:
We experienced our first earthquake. It was 5.3 on the Richter scale.
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| We received a care package from family and felt very cared for! |
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| We found this guy in our bathroom. So glad he's on the outside! |
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| Ahh!!! Real Monsters! |
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| We've come to accept that this little thing just isn't leaving :) |
