10/23/13
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A list or 2 about what I’ve been up to
I’ve just completed the first ever Iris Global Harvest School Level 2. For the past 9 weeks, I slept in a tent with 5 other girls that flooded every time in rained. (Note: it rains every day). I’ve seen more rainbows, eaten more rice and gotten more bug bites than ever before in my life. I got bit by an eel, swam with a shark and jumped off 3 waterfalls. I spear fished, lined fish and ate fish. …along with pig, turtle and dog (yes dog). I made homemade donuts, homemade kefir and homemade tank tops (aka I cut off the sleeves to all my shirts because it’s so hot).
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I’ve had the privilege to live amidst the most amazing people from Madagascar to Wales, Canada, Australia, South Africa, England, Canada and good ole America. People who have the same call on their life as I do. They’d do anything and go anywhere to see heaven touch earth. They’re worshipers, servants, intercessors, healers, encouragers, teachers, evangelists and preachers. They’ve been sent out from here to places like: Thailand, China, Uganda, Malaysia, Turkey, Holland and Mongolia to name a few.
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And let me not forget the people from these islands - the Micronesians. Without a doubt, living with them has taught me more about Jesus than anything else I’ve ever experienced. Most all of them attend (or have attending) a missionary training program here on the island where their day starts at 4am with quiet time and ends around 9pm with prayer and worship - 7 days a week for 2 years! They fast, intercede, cook, serve, pray, sing, work, study etc. etc. etc.! They’re committed to learning their Bible and being a living example of who Christ is. They’re humble, gentle, joyful and the most hard working individuals I’ve ever met. We jokingly say all Western men should come here and learn how to work hard, serve and love people because these guys have it down pat (and girls).
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I’ve saved the best for last - what I’ve seen God do here. I’ve seen Him set captives free of alcohol and drugs, turn mourning into gladness, heal poor eye sight and deaf ears, take a man from coughing up blood in a hospital bed to worshiping Jesus 10 steps from the ocean, console a mother’s broken heart, give hope and joy to a sick little girl in the hospital, restore families, calm the seas, shine His glory through creation, cast out evil spirits, change the atmosphere through worship and make dreams a reality.
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You know why He does all of those things? Simply so that another soul can be won back Home. He heals the sick so that they may know the depths of His love and casts out demons so that His child can be free to seek His face. It’s all about a relationship with Him.
I’ve decided to stay here and see revival come to all of Pohnpei and all of Micronesia. But, I’d count it all loss unless I lead people towards that relationship with Him. To accept Him as Savior is wonderful, but to know Him is best.
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My ministry will continue here through the new year and possibly beyond. Please be in prayer about what God’s doing here. We want to see 25,000 people come to know Him in the next 6 months!
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11/8/13
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The same thought runs through my mind at the most subtle of times, at lease once a day. “Wow,” I think. “This place blows me away.”
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Thank you God for bringing me here. Thank you for letting me be amongst these grains of wheat. You’ve tended to them, teaching them Your ways and yet many of them don’t know YOU are the one behind it all. But their ways are Your ways and that’s not by coincidence.
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It’s You that taught them to love their neighbor. Everything they have, they share. Nothing is their own. They give out of a kind heart, never begrudgingly. They give because they know they too will be given too; they’ll never go without. That’s a Kingdom mindset - To love those around them as they love themselves, to give graciously and to know that they’ll be taken care of.
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It’s You that taught them discipline and commitment. They work and they work hard. They collect the firewood, that they chop to make the fire that they tend to in order to cook the yam the planted and harvested along with the cucumber and eggplant. They grow the banana tree that they climb with their bare feet to get the ripe bananas that they then peel, remove the brown end from, cook and mash up with a spoon they’ve whittled out of a coconut tree. Their condiments - they make those too. And I’ve only talked about meals. They cut their grass by hand, tend their garden, feed their pigs, rake the dirt, pick the weeds, wash the cement floor outside their door.
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You see, many of them don’t know You yet God bug you’ve given them tools that’ll be used to serve you one day soon! To be disciplined in serving You and reading Your Word
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It’s because of You that they know the value of family. It’s You that taught them how to make others feel special by simply showing up to visit; no words needed. You join their circle when they sit on the floor and eat their meal off of 1 large plate. You love the community they create. It’s never one man for his own, it’s all men for one another. That’s love, and that’s You God.
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Much of Pohnpei, has tools for a Kingdom filled life and they don’t even know it. They don’t know God’s been tending to them, preparing their hearts and lives to come back to Him.
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They’re ready! Everywhere we go, they’re ready! The cashier ladies, the waiters and waitresses, the hotel owners and fishermen. The cooks and neighbors, the men and women who come out only at night to drink. All of them! They’re open to The Gospel. Many of them ask us questions without us even mentioned the name of Jesus. It’s like there’s a draw there; a spiritual string from them to us and God’s reeling them in!
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To say I’m happy to be here is an understatement. God’s allowed me to be a part of something really special. Just yesterday, I led a college student to Christ, witnessed family reconciliation, sowed more seed into one of our regular waitresses and received vision and strategy for future projects!
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God’s good. I’m blessed. This island is blessed and ready for Him to come and be their Lord. Pray for us!
