Missions Conference

Please forgive me for not posting much lately. I really have no excuse - - - well, maybe I could try getting away with the fact that it is missions conference week at our church. Every night we have been attending our annual missions conference listening to missionaries tell of their call to one place or another. Last night at church I overheard someone ask a friend if they were missionaries. My friend laughed and said, "no, we aren't missionaries". I wanted to jump in and say, "Of course you are! We are all called of God to be missionaries, but of course I know what the man was asking, but still where did the idea of the only people who are missionaries are those willing to go to the jungles of Africa????? I don't get it. I really just don't get it. If more born-again Christians could see that God has called us all to be witnesses/missionaries I think things would be different.

You know, a thought struck me the other night as I was listening to a missionary family share their ministry goals with the church, I would really like to personally hear/see/meet an American who got saved after a foreigner shared the gospel message with them. And then see that American serve as a missionary and to hear his testimony - wouldn't that be neat?!?

Well, I'd love to write, but I'm a little tired at the moment so I'll try to post more about the conference tomorrow. Sadly, tomorrow will be the last day of the missions conference. It has been wonderful!!! I wish ALL of you could have been here for at least one night to hear the preaching - it is so good!

Languages

I shamefully admit that I have never truly learned a foreign language - I'm still trying to master American grammar!

• I have learned how to count to from one to ten in both Spanish & Russian (Thank you Larysa - we had so much fun learning Russian!) languages.
  
• I can write emails to my Spanish & German friends in "broken" words - I always keep a dictionary which I refer to quite frequently. Thanks to the help of native speaking Spanish (Ruth who lives in the Dominican Republic) and German (and Karina who lives in Germany) friends I have had " language lessons via email". Karina and I were able to get together a time or two at Barnes & Noble to read through German books while she was visiting in the USA.
  
• I can sing Jesus Loves Me in Korean (my dad helped out at a Korean church for several years).
  
• I can sing Do Lord (Way beyond the Blue) in a Filipino dialect (my dad also went on a missions trip to the Philippines one summer before he was married).
  
• I have attempted to learn Arabic (I would knit, ride an exercise bike, read, and listen to an Arabic tape all at the same time). I have also attempted to learn German (which I personally think is so much more easier to learn than Arabic).
  
• I also took a sign language class several years back. I can pretty much understand what is being said, but I'm quite a very, very slow at signing. We had an older man at our church that was deaf and my sister would interpret the messages each Sunday night. He went home to be with the Lord this past February. We will always miss Mr. Fred - he had such a sense of humor! It is wonderful to know that he is now able to hear!
  
  Anyway, I wanted to share with you a website for free language courses to help you get a feel for learning another language. Although you and I may never fully understand the difficulty of learning a new language in a new country and culture trying to relate by taking a small free online language course might give us another view on how to better pray for our missionaries serving around the globe. Trying to learn a language through a small course like this will help you to remember to pray for missionaries that are on the mission field having to learn a entirely new language. It is not easy and sometimes missionaries feel like they want to give up because they are faced with I'll never learn this language - God why did you send me HERE? They know they have followed the Lord's call, but it is hard when you first arrive in a new land with people you can barely communicate with. These missionaries can learn the language and will learn the new language. The result of learning and follow God's call will be wonderful for they will see souls saved - all for the glory of God! Pray for the missionaries you know that are still working on learning a foreign language. Write to them and let them know you are praying for them. It will encourage them very much. Meanwhile, consider trying a foreign language just for fun - you never know when you might bump into an unsaved person at a grocery store that speaks that language!
  
  Here is the website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/
  
  I've been thinking about two certain verses a lot lately and I believe it relates a lot to missions. It is Exodus 4:11-12-
  
  And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD?
  Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.
  
  It is a verse that has come to mean so much to me as I seek to be a bolder witness for Christ. I honestly hate to speak in front of people.....I'd rather speak one on one to a person any day, but a group - forget it! After reading that those two verses this week I have decided to make them "my" verses for the next few months. You see with God ALL things are possible. We all were created with a purpose in mind and that purpose was and is to glorify God. Therefore God will teach me, He will lead me along, and He will guide my mouth as I witness to those I come in contact with and lately I've been given a burden to reach a "group of people" in a local nursing home over the next couple months.
  
  Sad to say, but I have always disliked nursing homes - the smell, seeing older people walking around as almost dead skeletons, etc. I couldn't stand it! Seriously, I would feel light headed and my stomach would be queasy. I didn't want to see all the older being so unhappy, suffering, and sitting around waiting to die. I avoided going to nursing homes at all costs, but now several years have passed and God has worked in my heart and has given me a love and burden for the older folks. I now happily schedule piano recitals and craft times at nursing homes. It is so much fun to watch their faces brighten when children enter the building. I thank God for giving me that desire to serve Him and that He gave me "push" out of my comfort zone.
  

Remember that with God ALL things are possible
- that includes learning a new language and speaking in front of large groups of people!!!

God is at work

I don't have much time, but I wanted to direct your attention to a certain blog today:
http://getoveryourself-croatia.blogspot.com It was such an encouraging blog post that I wanted to post it on here for others to read through and experience the joy of reading about people coming to know the Lord and perhaps inspire you in your witnessing- thanks Tori!
You can either click above or over on the side of my new list of KJV Missionaries and find
New Christians in Croatia!
I am hoping to continue adding to my list of missionaries, but for right now that is all the time I had - so don't fret if you don't see your website or blog on there....I'm working on it....just give me some time! Also, please know that I do pray you and your ministries daily. God at work in the lives and hearts of people all over the world!!!
Have a wonderful day!

Our Great Saviour

Our Great Saviour

Jesus! What a Friend for sinners! Jesus! Lover of my soul. Friends may fail me, foes assail me; He, my Savior makes me whole.

Jesus! What a strength in weakness! Let me hide myself in Him; tempted, tried, and sometimes failing, He, my strength, my vict'ry wiins.

Jesus! What a help in sorrow! While the billows o'er me roll, even when my heart is breaking, He, my comfort, helps my soul.

Jesus! What a guide and Keeper! While the tempest still is high, storms about me, night o'ver-takes me, He, my Pilot, hears my cry.

Jesus! I do now receive Him; more than all in Him I find; He hath granted me forgiveness; I am His and He is mine.

Chorus: Hallelujah! What a Saviour! Hallelujah! What a Friend! Saving, helping, keeping, loving, He is with me to the end.

It's summer in the neighborhood

It's SUMMER in the neighboord!

Yes, it is now officially summer. Let's take a moment to check out what ministry activities we can do in our neighborhoods this summer.

• Host a backyard picnic/cookout for the entire neighborhood. Mail invitations or deliver them in person. This gives you the chance to meet new neighbors, have a chance to talk with the neighbors that you haven't seen for a while, ect. You could also ask each family to bring a salad or dessert or perhaps an ice cream topping (instead of doing an entire meal you could just opt. for a ice cream party - the ideas are endless).
  
  If you have any talented musicians your family, neighborhood, or church invite them to play a few good old gospel songs. Or perhaps put in a good CD to listen to while you are eating.
  
  Pray that God will give you open doors and that the unsaved will have hearts & minds that are open to the gospel.
  
  


• Host a neighborhood yard carnival. This is something we did years ago when the children in our neighborhood were young. We also were asked to do it in other neighborhoods as well. We would pick a Saturday morning and invite all the children to come to a yard carnival - we would give out balloons - all colors of the wordless book: green, red,black, white, yellow), my dad would do several gospel illusions, we would do a craft (e.g. a little wordless worm magnet). We would also have a puppet show (my sister and I did a puppet show with just the small hand puppets when we were about 8-10yr.). We would sing (and sometimes we would have a tape player sitting outdoors playing children church songs). Of course, we would have all sorts of little games to play in the yard (those can range from three legged races, sack races, and even beanbag toss). For more fun game ideas you can check books out at the library (or if you don't want to do that just search for children games on the Internet) - remember if you plan on having a theme carnival (wordless book, Noah's Ark, etc.) you can try to adapt your games to go along with the theme.
  
  


• If you know of other Christians in your neighborhood you might consider starting a Bible study with them one night a week or perhaps 1-2x's a month.
  
  


• Take a morning or evening stroll through the neighborhood - you never know who God might have you speak with while you are out walking. Usually in the summertime neighbors are out working in their yards or sitting on their porches which gives you a great oppertunity to speak to them about the Lord and perhaps invite them to church.
  
  
  Those are just a few of the many ways you can reach out to those around you during this summer. If you can't witness and talk with your neighbors (which by the way God has given each of us a mission field right were we live) - how can we expect to be great witnesses elsewhere around the world if we cannot reach out to those right where we live?
  
  

Call to the Uncoverted

Here is the link to Baxter's book: Call to the Uncoverted if anyone is interested in reading through it.

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/baxter/unconverted.html

People Need The Lord

Books, books, books. I just came in from being in the warm and sunny outdoors. I enjoyed about 45 minutes of reading while lying on a blanket which was spread next to our fruit trees in the back yard. It was so nice and peaceful - a great place to spend the afternoon reading.

I am in the process of reading a book I checked out from the library: I was Born A Slave - classic slave narratives. It is a 764 page book. So far I have found it quite fascinating to read of the lives of these slaves. The book starts out with a story about a slave named James Albert Ukawsaw Gronnoisaw who was from the Coast of Guinea. I wish I would retype the entire story of his life onto this blog, but I will try to give you a short overview.

James, the youngest of six children and a grandson of the King of Bournou was a mischeivious kind of boy who was always curious and enjoyed asking many questions. One day some merchants came to his village. After talking with them and being invited to journey to another country with them he told his mother goodbye and set sail with the visiting traders. James was about 15years old at the time of his departure. He left his country, his home, his people and his family. Of course, as with the story of slaves goes you are right in assuming the rest of the story.... James was sold several times to various masters in London.

One very nice mistress gave him the book, Holy War by John Bunyan (author of Pilgrim's Progress) to read. James returned the book to her saying that he found the experience in the book similar to his own - it was about a man as bad as himself and didn't like it. His master then gave him Baxter's Call to the Unconverted to read. After reading that book James struggled with things that he had been told and had read- "I thought it was impossible He should recive such a sinner as me". Finally he realized that there was no way to be saved unless he came to Christ. He was gloriously born again and later baptized.

It was such a good story that I wish I could have shared it in its entirety. It was wonderful to read and feel this man's joy in being born again. He struggled saying that he was to bad a sinner to receive salvation. God's desire is that all man might be saved.

I have an uncle that thinks he is too bad for God to save him - why would God care about me. It breaks my heart to think of all the people I have heard say those words. God really loves them and would save them if they would only realize that they must come home by the way of the cross. My heart just about rips when someone says that they don't need God and that they are good and God will allow them to enter into heaven. It isn't true - the Bible says there is none good, no not one. There are others in this world that really don't care one way or the other about their eternity.

Just this week I was out browsing through a bookstore and my heart wept over the people I saw. I wanted to run out of the store, yet I wanted to stay and share the Lord with the people there. There were so many unsaved- so many sad faces, faces that had no idea what they are living for in life. Don't you wish sometimes that your arms were big enough to wrap around tons of people to tell them about the Lord and all He has done for you?!? There are so many hurting people within arms reach. Pray that God will lead you to someone today who is struggling and hurting, and perhaps ready to throw in the towel with their life. Throw out the life line.

People Need The Lord.



Here are the words to the song by Steve Green -
PEOPLE NEED THE LORD


Everyday they pass me by,
I can see it in their eyes.
Empty people filled with care,
Headed who knows where?

On they go through private pain,
Living fear to fear.
Laughter hides their silent cries,
Only Jesus hears.


People need the Lord, people need the Lord.
At the end of broken dreams, He's the open door.

People need the Lord, people need the Lord.
When will we realize, people need the Lord?


We are called to take His light
To a world where wrong seems right.
What could be too great a cost
For sharing Life with one who's lost?


Through His love our hearts can feel
All the grief they bear.
They must hear the Words of Life
Only we can share.

People need the Lord, people need the Lord
At the end of broken dreams, He's the open door.
People need the Lord, people need the Lord.
When will we realize that we must give our lives,
For peo-ple need the Lord.People need the Lord.