Posts tagged missionary

Written by Melanie P — here is what we’ve been praying for. Please continue to pray for us while we are away. We leave in less than 24 hours.

Personal Prayer Requests: Please pray for….

Holy Spirit empowerment A deepening of intimacy in our relationship with Jesus through this trip

Boldness. Pray that I would walk confidently in Christ and not in fear/timidity (2 Timothy 1:7) to share the hope of the Gospel. I tend to be more of a listener then a speaker and always shy away from evangelizing opportunities on outreach & life in general. So, pray that God would transform me in this way and gives me a boldness for sharing with others about who He is and not let anything hinder me from that (including “perceived” language barriers”.

The gift of healing, either for myself or any of our team members. God’s word says that when His gospel is preached signs and wonders will follow to bring people to Him.(we will be running an eye glass clinic for people with issues with their vision so it will be a wonderful opportunity to share the gospel and pray for healing.) “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it” (John 14:13-14)

For our entire team to walk in & use their spiritual gift(s) for for the body & Kingdom work (and revelation of what those are if there is uncertainty) More boldness when faced with anything that seems “beyond my ability”. Pray for God sized assignments so that He gets ALL the glory!

Spiritual, physical, emotional, and mental protection Please pray against anything that could be a distraction or influence my being “present” during the trip and attentive to the Lord Ministry Prayer Requests for the church & eye glass clinic we have been assigned - St. Nicholas Anglican Church. for the 2,500 people from the surrounding community that are expected to come during the five days we are there (Aug 5-10).

for the 600,000 people expected to attend the festival Aug. 10-11 at the for multiplication of volunteers for the festival days - 5000 needed for the Tanzanian Christian currently getting trained as counselors who are being trained right now to assist those that will make a decision to accept Christ at the festival. for the Holy Spirit to be softening the hearts of those who will be hearing the Gospel to accept & come in to a loving and authentic relationship with Christ and know Him as their Lord and Savior for REVIVAL in the church - Tanzania has less than 20% attendence of church by those who identify themselves as Christian for the 100 volunteers coming in from overseas (many countries represented) who we will be serving along side of during the outreach week & festival weekend

Added by Amii

Health, safety and protection during our travels.

For the safety of the drivers that are taking us and picking us up from LAX.

Safety for our friends and family while we are away.

It’s amazing to see God’s work in other people, but it’s even more amazing when it happens to someone close or to your own self.  

The past month, I have been learning about relying on God instead of myself. So instead of going out and seeking donations or paying for it myself, I was still. I had 8 days and needed $4,000. Being still was going to be difficult for me. 

It has been a hectic few days emotionally.  At first I was content with being still—God gave me a sign and if He wanted me to go, He will find a way for me to go.  

On Sunday, June 24, 3 days till the deadline for $4000, I had $0.  It was also choir day at The Rock Church.  Many of the choir members did not know that I quit my job to pursue IMPACT 195 (discipleship training).  They were curious and I told them of the amazing things God is doing with my friends and how my life has been grand and difficult at the same time.  I also told them about Tanzania.  Members of the choir were so gracious to give me money from their pockets.  It was such a blessing, they gave and were not seeking their own.  End of day, I have $55.  WOOHOO! 

On Monday, June 25, I had lunch with a great friend.  I began to catch up with all that has happened the past month, since IMPACT started.  EVERYTHING.  My friend offered to pay $2000 of my trip IF, I can come up with $2000.  I was confident, that if God wants me to go, He would find a way for me to go.  

How EXCITING is that?  I had 2 more days and all of a sudden I had half the money (so to speak).  Praise God!  I asked everyone to pray.

Well Tuesday, I got stung by a bee… haha.  I went home and I briefly mentioned to my mom if she wanted to donate any money.  She immediately said yes (which means she’s been thinking about it ;0) but didn’t know how much.  I text my friend and informed that I did not have the money but keep faith and keep praying—God will provide in His timing.  My friend offered to see if more help was needed and I said, no… just keep praying.  

To be honest, I started getting anxious myself at this point.  I then started feeling like the trip was becoming more self-motivated instead of a way to honor God.  Thank God for connect group on Wednesday morning.  I love those girls—thanks for letting me know that I was lying to myself.

Wednesday morning, money is due any hour now and didn’t have any extra money.  I text my friend and said “I can feel God moving, feeling last minute but God is not limited to time. talk to you soon.”  At this point, with what my mom decided to give me—I know God wants me to go—so I concluded I will take money out of my saving to pay for the rest (about $1500+).  I can feel my spirit weaken, that money was for my car and cell phone so that it would not be necessary for me to work while I was in school.  But it quickly went back up—this means God will bless me at His time—He will bless me with a job or something so I can continue to go to school.  

Outreach happened and it was prominent that God was working in our encounter with the people at Costco.  My spirit was back to 100%—God is always there, He always provides and is faithful.  

As I was about to go back home to pick up my check book, I get called into the mission’s office.  

My entire trip was paid for.

I was in shock…disbelief.  But they were certain.  I called my friend and nope, there was a check ready to be given as soon as I came by.  Money was not from my friend.  

“Being still” was the hardest things for me to do.  God provided.  He is faithful.  I’m still in shock.  

I’m going to Tanzania, Africa!!!

Praise God, our Father and great provider! He provided ALL the funding. 

I asked God for direction today, since the deadline is coming up for Tanzania. He told me to read the book of Daniel, which I read up to chapter 8, and I took it as humble yourself. Well ok, I’ll humble myself. Later I took a nap with pandora playing, I kept waking up to “fly” so when I woke up I went online and signed up for the mission. 

@TheBlBLE: Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. Jn 14:1

Faith in God gives me strength, He is omnipotent, with lots to spare. Where do you get strength from? 

Anyway, pray for me and the people in the team that we find direction on how to raise money. 

@CSLewisDaily: #21- We’re not doubting that God will do the best for us, we’re wondering how painful the best will turn out to be.”

Many of you would say that I had it going on.  I had a job of my dreams, doing what I loved, making money, great car, and great support from friends and family.  I’ve always had a positive outlook to life and I shared when I was feeling happy on facebook.  You might be wondering why I sold my car and quit my job to pursue Discipleship training; I was on my way to having the American dream and only in my late 20’s. 

Jesus happened, I found him (or really, he just made me realize that he was with me this entire time).  Just a bit of background for some of you that don’t know me on a very personal level, I was born and raised Catholic but eventually I became Agnostic in college.  Agnostic meaning, I knew there was a God; I just didn’t know which one.  I went further to reveal, if God gave us free-will then why are we mandated to follow practices in order to go to heaven—there are SO many people that don’t do those things.  So I lived my way as moral as I can and just hoped when I die, that whoever was up there would let me stay up there instead of making me go down there. 

I was saved in April 2010, after which I would check out church events when I could.  I yearned to be more involved but I did not have the availability due to my job as assistant manager.   One of the events that I went to was the ASK event where I met a girl named Jenn Chen and she told me about IMPACT 195.  She planted a seed but I was like… NO WAY!  Way over my head, it sounded good but I can’t do that—I had a career.  I did, however, promise to check out Impact 195 by going to The Rock the House Event and I don’t back down on promises, regardless if I would never see her again.  Impact was way over my head but I thought the work they did was commendable, something I would want to do in the future perhaps.  A few months later Jenn Chen received Rock Hero of the month, and I encourage you to view the video (http://www.sdrock.com/stories/rockhero_jennchen).   Anyway, I prayed and asked Him how I can make it work and He answered by promoting me to restaurant manager.  It allowed me to have a little bit more control on my work schedule; I was able to get Sundays off and Thursdays in order to join the choir at The Rock. 

I did very well as Restaurant Manager, broke record sales, employees were happy, bosses were happy, my “partners in crime” were happy.  It was great!  I loved it.  I got really busy and I only had time to continue in the choir.  During the 3rd quarter of the year, I was excited for the next year!  Imagine how successful the restaurant would be now that my partners and me got a year under our belt—it’s going to be awesome!  But that wasn’t God’s plan and He made sure I knew it.  To make a long story short I was in the fish belly like Jonah (read the story of Jonah found in the bible, it’s only 4 chapters long and it’s very amusing).  I’m not saying I had it as bad as Jonah; it just so happened that when all the stuff was happening at work, Pastor Miles mentioned Jonah.            

I continued to pray and I obeyed God with what He was telling me to do.  I sold my mini cooper and bought the fiat—it was almost $300 cheaper a month, saved almost $80/month on gas.  This allowed me to pay bills and save money.  And now here I am, First Term Student at Impact 195.  All the hard work, training, and certification from Restaurant Managing is out the door, all of the things that I was proud of, was out the door—meaning my identity is out the door.           

I’m still the same Amii.  I love to go dancing, (yes, that means I go clubbing).  I still love to drink wine or beer with my food.  I still love snowboarding.          

But I have no idea what I’m doing, where I’m going and how I’m going to pay to get there.  I do know that I have HOPE and I have GOD.  He provides and will direct me to where I should go.  There WILL be times when I will not listen, that definitely will happen.  There WILL be times when I will fall (yup, that will happen a lot).  There WILL be times when I am feeling high off of His love.  It’s been about 1 month since I quit my job and started Impact and almost everyday there has been an “AHHAAA!”, “O-M-G”, “THAT’S AMAZING” moment and I would love to share all of that with you.  But this is facebook and I will not force anything on you (including the reading of my life).  SO… I have opened a Twitter account.  You’re my friends and not my followers but if you want to see how God has made changes in my life then feel free to follow me at https://twitter.com/#!/Mii_Racquel.           

Lastly, I am a Child of God.  There are a lot of stereotypes to the image of a missionary.  I am not perfect, I will never be perfect.  I will always be a sinner.  I will not judge you or try to change you, that’s God’s work, not mine.  I will never look down upon you.  If you want to talk or if you need prayer, message, text, call, FB or tweet me—doors open. 

Love Always,

Amii