It has been incredibly awesome to see God's faithfulness through answered prayers. A couple weeks after I found out my assignment for this summer, I realized that I had no love or compassion for the people I would be among this summer. I began to pray to God that he would break my heart for these people and give me compassion for them. Literally the next day he answered my prayers. God is so good! While at a weekly prayer time, a book called Operation World was placed on the floor in front of us. Something inside me was curious so I picked it up. If you have never heard of Operation World, it is a prayer guide to every country in the world. It is incredibly awesome. It even had specific information on the district I would be in this summer. As I read through the data and prayer requests, my heart broke. There is no other way to explain it. I felt like I was being called to share with these people the hope and grace and love that is only found in Christ Jesus. My heart was broken. Beautifully broken. In case some of you were wondering what I read, I will share with you some of the information about the area I will be serving in this summer.
- The population is 99,556,918.
- Christians make up 0.1% of the population. That's less than one hundred thousand people out of 99 million people!
- This area is the country's poorest state and has the second highest population density. It has been used with words like deprivation and misery.
- This area ranks highest on every index related to corruption.
- Deep poverty, widespread illiteracy, lack of resources in local languages, and strong spiritual opposition and persecution of religious minorities are major hindrances to evangelism.
- It is one of the least-evangelized mega-populations in the world.
Please spend some time this week praying for the people who my team and I will come in contact with this summer. I just included in the list the things that broke my heart. Don't get me wrong, God is definitely at work in this area. The number of those coming to Christ is increasing and has nearly doubled! Missionaries in the area are also reporting a more openness to speak about Christ and the gospel. God is moving and will continue to move in the hearts of these people as we travel there this summer and after we leave.
God has been a faithful provider throughout the past few months. I have to raise $3050 for my trip and while donations seemed to be coming in slow at first, after praying about it, God provided me with over half of my total so far! This is where I would like to take a second to thank everyone who has helped in any way with the fundraising. Thank you to everyone who has made donations and bought shirts. I wouldn't get this opportunity without you! I pray that God blesses you through your faithfulness in giving towards my trip. But don't forget that I am not at my goal yet. I still need to raise over $1000 so please continue considering supporting me financially.
One aspect of my trip preparation that I have struggled with is trying to prepare myself for the culture shock, specifically the food. I am going to a region of the world that has a culture vastly different than American culture. While my parents have done a great job at making sure I experience different cultures through food, we have never been to a restaurant of this country. I have had several opportunities to eat the food of the country where I am going and every time, I haven't been able to eat more than a couple bites. The food is flavorful, with flavors I am not used to, and can be very spicy. While I am confident that I am either going to like the food when I get there or else I am not going to eat much and then get so hungry that I will eat whatever is put infront of me, I just wish I could like the food now. Its frustrating to be able to eat raw fish and fish eggs but not be able to eat the rice they eat in this area.
While I have had several moments of the "I am not going to South Asia. I am not going for 8 weeks" thought to myself, I am excited for this trip more days than I don't want to go. My experience so far has been that the days I don't want to go are days when I am not firmly planted on my faith and I can feel Satan attacking me. Please pray throughout the next 40 days that my heart would be guarded against Satan's lies and that I would be excited to serve the Lord by serving others in South Asia. Six weeks left in America!
"And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people." Ephesians 6:18
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