Last week I was getting all my finances in order.  I had my money and passport set aside so that I can renew my visa.  I also had money set aside for the cost of my dental bills.  I had it all neatly arranged in different parts of my wallet so that I would be sure to not spend it.  And then, last Saturday, I took it all and threw it on my desk. 

Sunday morning, while riding the bus, my wallet got stolen. Rather than loosing all my money, I only lost about $12, my bank card, and an almost empty eyeliner.  I have no doubt in my mind that the Holy Spirit prompted me to take out most of the money in my wallet the very night before. 

Two days after my wallet was stolen, I met up with a friend that I haven’t seen in over a month (Ivy – I’ve mentioned her in previous blogs).  She had no idea about me loosing my wallet. I mentioned to her what happened and how I felt God prompted me to put all my money on my desk.  Then, as we sit down and eat, she pulls out a gift that she bought me last month while vacationing in another city. A brand new wallet!!! 

At that time, I was hit by the love of God.  I saw how He led me to remove my money the night before, and then how after my wallet was taken from me, He showed me His love and provision for me!  It wasn’t a “yeah…..I know God loves me” moment; it was more than that-so deep and so personal.  It was beautiful!  And I love the way He used my friend, Ivy, to show me His love.

As I think about it, almost a week after everything happened, I’m still amazed by Him.  And, I feel like, daily, I am more aware of the way God loves me.  Often, it’s through the love of a close friend.  Sometime, through a complete stranger.  Or when I’m walking late at night and I look up into the stars and am hit by His glory and His love. It’s enjoying Him through the gifts He has given us. It’s unique and so much deeper than we can even begin to imagine.

So with all of that being said, I challenge you this week to be more open to God’s love.  Be looking for it! 

Amilah

So far, I have been to the dentist 7 times….yes, 7.  The past couple of times that I went, I felt really strongly that God had bigger purposes for me continuously going that a silly little tooth.  I’ve been praying for an opportunity to share, especially with one of my nurses, Lili.  Earlier today, she and I were talking and I asked her to come with me to church tomorrow night (Wednesday).  She was so excited that she made me pinky swear that we’d go together!  She’s an absolute sweetheart and I’m sooooo very much looking forward to spending some time with her tomorrow and being able to share the Gospel with her!  Please pray for her!  I’m not only asking for her salvation, but for the salvation of every single nurse and doctor in my dentist office.  I’ll keep you updated!  In regards to my tooth, this Friday is my last appointment, and then, God willing, I’ll never have to go back again! 

Two weeks ago, we started our Bible Study.  We meet one afternoon every week for a couple hours. Lissi has been doing a phenomenal job at leading discussion.  It’s awesome to see the way she is growing both in her personal relationship with Dad as well as in the area of leadership.  It’s pretty incredible!  On top of that, G0d is definitely bringing those that He has chosen to the group.  Last week, as we met on campus for our art club, a girl heard the guitar and sawJordanpainting a picture of a cross.  It turns out that her mom is a pastor and she is also a believer (but still has many questions and hasn’t fully surrendered).  On Monday, she came to our study and humbly asked many questions.  It was fun for me to listen as the other believers helped answer her question by showing her G0d’s Word.  The entire study is completely in the local language.  I’ve been doing a really great job at understanding the main points of discussion, but it’s still difficult for me to know enough of what is going on to contribute in a lot of the conversation.  Please pray that God would give me extra grace with language as we meet weekly to study His Word. 

Amilah

• Lissi and I are starting our Bible Study next Monday!  I’m so excited that her and I will be working side by side!  Co-leading with an Asian sister is such an honor for me!  Praise G0d for what He is doing!
• Language study is going great!  Since this summer, we’ve made great progress in our spoken language abilities!  We are in the most ideal study environment that I can think of and we plan on continuing to study with the church for the next 4 months.

With a little less than 4 months remaining until we will be heading home for a season, we have big dreams and visions for what we would like to see happen. Specifically, I’m believing to work really close with a couple girls that are hand selected by God.  Another teammate is believing for the same with some guys.  We’re expecting salvations.  Miracles.  Lives changed.  We’ll also be continuing our weekly on campus worship, which I pray will continue long after we have left the city.  Let’s see a church planted!  Pray with us!  And of course, we are believing that our language abilities will continue to get closer and closer towards our vision of fluency.

Please be lifting up my friend Mellan, a girl I strongly feel that I am supposed to be focusing on in the months to come.  Mellan is a girl I met months ago through getting together on campus and worshipping with friends.  We exchanged numbers, but never got into contact with each other.  Through a couple different divine encounters, we ended up reconnecting.  She has expressed interest in learning English and learning about the Bible, so naturally, we get together and read the Bible ( in both languages).  So far we have met together twice. Today, as we met, we focused specifically on the Lord’s prayer.  We even had the opportunity to pray together.  I’m looking forward to continuing to meet with her into the months ahead.  Please pray specifically for her salvation!

Thanks again for all of your love and prayers!  We couldn’t be here without all of you guys back home constantly lifting us up!  I thank God for every single one of you!

Amilah

His name is Shi WeiGuo.  Right now, I believe he is 31 years old.  He says that his family sees him as a failure.  Each time his parents call, the first thing they ask is when will he get married and provide for them.  They tell him he is different.  That he has a problem.  He talked about how the stress and pressure are too much to handle.  This past weekend, he and his new girlfriend got into a silly fight and now he is really starting to believe that he is a failure.  So many lies are invading his mind.  He is broken and lost and looking for answers.

There were about 12 of us in the class.  We all listened and occasionally asked questions. For the most part, I sat silently and prayed.  A classmate raised his hand and suggested that my teacher let class out early so he can go get drunk.  My teacher said that he’d only feel worse afterwords.  I’ve never seen anything like this before.  My teacher was completely unable to teach us.  He sat down and confided in a bunch of foreigners from a handful of different countries.  He wants answers.  He wants hope.  And the majority of the responses he got from the class was to “drink away the pain” or go hook up with someone.  Praise God that he rejected these suggestions. 

As I think about it now, I wish I could go back to yesterday and say more.  Right now, my heart truly hurts for him.  Not because he got into a fight.  Not even because he feels different.  My heart hurts because he (like so many other people in this broken nation) are looking for answers and hope, but have never heard of the Truth that I know.  Even in my most lonely moments, I am never alone.  But to him, when he is surrounded by all that life has to offer him, he feels hopeless.   Please pray for him.  Pray that, as he searches for answers, that he would be led to the feet of Jesus.  And, as I have another month of class before finals, pray that God would use me to share and testify.  Pray that I would have boldness to speak of the Truth that I know.

I live in a nation filled with lost people.  The majority of Asian people have never held a Bible in their hands, never heard the name of Jesus, never understood the concept of salvation and grace.  These people pray to idols built by human hands.  They say they believe in themselves, and at the end of the day, feel like failures. 

But praise God! Salvation is near!  He is at work in this nation!  He is at work on my university!  At church on Sunday, there were 3 or 4 students from my university that attended for the first time ever!! Each week there are more and more new people!  On Wednesdays, a bunch of us meet in one of the small parks on campus for worship – it’s an outdoor worship/ church meeting, where hundreds of students are given the opportunity to join with us in praising God.  Each Thursday, our ID Art Club meets, where we dive into the gift of creativity given to us by God himself. This is just a small part of what is going on at my university; there is so much that I don’t even know of.  God will not relent!  His Kingdom is advancing!  Pray that God would continue to build His church in Asia!.

~Amilah

Today, we said goodbye to one of our teammates.  Later this week, we will be saying goodbye to another.  In fact, later this week, almost all of our CT workers here in Asia will be flying back home to take part in debriefing.  Those who are committed long-term will be taking part in the six-month internship that I mentioned in previous emails.  That means that there will only be a small handful of us workers remaining in Asia.  In my city there will be three of us remaining.

The three of us decided to continue our focus on language study and opted not to take part in the internship this year.  As we stay here, we plan on finishing the semester strong as well as studying in this city throughout the summer.  I’ll continue to meet with Ivy for our weekly Book Study, take part in our Art Club, etc.  As of right now, it looks like we will be moving to another city in August and joining up with the new CT workers.  And then, I’ll be coming home for a couple months in December!  

As we continue our language study, please be lifting us up in prayer.  Please pray that we would have excitement and willingness to learn.  Specifically, please pray for focus.  Lately, I feel like I’ve been really busy and am always doing twenty different things at the same time.  I want to get a lot more serious about focusing on my main goals and priorities.  Apart from language study, I am also planning on seeking God more and more in regards to a personal vision for my long-term work in Asia. 

ANNND, thank you to everyone who called me and sent emails wishing me a happy birthday!!! I officially celebrated my second birthday in Asia!!! I had a great time with my team, we went for a picnic and it was wonderful! 

Much love,

Amilah

What I love about meeting with Ivy is that she is genuinely hungry for God! Each week she comes prepared with questions that she wants to ask me. I try to answer to the best of my ability and after I give my answer, her reply is “Show me where it says that in the Bible”. I LOVE that she is going straight to God’s Word and not simply trusting in what comes out of my mouth.

On top of meeting with me for our Bible Study, she also comes to our Art Club that meets later that night.  During the club, activities range from painting and drawing to playing the guitar and reading the Bible. It’s all worship! It’s glorifying God through the creativity that He has given us!

Last week as she left the club, she told me, “You don’t need to ask me if I will study with you every week. We’ll meet every week at the same time and the same place”. I know that God wants her heart. I know God’s promise of salvation is near! This Thursday, we will be meeting to discuss the Apostle Paul and his conversion (by her own recommendation).  With Easter this upcoming weekend, I know that there will be a lot of opportunity to share with her. Please pray for Ivy.  Pray that God captures her heart! Not only am I believing that she will quickly turn her life to God, I’m believing that she’ll be a true disciple of Christ. And pray for me, that as I meet with her, that I would 100% be led by the Holy Spirit!

~Amilah

While I was at out annual retreat and during the CT internship (Jan-Feb), the idea started to come back and my heart began to get excited.  Last week, as a team, the five of us came up with a list of goals for the next semester.  Once again, I wrote down my desire to begin a Study. I’ve been praying about it for the past week and a half and now I am asking for your prayers! 

Next week, I am planning to begin the Bible Study!  I have a couple girls that I am considering asking to join. Please pray that God will give me wisdom and direction.  Also, my language abilities have definitely improved a lot, but there is still so much that I don’t know.  Please pray that as I meet with these girls, I will have supernatural ability to share with them and understand all that they are sharing with me. I know that this is something of God, and I am sooooooo excited!

Amilah

As my sister and I prepared to hang up from our video call, she said something very profound (although I didn’t quite understand it at the time). She was talking about how it was the first time we talked in a while and we really didn’t really talk about anything.  For forty five minutes, we stared at the baby, made baby noises, laughed at baby noises, tried to get the baby to smile, talked about baby poop, etc. It was incredible! I absolutely loved it!

Fast-forward an hour.  My team and I are having our weekly meeting. Clive begins praying, He shares about how I was excited to be spending time with and watching my little niece, and then relates that to the same way God feels for us (but enlarged times 5 million).  He talks about how God’s eye is on us, but not in some creepy, weird, and controlling type of way, but in the loving way of a father looking over his children with delight.  This is a concept that I’ve heard over and over again but it never penetrated my heart the way it did today. It’s because, today, I finally got to experience a tiny piece of that for the first time. 

As Nichole and I Skyped, we spent nearly an hour looking at the baby and discussing everything we love about her. As God watched over us, I know He is doing the same. He looks over us with love. He whispers destiny into our ears. He enjoys us! He sings us songs of love that we will never fully grasp on this side of eternity. He laughs when we laugh. It is His delight to focus all of His attention on us!

So Jeannie, thanks so much for teaching me about my God. I pray destiny over your life! God is going to use you to change this world!  He already has!

Bunches of Love,

Amilah

Out of everything that I have gained from doing this internship, what I hold closest to my heart is the opportunity that all of us had to hear from a local pastor that has been preaching for the past 40+ years.  This is a man who has been above and beyond faithful to the call of God – despite heavy persecution, being imprisoned multiple times, and much more.  To hear his story and see how his faith and actions combined are changing this country is absolutely remarkable.  A fire is being stirred in my heart that cannot easily be quenched.  The more time I spend in this nation, the more I am falling in love with this place and these people.  All glory goes to God!

In two days, I will be flying back to H-town.  I’m very excited to get back into a consistent schedule for studying .  Last month, as I wrote to you all, I mentioned that I was unsure as to whether I would continue to study at the university.  However, after meeting with my leadership, we were unified in agreeing that for visa purposes, it would be best if we remained full-time students. Therefore, this semester, I will again be enrolled in classes at my university.  On top of this, I am looking forward to spending much more time with my Asian friends, as I am sure that the majority of what I will be learning will be through interacting with these friends.  A personal goal for these next couple weeks is to begin studying the Bible with a couple Asian friends – of course, all in the local language!  I also believe that as these next few months unfold, friends like Lydia, Rita, and Ivy will come to know Jesus as their Savior!

Thanks so much for all your love and prayers!