“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” –Galatians 6:9
My roommate, Felicity, hung this verse on her bedroom wall almost six months ago. At that point, we were a few months into our work here, and she and I were both becoming a little discouraged and restless about our lack of fruit in sharing God’s story. However, in the past few weeks (and with only five weeks left before we fly home), I have been amazed to see how God has been fulfilling this promise to us.
In the past two weeks, we have felt so blessed to see two of our friends (Alice and Candice) start relationships with God. The verse above seems especially fitting for our experience with these girls, because we had some difficulties sharing God’s story with both of them, initially. From unexpected sight-seeing trips to emergency phone calls from relatives, it seemed that something always disrupted our plans to share with them. Thankfully, though (on our second attempt to share with Candice, and our fifth attempt with Alice), God gave us an opportunity to ask them if they wanted to start a relationship with Him. With joy and eagerness, they both said yes.
One big prayer request for these girls is that they would be able to get hooked in with a small group, and continue growing in their walk with God. They’re both eager to start learning more, but Candice will move to another city in August, and Alice is a little busy with working full-time in addition to writing her thesis. Even though those circumstances throw a bit of a wrench in things, we know nothing is impossible with God. We’re praising God for our two new sisters!
I’m also thrilled to report that our Easter celebration went off without a hitch! Thank you so much for your prayers. We found another location, four friends were baptized, and we spent most of the day hanging out and celebrating with our friends. Our friend Lily has still not been in contact with anyone, but things seem to have settled down for now. One of our other Asian friends was threatened with expulsion due to this incident (for sharing God’s story with other students), but no actions have been taken against her at this time. That is a HUGE praise.
Thank you again for all your prayers and support. They make a bigger impact here than you will ever know.