Yesterday I came back from celebrating a powerful New Year. This is a time when up to around 1 billion people all travel at the same time to spend time with family. Needless to say its crowded, but there is an incredible energy and expectation in the air. I had the privilege of traveling back to my language teacher’s farming village. I went there with three other friends. His mother and father were wonderfully generous to host four Americans. They were excited to receive us and from the onset lavished us with hospitality!
His mother and father are primarily tea tree farmers who work incredibly hard! I could share details of how what we experience in contrasted our normal comforts, but I just want to say that anything we sacrificed physically was well covered by the joyful time we had there.
These people are extremely grace filled to invite us into their homes. What I knew from the onset that our invitation was not just to go enjoy wonderful meals and time together. No, there was a greater desired task at hand; to share the Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ! Our first evening we sat down to share stories. Our whole group could feel the Spirit of God moving to invite this wonderful mother and father into the family! What a privilege!
When you sit down with someone and they give you everything they have to make you comfortable sometimes you’re speechless. This was one of those times in my heart just to be with them is enough, apart from The Holy Spirit leading us to share Gospel with them from the start. We shared clearly out of the Word that if they confess with their mouths and believe in their heart that Jesus is Lord they shall be saved! My language teacher, was able to pray with both his mom and dad individually, leading them into the kingdom! He had been praying for them for years now. Indeed this was the time that the Lord had appointed for this family to be united in His kingdom. Is there a greater privilege or honor?
I also want to tell you that during our time there the Lord continued to work as we went to different homes on various days to enjoy the family and food together.
One day we went to the grandmother’s home which is a beautiful lush farmland. When we arrived it was something out of a story book to see the sunshine and hard work hands had dug each plant into place. You can truly grow anything in this environment. As we walked up a path for around a quarter mile we eventually got to the grandmother’s home, where a large steer was bellowing our greeting. That day we took a wonderful hike together, worshiped on top of a mountain with all the air in our lungs, ate lunch and dinner together with his extensive family joining us for each meal. Wow!
At the end of our dinner that evening a beautiful young girl around 13 or so was having fun with one of her friends. I felt the Lord asked me to have her sit down so we can share with her. I felt to start with telling her she was beautiful and God loves her so much! She said, “I’m not beautiful.” This was the area that the Holy Spirit wanted to target as the lie she was believing in coming to Him. We began to share the Gospel with her, emphasizing that her heart and indeed the fact that God sees her as beautiful is the reason he died on the cross for her Sin. Within only a few minutes of sharing with her she wanted to wholeheartedly receive Jesus! I went over to her and gave her a huge hug! I could truly feel the heart of the Father for this young amazing woman. Imagine, that He feels this way about all of us! What if we saw ourselves the way He sees us? How different the world would be 🙂
The next day it was my friends mother and father’s turn to host relatives at their house. We went fishing with his uncle and didn’t end up getting any bites, but had some really good time together. He invited me to his home, in which building relationships in this culture is everything!
After fishing I got back to the house and was able to go upstairs with the young lady who was actually the daughter of the uncle I have just been spending time with. She was also the one who came into the family the night before at dinner. My friends and I had a Bible made available to us that we were able to study with her and give to her that afternoon. In our time of studying together she brought her friend along. As her friend was listening to our conversation in the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus we asked her do you want relationship with Jesus as well? She said yes and so now her friend who has just come into the kingdom of the night before, was also able to pr with her good friend to receive Jesus! This is the power of the Holy Spirit! This blows me away! How good is our God?
I want to share one last event from that day event from that day. During lunch I was able to speak with the uncle and share with him that everyone has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. This is why Jesus came to die for us!” Fast forward to the evening after dinner as everyone was about to depart. A friend and I asked him if he would like to go take a walk. He said absolutely, but I only have a few minutes before I need to take family home. During our short time together I simply shared with him as my friend translated, again that Jesus loves him and died for his sins. I was able to speak with him about his family and tell him his daughter received Jesus last night and had just been in a Bible study with us where she got her own Bible. I told him that he could be a leader in his family by choosing to follow the Lord. There was some hardship for this was his second marriage, but we’ve been given the spirit of reconciliation and he can make all things return for good for those that love Him. What a privilege! He as well wanted to accept the Lord. How can this be in only a few days my friend’s family is being transformed by the Spirit of God? I don’t fully know, but I am in awe to have been part of it.
I know many of our families need the Lord and if we will pr for one another and share when the Holy Spirit leads us to do so He will do the rest.
I love you guys and a champion you to be light and salt of the Lord where ever He leads you! Nothing you do is insignificant to Him. So, do everything unto to him and watch Him pour out his Spirit wherever you go!
You are a blessing to the world around you!