Monday August 3, 2009

This morning on of my teammate's shared her testimony for her devotional.It brought almost all of us to tears.It was very eye opening.She grew up in Mexico city where her both her parents were missionaries there.On her tenth birthday her family and a group of young college students were staying with them for the summer teaching, much like we are.They all went down to a small city where there was a beach.As they were playing around in the water a huge under toe came in. One of the male college students managed to reach it out of the water to tell my teammate to go get help and then he went back in to help others get out.My teammate's dad had just been diagnosed with diabetes so he was weak, but decided to risk his life to save those who were still in the water.By the time my teammate came back with more help one of the guys had pulled out her little sister's (who was eleven) body and she had already passed away.My teammate's father also drowned trying to save the others and all but two of the college students drowned as well.As her mom arrived at the scene a big crowd started to build up since it was such a small city.My teammate sat with her mom as she held her eleven year old sister's body.As her mom held her sister in the midst of the crowd she was praying when God told her "open your eyes and look at the fields.They are ripe for harvest." (John 4:35)Her mom opened her eyes and saw the crowd standing around her and she began to share the gospel with those people, telling them how our God is comforting her instantly with knowing she would see her husband and daughter again in eternity, but she asked the people "do you know where you will go when you die?"The next day their pastor waited for the rest of the bodies to wash up on shore and again a crowd built up and he was able to share the gospel with those who gathered and praise God many came to know Christ that day.The ones who had drowned in the water had their earthly death, but it led to many receiving the gift of eternal life.My teammate shared what she learned from that experience; and she talked about the urgency of missions.We don't have a promise for tomorrow, but for those of us believers in Christ, we have a promise for eternal life; and if I died so that one person could receive the gift of eternal life, that would be enough for me.Her story really opened my eyes with the urgency of sharing with everyone.There are so many who don't know about Christ and what He endured for us.Since we don't know when Christ will return we should treat every day as if it was our last and live it according to God's will.I was reminded of Paul as he went out and taught and taught about God's precious word and love.He was not ashamed of the gospel and did not care what others thought.He cared about the people though and he couldn't go a day without making sure the people knew they were loved and the One who created them sent His Son to die so that we could potentially live.My teammate's testimony really touched me and God taught me a lot through what she shared.We were created for a purpose and our purpose is to serve and glorify Him and Him alone.

Today I introduced Easter to my kids and they seemed to respond well.I'm excited to see what happened throughout the week and questions they might have.We have an end of the year presentation coming up next Thursday night so I need to find something for my class to do since it cannot be the same skit we did for the midsemester presentation.I think my class will sing a few songs and we can make up dance moves as we learn the song.They will enjoy learning it more with dance moves I think.We are rehearsing for Faith and Chung Chung's wedding again tonight.I am still learning the Chinese to the first song we will be singing, but I think I have the second song, Eternity, down thankfully!

After school I went with my roommate to one of her kid's homes.We played with him and his precious little sister.His mother made us an amazing traditional Chinese meal and we were able to get to know the parents well, which was neat.While the mother was cooking, the father really opened up to us.He shared how growing up his wife and him were very poor and went several days during the week without ever eating.He said he couldn't remember many days where he wasn't hungry.He is a free lance stock broker, but desires to be an architect.He has a very stressful job and many days' works until 3 or 4am.He takes a break to spend time with his family and devote time to his children, but after they go to bed he usually drinks a little to deal with his stress.We told him we were impressed with how devoted he was to spending time with his children and he said he did it so that when he is older they can take care of him, which is the lifestyle of the Chinese culture.Many adults still live with their parents or vice versa, which you also see in the U.S., but some of the reasoning is different. The father bought us these fancy Chinese bookmarks and the mother prepared such a huge meal.They both were so welcoming and generous!It was cool that we were able to share with them about our lives as they asked questions.They already invited to take us out next week.God has been so faithful in providing opportunities to share!

"For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died."

2 Corinthians 5:14