I'm just so very excited right now. I have all of my amazing staff for this next school showing up within the month. I have God speaking to me quite clearly about my future at the moment. I have the Joy of the Lord upon me this morning. And, I am (as usual) learning new lessons about who God is and who I am everyday.
God is really stirring something in my heart about this next school that I will be involved with. I feel like after last time and being given room to experience who I am in leadership, room to make mistakes so that I can learn and develop, that I have learned so much. And I think God is really giving me amazing vision for this next school. By the way any of my staff who are reading this, pretend you didn't, you aren't supposed to know this yet! (AMANDA!)
So, for example, this next school we are having the opportunity to go on an outreach called AFFWAN (Which means welcome in...Arabic or Urdu I believe). Its an Islamic outreach to an area in Australia where Arabic people come to vacation when the hot, desert summer months of the middle east kick in. Yes...they come to Australia to cool down. And we go down and share about Christ. Now they come down here to a heavily touristy area, with lots of sex, clubs and scantily clad beach culture. And in the middle East, their worldview would cause them to think like this "oh, you are from Australia, then you are Christian". So they see sex and clubs and drunk people and think..."Oh my Allah! These Christian's are terrible"
So even just from that stand point, its a great opportunity to show that not all westerners are Christians and that Christians are, or should be different. But the really amazing thing is that while this school will be receiving lectures on Character and Nature of God (who God is and what He is like), they will also be learning:
"Who is God vs. Allah"
"Who is Jesus in to Islam"
"Apologetics in Islam" (Misconceptions Muslims have and how to defend your faith to a Muslim)
etc...etc...
SO, God is equipping our school to really be involved in Islamic communities! Therefore our outreaches are going to look a little like this:
East Malaysia (Borneo) --> With an Islamic government (which even 99.9% Muslim Indonesia doesn't have) Malaysia had a culture that is heavily entrenched with Islam. And is really needing Jesus, and freedom. There are probably 40% Malay (Islamic people) in East Malaysia, and 30% Animistic, 30% Chinese Buddhist. This outreach will be getting into Islamic communities and serving where they need it, working with children, teaching english, etc.. And through that reaching out in relational evangelism.
Thailand --> Thailand is heavily Buddhist, but from Phuket south is mainly Islamic. They are specifically Malay people, as south Thailand borders Malaysia. This is a great advantage because Thailand is very open for evangelism, you can easily talk to people about your faith and relate on any level without worrying about what you say. This to me is so exciting, what an opportunity to reach those who need Christ. Thailand is known as the door to South East Asia because it is one of the most open nations in Asia and from there you can get into Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Bangladesh, even over to Vietnam.
Darjeeling, India --> In Darjeeling a little less than half of the 150,000 people in this amazing city are Muslim and they are the most hospitable and open people I have met. They love to make friends with you, invite you into their home, you get to know their family and culture and learn from their love, while hopefully giving them Jesus as well. There will also be a couple from our base heading to Darjeeling to work with the team that is already there, and their focus is going to be getting connected in the Muslim community. This is an amazing opportunity for us to get involved in the community through long term connections who can really follow up relationships we make (which we have in the other locations as well).
Praise God that we have the opportunity to reach those who don't know him. There is nothing, at all, "in heaven, on earth or under the earth" that hurts Gods heart more than the lost. Those separated from their loving Father, never to spend eternity with Him. If we really grasp the heart of God we will realize that burden and be so excited to be a part of touching lives for Him. God's desire to redeem nations and peoples is the consistent theme from beginning to end of the bible, from Abraham "blessed to be a blessing" to Christ who "came to unite all men under Him", "pour out his spirit upon all flesh" and send us forth to disciple nations and preach to gospel to all creation. Praise God that He is moving globally and there is so much more going on than just my little life, in little Brisbane Australia. From those imprisoned in China to the angels praising Him somewhere out at the edges of the Universe in some spiritual dimension we don't understand, may we all get revelation that there is more going on in this life than what we see where we are at!!
I love you all and thank you for your support and prayers! Be Blessed and love Jesus! He loves you!
John 3:16
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life."
