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News from the Frontiers
Our teams are about to come home from their trips overseas. We've got 6 teams out ministering in South Africa (with the World Cup), Southeast Asia, Malaysia, India, China and Russia. Here’s just SOME highlights of the projects our teams have been a part of. If you’re interested in being a part of a team like this check out our DTSs which run 3 times a year.
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Southeast Asia
The B2B team has had a really good first two weeks in Southeast Asia. We spent 4 days learning language and prepping for the Island Tours. The 3rd night they deemed us to have enough language and sent us alone to 2 houses in a village on the island with no translators. It was definitely amusing to watch us try to communicate to our host family with nearly zero language. But it was fun and a good cultural experience, we didn't get lost and survived our stay! This village our hosts have been going to for about four years. Their main contact is the village "Wise man" or witch doctor whom I stayed with. (he is also a retired pirate and danced with me, so I have officially danced with a pirate - how many people can say that?) We had some good conversations and did a lot of prayer. It was really good to see the students begin to share their stories. Then we went to a second island which was even more exciting! This little village was a lot cooler since it was on a small island and also the spiritual atmosphere was quite different (particularly for me since i was no longer living with the witch doctor!) Our team talked to a couple of men from the village and told them that Jesus preached the Kingdom of God and not Christianity. They clearly explained that you need to follow Jesus not the religion of Christianity. They also talked about demons and where they come from (Lucifer fell from heaven with a 1/3 etc) and the guy said "so that means I shouldn't try to appease demons and spirits but trust God?" Both conversations were really exciting.
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South Africa
We have had so many opportunities to share about God, our testimonies, what we have learned on DTS, and everything else under the sun. We have been able to work within Leonsdale Community which has been amazing- we have fallen in love with the entire township! The community reports that since our last teams' visit that the crime has decreased immensely, even the drug dealers noticed! no more gun fights, no more fights in general, and little kids fill the streets even at night! Continue to keep them in your prayers! These first 5 weeks have gone by so fast- we have done train ministries, soup kitchens, AIDS/Tuberculosis hospital, TUG (the ultimate goal) evangelism in the city, FIFA soccer clinics (this coming week), working in Leonsdale and doing a school holiday program! For the most part we have been healthy, happy and well fed!
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Russia
We headed off for a Street Kids Camp, not knowing what to expect. We were greeted by 27 kids, which included boys, girls, a group of deaf students, and a group of young moms and their babies. What an incredible week! Each of us joined a group to be a part of for the week, which included eating meals with our team, competing in games with our team, helping them get ready for bed and waking up, and simply being there for the kids. It was challenging at first, as we don't speak Russian and they don't speak English (with the exception of a few kids knowing some basic English), but we soon learned our ways of communication. The camp was your typical summer camp; it included times for sport, team building games, crafts, Bible lessons, swimming, and a night program with songs, skits, and stories. Every day was packed full of things to do but every day seemed to go by quicker and quicker, by the end of the week it was sad to say goodbye.
Throughout the week, our team was able to share songs, skits, and testimonies with the kids as well as the important thing of just loving on them. A realization came to me about halfway through the week; many of the kids don't receive the love and attention that they need, so each hug we gave them and each hand that we held meant so much more to them than we could have imagined. During the week we discovered bits and pieces of kids' stories. We learned that the term street kids didn't necessarily mean they were homeless. Most of the kids at the camp had homes to go to. But the situations they were living in were not good. Some of the kids chose to live on the street or run away from home because their parent(s) treated them badly or didn't care for them at all.
The program that the camp was through is called Living Hope. Living Hope (http://www.livinghope.org.nz/) has a large shelter here in Vladivostok, but is waiting for the proper building approvals before they can actual have some of the kids living there. The program currently provides school lessons and helps the kids get back into school, as well as being a place to shower and get clean clothes, and a place to get a warm meal. We are going to be working with this program more in the weeks to come here in Russia.
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