Week 7

Seventh week, lucky number seven!  This week was more fun in my country than ever before.  Last weekend is what I'm especially talking about.  There have been some difficulties though throughout the week.  No matter what the difficulties or what good comes my way, still I will love my Father.

Friday's deaf believer gathering was just as successful as last week's!  This time I did the body (1 Cor. 12:12-27).  It was even harder than the true vine story.  It was also longer, so it was more difficult for the deaf people to retain the story in their heads.  However, I learned that more visuals helped.  The teacher of the deaf believers just happened to have a picture of a body and flashcards of various body types.  They got a good laugh as I made the eye fight with the hand, but they did get just how foolish that is, just like it's foolish for the body of believers to fight each other.  The simple, humorous illustration of body parts fighting each other had a profound effect on their understanding on what it means to be a part of the body of JC.  Thanks to the Comforter for giving them understanding of the story and for the privilege and honor of sharing His stories with the deaf people here.  I can't wait for next Friday's gathering!

Saturday, I had a chance to go to the zoo.  Man was the zoo huge!  They had various types of animals, tigers, bears, lions, oh my!  They also had zebras, hippos, ostriches, horses, rhinos, various birds, and monkeys.  They had countless types of monkeys at the zoo, so they sure do mean monkey business.  I really sweated bullets at the zoo, but I asked the Father numerous ties before I visited to not let it get to me.  He sure fulfilled that promise as He provided cloud cover numerous times where there were no trees.  Praise Him!  I went with my supervisors and three other deaf locals, also my friends.  I took quite a number of pictures as you probably saw.  I rode the bus to and from the zoo, which is new for me as that's more times than I usually ride the bus.  I quite enjoyed it.

Now on to the petition requests.  The internet company that I picked is still dodging actually checking out my internet problem because I suspect they're reluctant to give me my money back.  Please lift up the company to actually do their job and give me back my money so I can move on to another, better company for internet, which is critically important for my job here.  Another issue is that the building manager for my supervisors' residence has banned locals from visiting the residence, which means only foreigners would be allowed to visit.  As a result, this means that deaf people will no longer be able to visit my supervisors to learn the Father's stories.  My supervisors are displeased with this new ban.  So please lift up the manager and landlord to reverse this ban.  Also please lift me up, because as a result of this ban, until further notice deaf people could be coming to my house instead.  This puts pressure on me to be a good host to them.  I don't quite know how to do that just yet, so please do lift me up in this regard and so that I can effectively share stories with them when they visit.  Thank you all and bless you!

Week 6

Well, it's now week 6 of my trip.  Now I am comfortable going to and from my apartment on my own.  Though I don't have the know-how of my supervisors when it comes to traversing my city, YET.  Last weekend I went on a visa run out of my country for two days in order to renew it.

My visa run was also considered a nice two day vacation.  I went to two malls and saw a movie.  Movie experience was interesting, because there was an intermission.  During the intermission, workers came with popcorn and drinks to sell.  The customer service of movie theaters in south Asia is better than America's!  I found and bought a portable Othello game.  I went to an award winning scary house which scared my pants off.  South Asians sure know how to scare people!  This trip wasn't the best part of my weekend though!  Friday was.

Last Friday I had the honor and privilege of teaching the gathering of Deaf brothers and sisters the story of JC as the true vine (Jn. 15:1-9).  The response was amazing!  Petition really does work beforehand as I fervently petitioned Father for the Deaf brothers and sisters to have their hearts and minds opened to receive that story.  I went through five questions and did the story before and between each question.  The story sure stuck in their mind by the fifth time.  I asked each one to come and perform the story.  Those that performed the story remembered most of the details!  The method of teaching Deaf people that was taught to me is a success here!  I get to teach again next Friday, so lift me up that the story will pierce their hearts and understanding just as this story did!  Father is really doing amazing things during my time here.

Week 5

This week was by far the most interesting for me!  This week I got to visit my deaf neighbor's family and I moved into my apartment!  Now I wish I was posting this week's blog in my apartment, but internet difficulties prevented me from doing that.  So this week's blog is still from my supervisor's house.  Please lift me up that the internet will work out because most of my work is dependent on the internet.  I'm having a guy look at it.  Anyways on to the deaf neighbor visit.

Thursday, I visited my deaf neighbor's family at his wife's house.  Just like my visit to my deaf neighbor's house, they fed me way more than I could actually hold.  I was well fed!  Again, they are Muslim and so is the wife's family.  I shared JC with my deaf neighbor and his wife.  My neighbor didn't seem receptive of it and actually tried to "correct" my teaching with his own.  However, the wife seemed more receptive and curious.  It's too bad that my neighbor actually shut off his wife's curiosity by telling her not to ask questions.  I did leave a classic drawing of JC being the bridge between us and the Father.  I left it up to the Spirit to touch the family's hearts with that drawing.  Please lift the family up that they will come to believe in JC as the only path to the Father.

One more interesting tidbit.  On the way to the family, I had to play frogger in heavy traffic.  At one point I was stuck between 2 buses going at least 15 mph and there was another coming towards the gap.  It was scary!  Also the taxi driver was going incredibly fast, weaving between pedestrians, rickshaws, auto-rickshaws and cars.  It was an interesting experience for all of us.  The Father really protected us as we went to and from the family's house!  I can't wait to see what this week will bring me, lessons from the Father and all.  Continue to lift me up!

Week 4

As always, this previous week was chock-full of new experiences!  I rode some buses and met some new deaf people.  I'll start off with my bus experience.

I rode the bus Friday.  It was the most uncomfortable experience of my stay so far.  We had a guide lead us to our city of designation, which was an hour and a half away.  Unfortunately, due to the holiday season it was hard to find a fairly priced bus.  So as a result, we stood for most of the time in the sun waiting for a decent bus to come.  It was incredibly hot, like over 80 degrees.  And we also did not take just one bus, but four different buses.  The last bus was the most uncomfortable.  I had to stand for what seemed like an hour, on a bumpy road, with nothing to hold on to, and mashed against the wall with so many people on the bus.  It was an experience that I would like not to repeat and in those moments I disliked the day.  However, after the events, I realized I was lucky to go through such an uncomfortable ordeal because it was the Father's way of placing me outside my comfort zone to experience new things and to live like a south Asian.  So overall, I'm grateful for the new, uncomfortable experience.  Lift me up that the Father may continue to place me outside my comfort zone whether I like it or not!

Then yesterday (Sunday), my deaf neighbors surprised us by visiting us.  Their stay lasted seven hours, and it tired me out so much.  However, it was such a good opportunity to share the Father's story with them.  I do not know if they understood, so please lift them up to understand the stories I will be teaching them in the upcoming weeks and months.  And also lift me up to share them in an accurate way faithfully.  I also met two new deaf people, one a believer and another a Muslim.  I don't know much about them yet, so just lift them up so they may understand His stories, and me for signing them accurately.  Such an exciting week and more to come, I'm sure!  Thank you for reading!

Week 3

This week's post is a little late, I know.  I actually forgot about it in all the excitement that happened that day!  Anyways, this week was just as exciting as last week's!  I finally got to meet my Deaf neighbors that will be living a couple of floors above me.  The man and his wife are both deaf.  They are Muslim, and were very excited to get to meet me.  They served me food, after food, after food, after food.  It's a cultural tradition to offer guests of their house insanely huge amounts of food.  Obviously no one could possibly finish all of this food, except for maybe world eating champions.  Seeing as I am not a world eating champion, I did not finish all the food.  It's definitely a new experience culturally for me.  People here are huge on hospitality.  After that night, I hope I'll be seeing more of them!  Lift them up so that they can know the Father.  And Lift me up as well so that the Father can use my hands to show my Deaf neighbors His story.

Next on the week's list, I also got to lead story discussion at our Deaf believers' gathering.  That was another first for me!  Since I was new, it was awkward for me to lead and hard for me to keep the group on track during story time and the discussion questions.  However, the Comforter and Helper lead me to abandon the story for now and focus on everyone getting to the Kingdom.  They previously thought they could not get to the Kingdom because they were deaf!  They thought that due to that, the Father could not hear their sign language and they could not hear Him.  As a result, they believed that an alternate was acceptable, namely good works.  My supervisors, who are hearing, tried many times to get them to understand they could go to the Kingdom.  They simply did not get it, probably because they were hearing and could not identify with them.  Now the Father inserted me into that situation.  Once they heard that I know I am going to the Kingdom in the end, their preconceived knowledge was shattered!  They finally had hope they could get to the Kingdom, since I also revealed good works were not enough and relying on the Son was the only way to get there!  Praise the Father!  Lift us up that more false preconceptions will be shattered and the truth will be made known to them.  Lift me up so that I will be more sensitive to the Comforter and Helper to guide me in sharing His truth to them.

Finally, I started moving stuff into my apartment and paid my first month's rent.  I now have fans, A/C and furniture in my apartment.  I now have to just rearrange my furniture to my liking and it'll be home sweet home!  Lift up the electricians that are working on my apartment that they will configure my apartment correctly.  Lift me up that I would not become complacent in my apartment, and go out of it and actively seek people of peace to share the Father's story with.  Exciting weeks to come!