The Most Unlikely Friendship

Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised:

You prayed that God would give me a Thai friend, and He has answered in an amazing way!  Khemtida is originally from Bangkok, spent several years in the US, and is now back in her homeland working for a non-profit organization.  She speaks excellent English and is a devoted follower of Christ.  I'm so blessed to be able to call her my friend!

Out and about with my friend Khemtida

And, as you'll find out if you read on, the Lord is also beginning to give me another Thai friend, though this lady is not a believer.  It's amazing how that friendship has come about, so read on.

Prayer Necessities:

1.  Pray that my new friendship with "Hannah" would grow and that I would have opportunities to share the Truth of Christ with her.

2.  Ask that the Lord would give me three women to begin training as disciples of Christ by the end of 2013.

3.  Continue to pray for ears to hear, a mind to understand, and a mouth to speak the Thai language.

Inquiring Minds Wanna Know:

When the Lord first called me to this new ministry - making disciples of "ladies of the night," as they are called - I tried to argue with Him.  "I don't know how to do that," I said.  "I don't have any experience with that kind of ministry... or doing social ministry of any kind, for that matter.  And I can't personally relate to the life experiences of these women either."

And you know what?  I was right.

But, as I really should learn, you can't ever win an argument with the Lord.  Instead of being released from this new calling, the call remained on me... and even got stronger.

That's just a small part of how I wound up in Bangkok.  And, let me tell you, when I first saw the red-light district here, I was even more convinced of my utter inadequacy for this job.  You see, on any given night in that area, the depravity of man is on full display in all its inglorious decadence, and the darkness is so thick that you can almost feel it pressing on your skin.  To see it is to stare wide-eyed and be overwhelmed.

But God continues to confirm the call... and to assure me that He, and not I, will do this work.  That is why He likes it when I feel inadequate.  The truth is that I not only feel that way; I am inadequate.  And that feeling is what drives me to my knees in abject humility and dependence on Him.  I really cannot do this job.

But He can, and He assures me that He will.

My evidence of that is most readily displayed in a 32-year-old woman I'll call "Hannah."  I met her one night as a praying friend and I were standing outside the massage parlor where she works.  My friend and I were debating how we could start a conversation with the women inside when the Lord took it out of our hands by sending Hannah out to talk to us.

"So sorry," she said, fake smile firmly in place.  "Men only.  We specialize in happy endings."

What a coincidence, I thought.  So does my God.

I didn't know how to explain in Thai that we were praying over the area, so I opted instead for the only thing I could say really well.  I asked her name.  Upon hearing her native language on the unpracticed lips of a foreigner, Hannah's fake smile became a real one, and a friendship was begun.

Our next conversation took place in the lobby of her workplace, the very same place to which I had previously been denied access.  Like sin itself, it had an appealing entrance:  Cool, pleasant, even peaceful.  But I knew what went on deeper inside, and it made my heart heavy to think of my new friend's life.

After we chatted in Thai - hers perfect and fluid, mine halting and broken - she finally asked me why I was working so hard to learn the language.  I explained that I believe there is one God, that His name is Jesus, and that I have come here to tell people about Him.  She looked confused at first but then laughed and said, "You go to heaven, and I go to hell."

I could not have disagreed more strongly with that assessment, so I responded, "No, Hannah.  Jesus loves you, and He sent me here to tell you that."  I have never wanted so badly to miraculously speak this new language so that I could share with her the Truth that can save her, but I had to settle for assuring her that I would tell her more about Him as soon as I can.

The next time we spoke, almost the entire conversation was in English.  We began to discuss romance, and she proceeded to share with me some of the struggles of her life in that area.  The discussion was deep, much deeper than it normally would be for such a short friendship, and I felt privileged that this woman would trust me with such profound wounds from her life.

As I was leaving, Hannah told me that she had told her boyfriend about me and my belief in God.  Let me elaborate:  Pure Buddhism teaches that there is no God, and even the Thai variety of Buddhism may believe there are many gods but not really one True Creator God.  Yet my one comment made enough of an impact on her that she told her boyfriend of it in the few minutes a night she has to share with him via phone.  God is certainly at work in her.

There is honestly no human reason I should be friends with Hannah.  We have nothing in common beyond our gender, yet she has trusted me with deep parts of herself when she is not likely a very trusting person.  And I am filled with a supernatural love for her.  I so want her to be filled with the joy that she's searching for, the joy that I possess.  Our friendship can only be explained by divine means.

Yes, I am completely inadequate for this job, but my God is more than sufficient.

The evidence of it walks around in a massage parlor reserved "for men only."  Please pray that her heart would soon be reserved only for the One True God.

Fishing boats in the Malaysian sunset

Prayer-Walking the Red-Light District

Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised:

After more than 50 hours of travel, Riley and I arrived safely in our new home city of Bangkok, Thailand!  We've now had a few days to get over the jet-lag, and I'll be jumping into study of the Thai language tomorrow afternoon.  I'm looking forward to getting started!

Riley settling into her new home

Prayer Necessities:

1.  Ask the Lord that I would develop at least one deep and lasting friendship with a Thai woman, preferably one who is a follower of Jesus.

2.  Please pray that I would be diligent to study the Thai language and that I would learn it quickly and efficiently.  I must reach a certain level of language aptitude before I can be released for full-time ministry.

3.  Please ask that the Spirit of God would be at work in the hearts of the women who work in the red-light districts and brothels here in Bangkok... and in the hearts of those who are their customers.

Inquiring Minds Wanna Know:

I arrived in Bangkok early on a Wednesday morning.  The following afternoon, one of my new missionary friends here took me out to lunch and showed me around town a bit.  One thing she told me shocked me.

I'm currently staying in a guest house owned by the mission board.  It's right downtown and pretty upscale, as it's just down the street from a McDonald's, a Starbucks, and a very nice Marriott hotel.

It's also one block over from a red-light district.

Yes, I know.  Shocking.

Since language study doesn't start for me until Tuesday, I decided to take a little stroll through this red-light district on Saturday afternoon.  I wanted to see it for myself and to pray over this area that is so full of our enemy's darkness and oppression.

The street itself is about a mile long.  At the far end of the street are some family-owned businesses:  A tailor, some laundry/dry cleaning stores, a restaurant or two.  But nearer the intersection of this street with a major road, the busy area, there are mostly bars/restaurants, hotels, and massage parlors.

Now none of these places is really blatant in its intent.  The bars all have open porch areas that jut out onto the street, the hotels all look legitimate, and the massage parlors look like the workers there could actually provide massages.  Honestly, had I not known this area for what it is, I wouldn't have thought twice about it.  It looks just like any number of other tourist locations that I've seen.

But knowing that it was a red-light district gave me a different perspective.  I saw the men sitting individually at tables overlooking the street, sipping beer and waiting on the night's festivities to begin.  I saw the fake smiles of girls who are trying to survive in ways I can't even begin to imagine.  I walked past scores of Buddhist altars, complete with food-and-drink sacrifices offered up to whatever fake god might grant financial prosperity to the business.

And I prayed.

As I walked, I asked the Lord to bring down the enemy's walls that had been erected to keep out the King of Glory, begged that those walls would fall like Jericho's had.  I pleaded with the Lord to crush Satan under the feet of the saints who choose to work in this area.

I asked the Only One Who can truly give freedom to break the heavy bonds that enslave both these beautiful women and their wealthy customers.  I went before His Throne to intercede on behalf of these captives, knowing that He is the One Who has been anointed to proclaim freedom to them.

I walked that area as a physical body that now houses the Great Light for "the people walking in darkness" (Isaiah 9:2).

Please pray with me that they would see this Light.

Buddhist altar outside a local business

Everything's Changing!

Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised:

After much prayer and contemplation, the Lord has shown me where He wants me to serve next term: In south Asia in an enormous city! Read on to find out more.

Prayer Necessities:

1. Please begin praying now that God will fulfill my new team's vision, which I believe is His as well: A church in every neighborhood of the city. Approximately 2% of the people in this city know Christ as Lord of all.

2. Please pray that I will get the required medical clearance from the mission board to be able to return overseas in January. This is often the most difficult part of the process, and it usually takes the most time.

3. Pray that I would use my remaining time in the States wisely. Pray that I would learn to prioritize that which is truly important and would distribute my time accordingly.

Inquiring Minds Wanna Know:

Wow, how time does fly in the United States! I have now been home for more than four months, and it really amazes me that it's gone by so fast. I have spent time in Alabama, North Carolina, Virginia, and Mississippi, and still have short trips to Georgia and Tennessee and a return trip to Virginia planned for the upcoming months. It has been so wonderful to get to see so many of you in person during this time! Here are a couple of pictures from my time in Virginia and Mississippi:

Leah and me sharing at my home church in Virginia Beach in June

Women's Xtreme Team reunion: Amy, Misty, me, and Leah in August in my old college town of Starkville, MS

I am in the midst of finishing up some required seminary hours and have taken courses during the summer and this fall towards meeting that goal. Those classes have ranged from Biblical counseling to theology to Greek to missions, and I have enjoyed almost all of them - except for writing papers. :) They have certainly kept me busy, though, and I have a sneaking suspicion they are the reason the time has gone by so quickly!

I've also been busy talking with different people on the field about job possibilities for next term, and I'm very excited about where the Lord is sending me next. With a population of more than 15 million, my new south Asian home will be the largest city in which I've ever even set foot, let alone lived! But it's easy for me to see how God has prepared me for this work, and that has been the greatest confirmation of all that I'm taking this step at His direction.

My new team works primarily among the poverty-stricken of that city, and the main focus of my job will be to disciple national believers to work with prostituted women in the red light districts. The team also works with a women's shelter that is specifically for women who have come out of the life of prostitution, and this shelter comes from the vision of a local pastor who has a heart to reach out to these women. There are a number of short-term volunteer teams that come to work with the shelter, and thus part of my job description includes helping with American volunteers who are coming in to do this type of work. In addition, the team does a lot of medical mission work in the slums because of the great lack of access to health care, so my pharmacy background will be useful. And, finally, the team is seeking to mobilize believers from South America to come to work alongside us, so my background in my former part of the world will also be highly useful. I'm just amazed at the preparation the Lord has given me for this job!

The one downside, of course, is having to learn a new language. :) I will be learning one of the main languages of my new country, and it is one that uses an entirely different alphabet from our "ABCs." I have to start by learning this new alphabet, but I have been told that, once I have mastered that, it gets a little easier. I hope so because I'm not getting any younger, and the last language I learned wasn't all that easy for me! :)

One final thing in regards to my new assignment: If you've noticed, I haven't told you the name of the country or the city where I'll be headed next. That's because this particular country is closed to foreign missionaries. Please don't be concerned for my safety, but do understand that there are some necessary security precautions that I will have to put in place in order to protect the Lord's ongoing work there.

Beginning to implement those precautions means that I will have to abandon this blog. If you're wondering how you'll keep up with me then - and I do hope you ARE wondering that! :) - I have the answer: I'm switching over to a newsletter format. To receive this monthly update, you'll have to opt in to a future e-mail you'll receive from me. I'll send each of you who are currently on my subscriber list an e-mail about this. If you aren't currently receiving my e-mail reminders about the blog but would like to be added to my subscriber list in order to receive the newsletter, send me an e-mail to dr_akj@yahoo.com. For obvious reasons, you'll need to be someone that I already know or must be recommended by someone that I know. :)

I have so appreciated your support through the first phase of this journey with the Lord, and I hope that you'll be there with me through the next part of it. Regardless, thank you so much for your faithful prayers and for your support and encouragement. We're in this together, and I'm so grateful for each one of you!

Be Patient with Me...

Saying goodbye to our friend Piscinta in Ayuma

Saying goodbye to our friend Rosita and her sons Aquiles and Federico in Santa Cruz

Me with my parents in Santa Cruz in November 2011

Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised:

I arrived in the States a couple of weeks ago and, despite loads of crazy last-minute things like having to make new travel reservations just a few days before the flight and getting multiple documents for Riley sandwiched around a national holiday, my dog and I arrived safely home with no problems at all. Only God could have overcome some of the obstacles we faced. He is so faithful to provide for us!

Prayer Necessities:

1. Please continue to lift up the churches in Ayuma, Taramarca, and Salvatierra. Pray that they would obey Him no matter the command or the cost and that they would grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2. Please pray for Leah and me as we adjust back to our home culture. After 3-1/2 years overseas, we are so grateful to have the time to rest, but it definitely requires re-adaptation to the hustle and bustle of life in the States. Ask that we would continue to put Him first and would rest in Him even in stressful times.


3. Please ask for the Lord's wisdom for me as I research options for future service. I know that He has called me into a ministry reaching out to prostitutes, but I am still unsure of the location. Ask that He would reveal that in His perfect timing... and that I would learn patience as I wait for the revelation.

Inquiring Minds Wanna Know:

I arrived in my home country two weeks ago today, and I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here. I've spent time with my parents and other family members, watched my 4-year-old cousin's T-ball game, had lunch with my grandmother a few times, attended the services of two churches, gone to a family reunion, changed to an Alabama driver's license, had multiple doctor's appointments, and gotten registered for seminary classes. I guess you could say I've jumped right back into U.S. life with both feet.

But the fact is that I've changed. Life in the United States has gone on while I've been in Bolivia, and it's passed me by. I once heard the difficulty missionaries face in returning to their home culture described in this way: Let's say your home culture (in my case, the U.S.) is blue, and your host culture (in my case, Bolivia) is yellow. Both leave their impact on you, leaving you varying shades of green depending on how long you spend in either culture. But the problem is that green makes you different from both your home culture and your host culture, leaving you to feel alienated in both.


If you've never spent significant amounts of time in another country, you won't fully get this. But I wanted to try to explain the emotional hardships I have already and will continue to face for the remainder of my time here in the hopes that, if you catch me on a difficult culture day, you'll be patient with me. :) So here goes:


1. I miss Bolivia. I'm so grateful to be here and to get to rest and to spend time with my family, but I wasn't on a short-term mission trip there. Bolivia became my home. I genuinely miss the amazing people I knew there. And I miss the importance of relationships there. Life was not too busy to spend time with people because relationships were more important than a list of things to get done. So, yes, I'm glad to be "home," but I also miss "home," if you understand what I'm saying.


2. I feel homeless here. I'm staying with my parents, and I absolutely adore them. I couldn't imagine God giving me better parents than He has blessed me with, and it is a joy to be with them every day. But the fact remains that I live in their house, not my own. I can't leave my room or bathroom a mess here, and I don't have first dibs on the TV remote. It's not bad; it's just an adjustment.


3. I forget words in English. That's one of the more frustrating by-products of learning a second language, and I often feel like an idiot when I can't remember something simple like the word "aware" or when I use the rarely used English word "tranquil" to describe our backyard because the Spanish word for "quiet and calm" is "tranquilo." So, if I speak Spanglish to you, just smile and nod. I need to practice my Spanish anyway. :)


4. I don't want to compete with your phone. When I left the US, the iPhone had just come on the market and was prohibitively expensive. Now, everybody and their dog has some form of a SmartPhone, and I constantly see groups of people sitting at a table with every last one of them absorbed in whatever happens to be on their phones rather than with each other. That makes me sad because people are always more interesting than anything you can find on the Internet. Why do we waste so many opportunities to spend time together?

5. I'm easily distracted by all the English conversations going on around me. It's been so long since I could understand every word of a conversation without concentrating that it's hard to retrain my brain to tune them out. I feel like I'm eavesdropping on everyone and not paying attention to the people who are with me.


6. Wal-Mart can be an overwhelming experience. There are just so many choices here! I went to buy dog food and had 14 different varieties to choose from, where I'm used to having a choice of three different kinds. (I chose the cheapest, and Riley seems to love it. :)) I can't even go in a convenience store to buy a snack because it is absolutely impossible to decide what I want, and I don't have the money to try them all. Just remember that if you need to make a Wal-mart run while I'm with you. :)


7. Going to a church meeting here is the biggest culture shock of all. Sometimes it is so surreal to think that I was living in a mosquito-infested town with no electricity singing Guarayo hymns with four new believers one minute and the next, I'm sitting in a giant auditorium belonging to a megachurch and listening to a praise team that's larger than the church I just left. But, if Jesus is present, He is really all that matters. All I want is to see Him no matter where I am.


8. American culture is NOT better than other cultures; it's just different. Recently, an acquaintance commented on how happy I must be to be home because Bolivia is full of crime and drug lords. And I just wanted to scream, "Excuse me? You don't know ANYTHING about Bolivia! I always felt MUCH safer there than I ever do here!" Our natural tendency, of course, is to think that our own culture is the best there is. But, unless our culture aligns perfectly with Scripture, it is not really any better than others. And, in some cases, believe it or not, that other culture just might be better.


9. My time in Bolivia was special, and I don't want to tell you about it unless you're really interested in hearing it. I love talking about what God did in Bolivia, what He taught me, how He grew me, and how He was ever faithful when I constantly fell. But this was something that lasted for 3-1/2 years of my life, and it takes time to explain. I can't sum it all up in a couple of minutes. So, if you're really interested in hearing about it, please ask me. But, if you don't want to invest the time to hear about it, please don't ask. I promise that I won't be offended if you don't want to hear about it in the first place, but it will hurt to start telling you and then watch your eyes glaze over as I talk about an experience that has changed me forever.

Thank you so much for your faithful prayers during my time in South America. I'll continue to post on the blog during my stateside time, and I hope you'll continue to read. And stay tuned for where the Lord takes me next!

Saving the Best for Last

Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised:

Leah and I got to spend last night doing some discipleship with new believers German and his wife Ximena. German simply said to me one day, "I want to be a Christian. What do I need to do?" Wow! He told us that he used to watch our former security guard Luis, a strong believer, as he read his Bible, and he eventually decided that he wanted the joy that Luis had in his life. Praise God for faithful brothers who exalt Him in their daily lives... and for this new brother and sister in the faith!

Prayer Necessities:

1. Please be in prayer for the churches in Ayuma, Taramarca, and Salvatierra. Ask that God would continue to strengthen them in the faith and would fill them with His Spirit so that they may draw others to Him.

2. Pray for Leah and me as we leave Bolivia on May 1 to return home for nine months of stateside assignment. Pray that we will adjust well in the return to our home culture and that we would continue to make disciples there. Ask that we would clearly share what God has done here in Bolivia in upcoming speaking engagements. And please that everything will go smoothly with the necessary documents as I transport our dog, Riley, home with me. (Riley's pictured here in the canoe on the way back from Salvatierra.)

3. Pray that God would show me where He would have me go next. I am in a period of transition and have been given clarity regarding the type of ministry in which I am to be involved, but I don't know the exact location yet. Please ask that God would reveal that clearly in His perfect timing.

Inquiring Minds Wanna Know:

Leah and I completed our last trip to Salvatierra in March and followed it up with a very encouraging trip to Peru to meet with the other members of our team to hear about what the Lord is doing in their individual ministries. We've now been back in Sucre for the last couple of weeks selling all of our belongings and making small repairs to the house in order to return it to the landlord, and we are planning one final farewell trip to Ayuma for this weekend.

It's so hard to believe our time in Bolivia is nearly over! We will miss our many dear friends here, but we are both ready for a time of rest and reconnection with friends and family at home.

Our last community trip was cut short by some mechanical issues with our truck, but we did get to spend about a week with our friends from Salvatierra. We met together as a church nearly every night and had the opportunity to share a few more stories from the book of Acts.

One of the villagers who has begun attending the church meetings is a man named Ruben (he's pictured here with his granddaughter Aneli). We first met Ruben on one of our earliest trips to Salvatierra in September. He is in his 50s and suffers from Parkinson's disease. When we first met him, he could not walk or even lift food to his mouth because he was shaking too badly to do so. Though he had gotten medicine for the illness in the past, he had long since exhausted his supply, so we took him to a doctor in a nearby town and got him the treatment he needed. Within a few days, he was walking again.

After that, Ruben began coming to listen to the stories from God's Word, but I often wondered if his motivation was simply to please us so that we would continue to bring him the medicine. Though we were certainly glad he was coming to the meetings and hearing Truth, I was still concerned about what would happen after we left.

On our last day, as we were packing to leave Salvatierra, Ruben paid us a visit. After chatting for a few minutes, the conversation hit a lull. That's when Leah, prompted by the Spirit asked Ruben what he was thinking about baptism. You could have knocked us over with a feather when he very quietly responded, "Well, that's why I came."

Wow! We were beyond excited! I could hardly keep the grin off my face, but I wanted to ensure that he understood the significance - and the cost - of the decision he was making. So I began to explain to him that a Christian is called to live a life of suffering but that it is completely worth it. He nodded, and we could tell that he understood.

So we rejoiced with our new brother! In our 2.5 years of work among the Quechua and the Guarayo, this is the first salvation we've gotten to witness firsthand. And God let us reap this harvest about an hour before the end of our work in Bolivia. Surely these words are true:

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we don't give up." (Gal. 6:9)

Getting back from Salvatierra involves motorcycles and canoes... combined. :)

A Building Does Not a Church Make

Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised:

God is consistently providing Leah and me with the grace we need to persevere in this work. We are down to one final trip out to Salvatierra before we begin packing up our house in Sucre to return to the landlord and packing up our suitcases to return to the States for a time of rejuvenation with family and friends. He has been faithful all the way!

Prayer Necessities:

1. Pray particularly for Humberto, the only adult male believer in the Salvatierra church. He is gifted by God with leadership, but he is struggling with drunkenness lately. Please pray that he will accept who he really is in Christ, a victor over sin, and that he will choose to follow Christ over the pressure to drink from his buddies.

2. Please pray for Leah and me as we prepare to disciple these believers on one last trip. Pray that we would be faithful to work hard and to faithfully demonstrate to these new Christians what it really means to be the church.

3. Pray that we would be able to make travel arrangements to arrive in Puerto Maldonado, Peru, in mid-March for a meeting with national believers on our team. Pray that our time there would be an encouragement to all and that we would exalt the name of our Lord as we meet together.

Inquiring Minds Wanna Know:

This trip was a lot different for us than our normal trips to Salvatierra - mostly because we didn't spend it in Salvatierra. As we were on the way there, we called Mariluz to tell her we were coming, and she said that she and her family and another one of the believers and her family were in a bigger town about 10 miles away from Salvatierra. They would be there for a few weeks as their children got started back to school after summer vacation. (Remember, Bolivian summers are the opposite of American ones, so summer vacation here typically runs from late November to early February.)

The name of the town where the kids go to school is a little difficult to pronounce, so I'll just call it Big Town. It has a pretty nice hotel by rural Bolivian standards. We had a room with three twin beds, private bathroom with toilet and shower (no hot water, but that's not necessary in the jungle heat), a ceiling fan and, best of all, freedom from mosquitoes! (The room is pictured here to the right.) We also had the use of the kitchen and a refrigerator, which was a luxury and an absolute blessing, as we got to drink cold water throughout our entire stay! Needless to say, we couldn't stop thanking the Lord for His goodness.

Leah and I discussed what to do and decided that, since our primary responsibility is the discipleship of these new believers, we should remain where they were. We counted the money we had brought with us and discovered that we'd have to cut our trip short by two days in order to stay in the local hotel, but it made more sense to do that than to return to Santa Cruz for more money.

Over the course of our ten days in Big Town, we taught three stories from the book of Acts, beginning with Jesus' ascension and the Great Commission from Acts 1 and Matthew 28, respectively, and ending with the description of the early church from Acts 2 and 4. On our next trip, we have six more stories from acts and then plan to teach some from 1 Corinthians. We also spent a lot of time with Mariluz and Humberto and their sons.

We also got into a long conversation with one of the believers who is an elder of the local evangelical church in Big Town. He told us his testimony, which is a story of God's provision and sustenance even in the face of persecution. It was a great encouragement to hear how our brother came to know Christ and to learn of his faithful testimony ever since.

But then he told us one of the saddest stories I've ever heard. The church in Big Town was thriving, growing in faith and obedience to the Lord. A church from the US was sending large amounts of money for the upkeep of the church building they had built there, and the pastor of this church began keeping some of it for himself. Our friend was the church treasurer and a new believer. Knowing that the pastor was using the money, he asked the American church how the money should be spent. Their answer was that the $1100 they sent (which is a LOT of money here) should be applied towards the roof, the pews, the lights, and the communion table inside the building and then, if there was a little bit left over, perhaps that could go to help some sick and/or needy person in the church. When our friend told the American church about the pastor's mishandling of the funds, it eventually caused a church split that, to this day, causes problems among the brothers here in Big Town. And that bitter division has even had a ripple effect that has affected the new church in Salvatierra, as they encounter some here who are critical of other believers.

I'm not excusing the pastor's actions. He was clearly wrong in taking money that didn't belong to him but to the church. I'm also not excusing the church split, as these believers must learn to be more concerned with the unity of the body than with anything else, including their own hurt feelings.

But what bothered me so much about this story was how the American church wanted the Lord's money to be spent: On a building first and then, if there were any left over, on the needs of the believers. Now contrast that mentality with the early church's:

"There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need." (Acts 4:34-35)

The estimated real estate holdings of churches in the United States is $232 billion dollars! Additionally, churches spend another $2.1 billion dollars annually on utilities and maintenance for those same buildings. Have any of you ever looked at your church's budget? Most churches spend the majority on their building. Now compare that with the amount spent on benevolence. It's typically a very small proportion.

Do you see the difference here? If it's convicting to read that verse, I think it should be. Is a building really necessary? Can't God's church just as easily meet in one another's homes? Or is it better to cling to an expensive building that requires ongoing payments (whether mortgage or insurance or utilities) while we neglect the very real needs for food and clothing and roof repairs and health care among our own brothers and sisters?

I think it's a good reminder for all of us that we are not the owners of our own money but merely managers of God's. I think we should be asking ourselves if this really how He would want us to spend it. And, if not, how can we change to manage His money correctly?

The Urubicha church singing "Trust and Obey" in Guarayo

Sharing in His Sufferings

Mariluz making chicha in her home

Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised:

Leah had a Skype call with her church that I had the opportunity to listen in on, and it was a wonderful encouragement for the both of us. Many members of the church read passages of Scripture to encourage us to persevere to the end, and it was such a blessing to hear! We've been under what we think is a spiritual attack, and the call was so timely. Our Lord is so good!

Prayer Necessities:

1. Please pray for Leah and me as we return to Salvatierra for 10 days. We are teaching stories from the book of Acts, and we truly desire for this new church to really grasp what it means to be the church. Pray that they will understand how to be under the headship of Christ, how to truly be brothers and sisters to one another, and how to love one another.

2. Pray for Leah, my parents, and me as we seek the Lord together regarding clarity in His vision for my future. Ask that we would all be in agreement in what He says and that He would grant His wisdom to each of us in hearing from Him.

3. Be in prayer for the people of Taramarca and Ayuma. Though we are no longer working in those villages, we do miss and love those precious brothers and sisters in Christ. Please pray that God continues to work among them and that, when they hear His voice, they would not harden their hearts but would obey.

Inquiring Minds Wanna Know:

Each of our trips to Salvatierra has brought different challenges. Our first trip, a two-day affair with our bosses for the purposes of getting acquainted, brought the adjustments of meeting new people and hearing a new language (my third new language in three years on the mission field). The second trip, just over a week long, gave us heat and endless requests. In the afternoon, it was so hot and with so little air movement in our jungle house that it was almost hard to breathe. And the villagers asked us for everything from money and food to daily rides into town in our truck (whether or not we had intended to go to town). The third trip was supposed to be just over two weeks long but was cut short by illness and, because we left our truck in another town to avoid crossing a river swollen by rains, we got to experience - three times, no less - a ten-mile hike in jungle conditions, once with a backpack full of gear.

Finally, on this latest two-week trip, we got to experience a plague of mosquitoes and trying to find dry places to sleep in a house with a leaky roof. Let me just tell you one thing: These mosquitoes did not play. They are carriers of dengue fever and other dreaded tropical diseases and, despite lathering myself in insect repellent and wearing a long-sleeved denim shirt, they often still managed to bite me through my clothes!

After we returned to Santa Cruz for a period of rest after the trip, I developed a rash and then a fever. My doctor diagnosed me with a mosquito-borne virus that took about a week to fully resolve. And somewhere between sitting in a cloud of mosquitoes and trying to sleep through a 102-degree fever, I started thinking about suffering. Prior to coming to the mission field, I had rarely experienced physical suffering. Sure, there was the occasional illness or injury, but I never before had to walk ten miles in 95-degree weather to buy food or bathe in a pesticide to avoid nasty little insects or experience the joys of tropical illness. Life in the South American jungle takes physical suffering to a level that I had never experienced.

And that reminded me of what the apostle Paul said about suffering:

"I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead" (Phil. 3:10-11).

Let me repeat that: "I want to know... the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings."

Now Paul didn't say that lightly. That was a guy who definitely knew something about suffering. In the book of 2 Corinthians, he gives a list of what he went through:

"Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches" (2 Cor. 11:24-28).

Yet he still wanted to know the fellowship of sharing in Jesus' sufferings. But why? Was he masochistic? Why on earth would he want suffering?

Because, through those sufferings, he would become like Jesus and, somehow, attain to His resurrection.

Here's the way I read it: Those sufferings eventually destroy the fleshly part of us, that oh-so-stubborn part that wants to do only what I want and not what He wants, and allow me to be transformed and resurrected into the new (wo)man that I really am.

Sufferings come in many forms: Physical, emotional, mental, spiritual. They can seem small or enormous. They can come directly to us or vicariously through something that happens to a loved one. But they all serve the same purpose: To make us like Christ.

A sister in Christ recently shared this passage of Scripture with Leah and me:

"And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I entrusted to him for that day" (2 Tim. 1:11-12).

And when that dear sister shared that with us, it occurred to me that I can echo those words with Paul. I have been appointed as a herald, an apostle (one who is sent), and a teacher of the gospel, and that is why I have these particular sufferings. Yet I am not ashamed, and I know that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him.

These sufferings, however mild, are not in vain.

And, wow, there is no better cause of suffering than being sent as a herald, apostle, and teacher of His Gospel.

That's how I can buy into what Paul says in Phil. 1:29:

"For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him."

It has been granted to me to suffer for Him. People are granted wishes or scholarships or independence. Things that are granted are never bad things, only good ones. They're gifts, not punishments.

I hope I can remember that when I face the mosquito swarms again in the coming weeks.

Three adorable local girls in Salvatierra