3rd
East Asia - Kai Chen (7/2/10)
Dear Friends,
Thank you for supporting and praying for our team in East Asia this summer. The following is their first update from their first week overseas. I will send you all updates as I receive them from the team. Thanks again for praying for them!
We have safely arrived at our destination. We have been adjusting to the new culture and have been taking language classes for a few days. We have had conversations with 82 people, spiritual conversations with 15 people, shared the gospel with 7 people, and have not yet seen anyone pray to receive Christ. A lot of us are praying and hoping to have more spiritually significant conversation and hopefully more gospel presentations in the weeks to come, so please join us in praying for that. We only have 13 days left in this city before we move to the next city for other ministry opportunities.
Please also pray about:
- Energy
- Good attitudes
- Team unity
- Having the right motivation in meeting/talking to people
- Balance solitude, community, and work on this mission trip
- Being filled with the Holy Spirit and work past language barriers
- Gain a vision for the world
Thank you for your much needed prayers and support!
If you would like to know more about what has happened so far, please continue reading:
We are excited that you are praying for us and because of that, we know that this trip will be amazing. Right from the start, we faced many challenges. On the first leg of the trip, two of our three team leaders almost missed the flight by one minute because the traveler’s check lady (at the airport) took too long. We spoke to the people working at the gate, but they weren’t willing to wait. Our entire team, except for the two directors, boarded the plane and prayed for the directors to be able to make it on the plane. Just a minute before they closed the gate, we saw the two directors rush in, still catching their breaths.
The second leg of the trip was even crazier. Due to slow customs and people not standing in line, our entire team of 12 people missed our connecting flight to our destination city. After much frustrating communication with unsympathetic check-in agents, we were finally able to reschedule our flights to the following night without extra charge. The next day (just when we thought that things would go smoothly) two of our team members weren’t able to check-in and get their plane tickets because their names on the tickets did not match the ones on their passports. It was extremely frustrating and challenging because each check-in/ticketing agent or manager kept on referring us to each other and shifting their responsibilities. At the end, we were finally able to get the tickets reissued and had one stamped. We thought everything would be okay from then on, but while going through customs, one of our team members got taken away by an airport security guard because he/she did not get a stamp on his/her reissued ticket. With only 20 minutes until we had to board the plane in one of the world’s largest airports, one of the team directors had to go back to find the team member who had been taken away by airport security. By God’s grace, after much frustration and negotiating, the director found the team member and got his/her ticket stamped. By the time the director and team member made it to the gate, it was about time to board. Our flight ended up being delayed for almost 2 hours and we FINALLY arrived at our destination around midnight on June 22, 2010.
Fortunately, all this chaos really put things into perspective for us and bonded our team right from the start. We saw how limited and helpless we were without God and the importance of praying in the midst of spiritual warfare. We also knew that God must have something great planned for us in our city because it seemed like Satan wanted to stop us desperately.
Like mentioned above, we have been adjusting to a new culture here and taking language classes. During the afternoon, we try to find new friends and talk to them. We divided our team up into 3 groups of 4, and here are some stories from each group:
Clara, Kenneth, Aimee, Jon (aka Team JACK)
Clara and Kristen (from another group) approached two girls, Aurora* and Ariel*, to strike up a conversation. Just after 10 minutes of talking, Aurora and Ariel asked for Clara and Kristen’s phone numbers and took them shopping a few days later. Aurora and Ariel really opened up to Clara and Kristen and said that they liked meeting foreigners.
Kenneth had breakfast with Mufasa* for 15 minutes, and Mufasa invited Kenneth to play soccer with him. Kenneth didn’t feel like meeting people that day, but through playing soccer, God provided 6 new friends for Kenneth! A similar story happened to Aimee as well. She approached a girl at the cafeteria, and only after 10 minutes of talking to her, the girl asked for Aimee’s phone number and wanted to meet up again!
Simon, Jeremy, Paula, Wendi
The team met Brenda* and Brenda opened up a lot to them. The team is encouraged by Brenda’s love and hospitality and is extremely blessed by her. Just today, the team had their first spiritual conversation with her and is continuing to pray that they could tell Brenda about the Gospel.
Simon met Ricky* while playing an intense basketball game. After the game, Ricky told Simon, “I want to call you my friend.” After that, Ricky has been very friendly and warm. Just recently, he told Simon, “Let’s have a date after my finals on July 7.” Please pray for God to open up his heart.
It’s amazing how God knows our requests before we even ask them and before Jeremy knew it, his request was answered. Jeremy really wanted to sit down and just have a good talk with someone, and Saturday morning he found himself sitting in a men’s dorm room with two guys itching to talk and listen about his life and America. Please pray that he would be able to talk about deeper subjects and about God.
Eunice, Kai, Kristen, Warren (aka Team 100%)
On the first day we met Squirtle* who helped us buy phone SIM cards. He was very nice and walked us all around campus and even showed us his dorm. A few days later we met up with Squirtle and his two friends Charmander* and Bulbasaur* for lunch. After eating they took us to a nature park that was very beautiful! As we walked around the park our conversation about life values led to spiritual subjects. From there Kai and Eunice were able to share the Gospel with each of them in their native language. We were glad God allowed them the opportunity to hear about Him although they did not choose to believe in Him yet that particular day. We hope, trust, and pray that God will continue to work in their lives.
Last Saturday, Eunice, Paula, and Wendi prayed that they would meet a girl that morning who would take them shopping and open up her life to them. Eunice and Wendi approached Pikachu*, and after talking for a while, Pikachu gladly offered to take them shopping right away. Eunice, Paula, Wendi, and Pikachu spent the next 5-6 hours shopping and bonding. Today, Eunice and Paula were able to share the Gospel with Pikachu, but she did not become a Christian. They are going to meet with Pikachu and her friend again on Thursday afternoon, so please pray about more opportunities for spiritual conversations.
This afternoon, Eunice, Kai, Kristen, and Warren were able to share the Gospel with Jigglypuff* and Abra*. Both of them did not become Christians, but we are glad that they have heard about the good news and know how to become a Christian if they want to in the future.
Thank you for your continual prayers and support!
