Don't worry, it's not that i've lost hope, it's now that it's just post 'Hope Conference'. It's hard to sum up Hope, there were just SOOO many things that i was challenged by, people that i met, things that i leant etc etc etc A couple highlights as part 2 of the previous post -
- Sitting under the tecahing of an African christian guy called JFK. Not only was his teaching spot on, he just had an amazing knowledge of the Bible which came from his desire to want to immerse himself in God's word and know God better. Many of you will probably know my aversion to reading, but this guy has seriously inspired me to be reading my Bible more. He could like memorise almost the whole thing and know the chapters and verses too. i'm sure he must have a bit of a photographic memory, but it's also from years of immersing himself in the Word. Very COOL!!
But not only that, his testimony was also great and to see the love he has for wanting his fellow Africans to come to know the Lord as well was amazing. He'd LOVE for MANY more workers to be going out to Africa, as there as just so many there who have never even heard about Jesus. However, the challenge wasn't just to go to Africa, it was also to challenge us as people living as Christians in any part of the world to consider carefully what kind of a message we bring to the world. Is it one full of the gospel, or do we also add extra 'junk' to it as well. Something that's probably more obvious in a cross cultural context, but do we bring along other cultural baggage that are unhelpful for others - eg TV with it's violence or sex scenes, the need to have to eat potatoes all the time when they prefer rice? there are just so many examples and something i was really challenged by to consider and reflect on all i do and say. is it helpful to others or not? is it distracting to the Gospel? Hmmm, lots more to think about.
- It was also really great to be able to meet heaps of people from the Oz mobilization base. Have had lots of emails and phone calls and names, but now i also have some faces to put to those names and voices :) We also had a great time of sharing in our area times. Above is a pic of one of the teams praying over a couple new team leaders Robyn & Terry who also work in Chiang Mai.
There were so many other cool things. here's a pic of me down at the beach. Even though we were at Pattaya for a week, i only managed to make it into the water twice. Pretty sad i know, but that's how full on the week was. Full on, but great!!
Since coming back on Sunday, it's already been pretty busy. Have finally moved into my new place. i'll get some pics of that uploaded soon, schools back, have started helping the disabled workshop with a couple simple marketing tools, i'm about to go help unload a container of wheelchairs this morning, and tomorrow night, i'm going camping with my cell group. cant wait!! :)
For those praying, here are a few quick prayer points:
- thank God for the time away at Hope
- pray for Africa, that God will raise up workers and that many there will come to know Him
- pray for the cell group camping trip, that we'll be safe and have lots of fun and be able to encourage each other heaps
- pray that i'll keep on picking up Thai quickly
PS - i finally managed to find a picture of Chaba Gaow - looks so much like me eh?
