Wednesday 25 March 2009

I have finally arrived in York! Sorry I haven't posted this blog sooner, my first night here (Monday night) I was really ill all night, I don't think I slept at all. I felt sick but unable to be sick, I was aching all over and had occasional chills. I spent the whole next day (Tuesday) at the Kiriks' home on their couch feeling miserable, disappointed with myself for my first day with Gospel For Asia. Today (Wednesday) I felt well enough to go in, though I still felt exhausted and sluggish, and... not at all hungry! I have been put off at even the thought of food, which is probably funny to those of you that know me!

Anyway, my first day at GFA was nice and gentle, I read through some documentation I had to read through and started using a system to input names and addresses into the computer database. I also observed things that the others were doing and felt a little overwhelmed at how much there seems to learn. I also saw the required reading list shelf:-


...which also be funny to those of you who know me and my slow reading skills!

I thank the Lord that I am now here, and I pray that I will be able to serve Him as He desires, and that I would not forget the secret place.

I hope to meet the owner of the house I am thinking of renting from soon, he contacted me on Monday night but I was too ill to meet up.

On Sunday I had a really nice send off from Calvary Chapel Norwich. John called me up and briefed the congregation on how the Lord had directed me in the last year, asked some guys to come pray for me, John prayed for me and another man gave a stern word from the Lord for me, to which I totally bore witness. He said that the Lord wanted me to know that I was being called from one classroom to another, that although I thought I was going to be serving I would actually be learning, that many things would happen, some good and some bad, and that I was to keep humble. I was sure it was from the Lord already, but John announced that he had received a call from Brian Kirik the day before and he had said exactly the same thing. It's funny, I was expecting the Lord to rebuke me in front of everyone for all sorts of things, but I realise that many of my fears are self-imposed and enemy-imposed, and that all I need to worry about is the light burden the Lord has put on me. This rod really was comforting!

On Monday I got to see Dave Jones unsuccessfully flip his spanish omelette:-


...and then went to say goodbye to Sheila who couldn't make it to church on Sunday:-

...then I said goodbye to 90 Friends Road:-

...and went over to my mum's for some steamed buns:-


Monday was also Brian Kirik's birthday and I was blessed to share in the celebration as I arrived in York (before I got ill!):-

...all in all I am excited to be here, and thankful for the opportunity to learn and serve.

Anyway, please keep praying for me, I feel like I am starting to understand spiritual attack a little bit, and I am still not at full support so I think I'll be continuing to raise funds while I am here, though I'm not really worried as I think the Lord will provide what I need, so if I don't have it I didn't need it!

Thanks for reading!

Sunday 22 March 2009

Had a really nice last dinner with the Browns and Hornagolds on Saturday night. I still wasn't really feeling like I am moving on from this place and onto another, I suspect it will sink in a few days after repeatedly waking up and saying “where am I?”


I was blessed with a really beautiful send off at church too. John recounted how the Lord had led him to lead me, some of the guys prayed over me and someone gave me a word from the Lord which I completely bore witness to, about how the Lord was moving me from one classroom to the next, for my own learning to mature me, how I was to obey and be humble, how good and bad things would happen, but it would all be for God's glory. It was public and when I heard the tone of what the Lord was saying I thought “oh no, the Lord's going to rebuke me in front of the whole congregation for this and this, and this, and this...” but thankfully the Lord chose not to declare my sins and shortfallings before everyone.

My grandma came too and has offered to support me, despite completely disagreeing with Christianity and my explanations of God's justice :-S


Pat Stacey made me an awesome cake. She even made the flowers out of icing sugar! It was really amazing, I felt bad cutting it!


I said many farewells and hugged many people, but ever with the mindset that I was not simply moving onto another job and leaving my church family behind, I am a servant and a soldier being re-posted, leaving behind a battalion of soldiers who also have much work to do and many battles they must fight. A little while longer and those of us who confess with our mouths the Lord Jesus Christ and believe that God raised Him from the dead, will be with Him in glory and we will be fellowshipping for a long time, but right now it's harvest time and there is much work to be done!


And then some of the kids got themselves locked behind some gates and had to wait for the caretaker to free them.


Afterwards I went to my mother's for some food and family time with my brothers and sisters. Spring rolls and crispy noodles mmmmmm. It was Mother's Day, my last Sunday and my sister's Birthday in a few days so it was a combo time. I gave my sister the digital photo frame I had gotten for Christmas from mum! They both know of course, I didn't have time to use it and it served as a good yet cheap present!


The next entry I do should be from York, Lord willing. I drive up tomorrow, Monday 23rd March, as planned, to impose upon Brian and Mindy and eat their food :-) I'll let you know how I get on.

Wednesday 18 March 2009

Friday just gone Lesley-Ann graciously came round again to cook for son Paul, Brianna and I. We have this deal whereby she comes and cooks and we eat. It's always sounded fair to me. That was followed by a nice Bible study at John's house on Judges 17 and 18. I was a little nervous at this point about speaking on the Sunday at Twickenham.

On Saturday I was due to arrive at the Wilsher's for tea at about 5pm. I was about 1:30pm and I had some time to kill. I had a little time to kill so I thought I'd get my tax disc done online... but it wasn't letting me do it. “We can't find your MOT,” the message read, “if you have it please ring this number.” I finally found the certificate after searching high and low and looked at the expiry date: 14th March 2009. “You've got to be joking,” I thought. I quickly rang up Nigel Farrow

who did the MOT last time (which was also in a rush!) and he graciously agreed to do my MOT this day (so much for time to kill). In addition to this my tires were bald, my brake pipes weren't doing to great either and my breather pipe was leaking. He allowed me to sit at his desk to read my bible while he worked and I called ahead to tell Elliot and Jen I was going to be late. At 5:30pm the car was done, I payed Nigel, shared Jesus with him and headed back to the house to pick up the materials and some clothes.

I got back and found the S.L.U.G. Youth Group (Servants Learning Under God) there who recounted the days swimming antics while I packed my things and had the leftover shepherds pie. At 7pm I finally left for London, with a map print-off and my talking Sat Nav.

Managing to escape the M25 with my life intact I arrived at the Wilsher's at about 9:15pm with a warm welcome from Elliot and Jen and stayed up for a while to chat with Elliot about how the Lord has led his life and provided for him so far. I also found out they have the biggest pet rabbit I have ever seen! I crashed on the couch at about 11:45pm, grateful for a place to lay my head and close my eyes!

Sunday morning saw us setting up Whitton High School Hall for church service, which reminded me very much of home!

I met some of the people who attended and found that I had heard some of their names in conversation and was glad to finally get to meet them. I was really blessed by the time of praise, some new songs that I hadn't heard before yet found easy to pick up, and which really rang true to who God is and what He has done. Afterwards Elliot shared some announcements and introduced me, and up I went. I was almost as nervous as I was at Cambridge, and I opted to not use the microphone so that I could stand closer to the congregation. I thought this would connect me more to the people... but it actually meant that a couple of them couldn't hear me very well and the parents in the creche could not hear me at all! I explained Gospel For Asia and illustrated the need as best as I could, as well my purpose in raising support for myself. I think it went pretty well. After my spiel we were blessed to hear Tim McBryan from Calvary Chapel South London share on holiness and the God who makes us holy, and our need to not focus on our lack of holiness. After service I had a nice chat with Marvin and Kara about eternity minded living and the seriousness of the Gospel message.

After Twickenham I went a further round the M25 to Leatherhead to visit Tim and Ann Daniels, a couple who have been of tremendous encouragement to me, and then finished off the M25 to get back the M11 for my ride towards Norwich (and went through the Dartford Tunnel for the first time). Not sure if I could stay awake all the way to Norwich and remembering the Hulleys' most fervent return-invitation I diverted myself toward Bury St Edmunds with no guarantee that they would actually be at home. To my relief they were there to give me an extremely warm welcome, a space on the couch for the night and tell me I and arrived just in time for dinner :-) I could not have planned it better! On Monday Peter kindly showed me around Bury St Edmunds and told me about some of it's history while we kept an eye out for job vacancies. As I promised Gabrielle, we didn't have any ice cream at the Abbey without her.


I left Bury and arrived in Cromer for 6pm for dinner at the Billings household where there lives the biggest dog I have ever seen in my life!After this weekend I was exhausted, but very blessed by everything that happened and everyone I saw. I am now in preparation to head off for York. I have found that unfortunately there is no place to stay at the bible college so I am going to be taking the Kiriks up on their offer to stay at theirs. I know they are happy to have me, I would just rather not get in the way of someone's family life, especially with Brian being so busy! I'll keep you posted on where I end up.

Wednesday 11 March 2009

Dave and I just got back from doing some street witnessing. Can I just say that I really hate street evangelism! It's awkward, uncomfortable, I feel silly and never know how to start... and yet... every time I come away thinking “I should do this everyday”. I can think of fewer things that build up my faith more, that show me where the gaps in my armour are, that show me how well I understand my salvation and my previous condemnation... and that give me a heart for the lost. When I hear what some people believe sometimes it really grieves me. And when I see how much some people listen it just makes me see how much I have been given and how much I should be willing to give away. It was a great time, and we hope to do it again soon.

I have been developing this fear: we have teams of footballers that come to play at the same school where we have church, at the time when we have Sunday service. Some of them have only heard me say “can you NOT park in OUR carpark please?” I have been thinking; if they don't get saved between now and the judgement, when their sentence to spend eternity in torment is given, and if for argument's sake they go past me on that day on their way to everlasting destruction, I imagine them turning to me, with tear filled eyes, saying “why didn't you tell me?” What would I say? “I was too busy”. Too busy setting up an evangelical outreaching church? “I was afraid.” Afraid of what? Didn't I know I had Jesus? Don't get me wrong, I know that it's not my responsibility to save everyone that's lost! But I think the question for me is, am I doing anything about anyone who's lost? I pray for grace and for wisdom, not to do anything out of guilt or frustration. It has to be vertical motivation (from the Lord) not horizontal!

12 days until I move to York! I am still waiting to hear from the bible college about some temporary accommodation, I will be staying with the Kiriks initally when I arrive on the 23rd, and I am looking forward to looking at this house in Tang Hall, the buyer should have completed the purchase shortly after I arrive. I pray that his purchase goes swiftly and smoothly and that it can be made ready soon AND that the Lord would let me know if this is the place for me to be! I am speaking for 10mins at Calvary Chapel Twickenham this Sunday, will be praying for the Lord's word from me to them!

Tuesday 3 March 2009

This Saturday I was blessed to visit the Hulleys,a South African family who I haven't had a chance to see for a long time. Peter is growing a moustache, John and Morris were making shelves, Sarah was grieving over her new braces and Gabrielle was telling me about the cats' sleeping habits. We had a great time of fellowship, friendship... and of course food! (John made a really nice chilli, which poor Sarah had to have liquefied!) It was really nice to catch up, see their new house, listen to music and share about my direction with Gospel For Asia. I arrived at their place in Bury St Edmunds at about 4:30pm and stayed overnight. Sunday morning Lee introduced me to Maltabella, a lovely South African porridge, and then I had to say my goodbyes.

I arrived at Calvary Chapel Cambridge at about 9:45am, now more anxious about speaking in front of a church then I thought I would be! It was great to see the Rozeks again, I hadn't seen them for quite a while either.

I helped with some tables and chairs and talked to some of the people, and reminded myself that the Lord would do whatever He wanted, and that the worst I could do was look silly if I got tongue tied, and in that case only my pride would be harmed. I led the songs and was conscious that it really made a difference not being amplified! I really dislike being so focused on myself! I'm amazed that God uses me. Someone prayed and a psalm was read between songs, and I felt directed to alter the order of the songs. Pastor Joey prompted me when it was to be the last song (I wasn't sure how many we would be doing!). Afterwards he read out some announcements and then introduced me and asked me to come up and share. I neglected to time myself, my left hand was shaking the whole time and I completely forget to mention the free Revolution In World Missions book... but all in all I'd say it went well. This Sunday was also their Bring & Share (yay!) and I had my Gospel For Asia literature and materials set up on a small table in the fellowship hall. I got to see Rob and Michelle again, who I met almost a year ago there. It was great get to know some of the regulars a bit more, as well as the irregulars(!) and I had some amazingly good Mexican Chicken Lasagne (quite a lot of it :-)) and some yummy re-fried beans :-D

Afterwards I went to meet my spanish friend Laura at the International Christian Fellowship in the town centre. I hadn't seen Laura for about 5 years. I got there at half an hour late and couldn't find a place to park. After parking it then took me another half an hour to ask people if they had loose change and be told no, run to ASDA to buy something, run back to the car, and then discover that parking in these zones is free on Sundays. I walked into St Matthew's just in time for the closing prayer and last song. It was a nice little set-up they had. As a visitor I was welcome by those who ran it and I presented them with my business cards. I chatted to Laura for a while and then took her in my car to pick up a bike someone had left behind for her on the other side of Cambridge.

That evening I went to stay over at my great aunt's house in Ely. The last time I had seen her was about 5 years ago when I stayed in her spare room for a month while I was working in Peterborough.

She is a Buddhist and has several Buddha statues around the house and I really didn't see any way of sharing Christ with her, but I thought I should at least see her before I go to York. When I saw her performing one of the ritual ceremonies and I ran upstairs! I felt the need to share the truth with her, but I also felt so helpless before someone so deep in her ways. I felt like a failure and hypocrite too – I am about to go and serve with Gospel For Asia and this kind of situation is probably exactly what their missionaries are regularly faced with. I went upstairs to play a few songs on my guitar and pray that the Lord would do something here today. A few minutes later I was sitting with her in the living room and she was showing me some photos of relatives in Vietnam. She mentioned that it was nice having the 4 dogs she had because sometimes she was lonely... so I told her that Jesus loves her. When she asked how I knew, I explained how we have to be punished for the bad things that we do, how God loves us, and of course I explained the cross. She by no means became a Christian but she seemed to understand what I said and we had some discussion afterwards too. It was a bit shakey, my Vietnamese isn't great and I am not sure how good her English is, but she was definitely listening. In any case I was grateful for the chance to share the love of God with her... and incidentally I'm not actually sure what her name is! What I call her means “7th great aunt”.

I also got to visit another aunt of mine and again I was lifting it up to the Lord and leaving it up to Him. Her and her husband speak better english and their young son is pretty bright. When I said I was going to serve with Gospel For Asia she asked me if I was not Catholic anymore. I told her no... and got to explain why! I got to rant on for a bit about sin, death judgment, salvation, dead works and Jesus. She also by no means became a Christian but she understood that she was a sinner and recognised that she needed what Jesus has done for her – not a bad start. I'll be praying for her and thanking God for these wonderful opportunities, I can't tell you how often I have prayed for these people, and while I haven't reaped an fruit as yet at the very least I am more at peace having had a chance to share the Gospel with them. God is good and I had a truly fantastic weekend!