The Fight to the Finish

Well...as this week reaches its end, many struggles and prayer requests have grown! These past few days have been difficult for me. I'm not sure if its simply the expected difficulties that usually come with the 3rd week or if it's something else but what I do know is that I've had to gear up even stronger every day and fight the schemes of the devil 10 times harder than I had been in order to keep up the fight for God and the gospel.

We lead the youth group of a different church last Sunday night. I helped lead worship along with a few other teammates. Then a few other teammates gave their personal testimonies of how God brought them to Himself and how He has been working in their lives. They were great testimonies and things seemed to be going about the same as they would at any other Christian church I could think of until the Pastor gave his closing remarks. The first thing he said when he reached the front was that the whole idea of a personal relationship with God is a good thing but they don't teach that there. They focus on congregational fellowship and morality.

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... What??? (That was the reactions in our heads). I guess none of us realized until that moment that simply the term "Christian Church" doesn't necessarily mean the same thing as it would mean to us. I know there are plenty of churches in the states whose congregations claim Christianity but don't truly know Christ as their Savior, however I'd never known one to say they are Christian but don't need Christ. How does that even work? "Christian" means "little Christ" or "Christ follower". That would be like a Buddhist who doesn't follow Buddha. It's an oxymoron.

My heart broke at that moment as I looked around at the dozens of kids their who attend that church multiple days a week every week and have no idea who Christ is or why they even go to church!! They don't even know that they need to be saved! I'm pretty sure we all felt pretty overwhelmed at that moment. The youth group is 6th-12th grade and a few of the kids attend S.P.I.C.C here but even going to the Christian school where they memorize chapters of the Bible and recite them all the time, they have no idea what they are saying! It's the worst deception. This island is completely free for the devil to do as he wishes (within God's control)! It's terrible!!

That experience changed they way we all viewed the island and how we did things at school. We realized that the children get anger, discipline and the Bible drilled into their heads but they never see CHRIST. So for the last 2 weeks we dedicated ourselves to trying our absolute best to live as examples of Christ, loving, patient and kind, explaining everything Biblical we possibly could! I taught my class 5th & 6th graders several verses put to song and explained the meanings behind them. They enjoyed that a lot and request to sing them every day. One song they are going to perform in the school assembly next week.

I can't help but feel heavy-hearted that we only have tomorrow and then one more week with these kids! I am teaching the Bible lesson tomorrow. I'm continuing to teach about the life of Christ, (that has kind of been our ongoing theme) why He came, what He did and why that matters. I pray that God would completely speak through me! I've been having an extra hard time teaching this week and I really don't know why! It's been frustrating!

Tutoring Garrett continues to go well. I talked to his mother more about his problems. It turns out he has a neurological disorder which makes it tough to write and that has made him dislike school in general. He hasn't showed too much improvement but I know that what he needs is far more than I can do in a few weeks. I pray that someone else here on the island will be able to continue to work with him after I leave. His older sister has down syndrome so his mother has had to spend more time working with her and sadly I think that might have effected Garret as well. I wish I could do more for them but I must trust in the fact that God has him in His hands.

I need to wrap things up so I guess it's time for prayer requests. Where to begin...?

PLEASE PRAY FOR:

1.) My team as we've been together for a long time. Its not as fun or easy as it used to be and personality conflicts have began to come up.

2.) The gospel to spread somehow (whether it be through the youth group we attend every Friday, the new youth group we spoke to last Sunday, the school we've been teaching at or various people we've met along the way!

3.) Myself as I feel overwhelmed, weaker and more unequipped than ever before! I know doubt is from satan and has no place in God's plan so I need to work through that no matter how hard it is!

4.) Our last week of school. PLEASE pray that the children would see Christ through us somehow! And that the Biblical truths we've planted in them would begin to take root.

5.) My family as they continue to morn the loss of my Grandma (even though we are happy she is with Jesus and forever free from the curse of sin! Praise the Lord!)

6.) Our current (Fa'atui's constant) fight for God's truth here! Pray that God would soften hearts for His kingdom. The devil's work is so obvious here and the deception is almost unbearable! The Bible is everywhere but it doesn't mean anything to anyone! They mix in worship of their ancestors (demons) and so many other things. They idolize the dead and it's awful!

7.) Energy, endurance, patience and peace... It's hard to accept that we're only human and we can only do so much in our last week & a half.


THANKS SO MUCH!!! TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!!!