How it's going

Okay, so I meant to write more frequently, but I guess I kinda failed at that.  I feel like the days go by so fast here.  I had jumped in with a college team from my town for the 3 weeks they were here, minus the days I was a little sick, and it was so great!  God did so much while they were here.  We've gotten to see one new house church start for sure and are hoping to see more.  That was from a couple that some girls on the team met the first days they were in town.  That couple made decisions to follow Jesus and later invited the girls to their house.  There they got to share with the family members of the couple and they too decided to follow Jesus.  Now they are sharing with their family, all of who is from a region in the north of India that doesn't have a lot of believers.  We were talking about how fun it is to see new things begin among those that previously didn't know anything about Jesus.  It is refreshing to see how many people here are hungry to know God.  There are many that aren't hungry also, but God is definitely moving.

One of my favorite things that I'm getting to do now is follow-up with new believers, getting to start discipling and training them.  I have such a passion to see the church here grow up and become strong- well, actually I'm passionate about that happening everywhere (I love the Church!).  The other day I was praying and God reminded me of the parable of the mustard seed (Matthew 13:31-32).  He said that he has planted small mustard seeds of faith here, but they would grow up to be a huge, strong tree that will reach out and touch other nations.  Just like how the birds of the air perch in the branches of the tree of the parable, people form other nations will be drawn to the work that the Lord is doing in this country.  Please pray that the seeds of faith that have been planted in new believers' lives would grow up to full maturity- that God would do all that He's wanting to do in their lives!

I've gotten to meet with awesome women that are really hungry for the Lord and love sharing Him with others.  One woman I met with was from a Christian background but had never really heard about having a relationship with Jesus.  A girl from the college team had shared with her and gotten to pray with her to start a relationship with Jesus.  I went with her a week later to meet her, and when we asked if she had gotten to share about Jesus, she replied, "Oh yes, I shared with my husband, and my sister, and my sister-in-law, my sister-in-law's daughter..." and kept listing people.  We asked her if people had wanted to know Jesus when she shared, and she said that yes, most of them had prayed to receive Jesus, and her sister-in-law was so excited that she started sharing with her friends, too.  We asked her how many people accepted Jesus and after thinking a bit, told us that about 9 or 10 people, but her sister-in-law had shared with many people, so she wasn't completely sure.  What?!? God's so cool!  I met with her the other day with a girl from the team here and the woman is so hungry to know God and share what she's learning with others.

Another girl I met with is from a Hindu background but was excited to have a relationship with Jesus when she learned what it meant.  We went through the first discipleship lesson with her and she really understood the Gospel.  She made a list of friends she wanted to share with, and when I called her back the other day, she said that she had shared with her friends and they want to know more about Jesus, so they're going to come to our next meeting.  I love seeing God move because I feel like I'm not really doing anything except getting to talk about Him.  And I feel like I'm learning so much about God as I'm sharing Him with others.  I'm constantly learning how amazing the Gospel is and how good God is to us!

There are awesome stories of what God is doing, but it's also been difficult trying to find times to meet with people here because they are busy and don't normally make set plans of what they do.  Like I had talked to a girl about getting together on Tuesday night, but that meant for me to call her on Tuesday and see if she was free then, and when I called she had last minute decided to go out of town for a week and was already on the road.  It's so strange to me because I'm used to being able to make plans with someone a couple of days away.  But I'm learning to be a little more flexible and to trust God when I'm not able to immediately follow-up with somebody.

Today I'm going out with another team that's here to help meet people to do follow-up with.  I have a new roommate that got here a couple of days ago from Kansas City.  She's a lot of fun and it's been great going out with her.  I believe we're about to go out to lunch, so until later!