So to start off with I have to apologize for the lack of updates in the last 3 weeks. It has definitely been a busy time but thankfully I have some time now to rest. It's hard to believe that this trip is already half over. When I got here it felt like time was creeping by the first couple of weeks and once things picked up and I began to get into my routine, time has gone by much faster. I guess the saying is true that time flies when you're having fun.
The last 3 weeks have been filled with our team taking on a little bit more than what we already do. Our missionary spent a week in London with the IMB and that week my two team mates and I held the fort down so to speak. Once he returned the next two weeks were devoted to doing things to help get our Haiti team all ready to go. They are currently in Haiti this week and I would like to ask you to pray for them as they help rebuild homes for people who haven't had one in a long time.
If there is one thing that I could pass along that has really stuck out to me, it would be the Bible Study we had a couple Thursday nights ago. We are going through the book Radical by David Platt and in one of the first couple of chapters he talks about Christians and missionaries who are in countries where they have to have church in secret. A couple of the girls here thought that it would be a good idea to have our Bible study in the same fashion that week and so we did. As I walked to the study that night, I tried to put myself in the shoes of those missionaries who have to do that. Walking alone to a place that is a secret and showing up at different times and then sitting in a pitch black room with no heat, no music, no chairs...no nothing. We kept the heat off that night so it was kind of chilly (some people might say it was cold), didn't turn on the lights, didn't play any music and sat together as a group in the midst of candle's. We whispered as we talked about our subject that night and it was incredible what was felt that night. I think it is something that everyone should try at least once with a study. I think that sometimes the Gospel can get lost in the middle of trying to make everything else around you fancy to a certain degree but when you gather as believers in a place with just the Gospel, you're mind focus' in because honestly the Gospel is all you have and need in those moments. Thus is the case with our brothers and sisters in Christ in certain parts of the world.
I would also be lying if I said that I didn't hit a couple day stretch where I had low points of just wanting to be home. I figured that it would happen at least once but before I came I had wondered how I would respond in a place with no family or really any friends. As I reflect on the time that I have spent here so far, it has been a great experience and I have learned a lot about God and about myself in God. I think living in a place where the Gospel is so common can blind a person to the lost world around them. I know this has been the case for me. I don't think I can or could ever look at people the same again when I've spent everyday for the last 2 months in a place where 99.5% of the people I walk by could spend an eternity separated from Christ.
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