distant shores and the islands will see Your light as it rises on us

Late last night, I returned home from pre-field training. I am physically weary, but spiritually invigorated. There is so much that I could say about it, but a thousand words would not do these past few days justice. God is amazing. Serve Asia workers are awesome.

I was excited even before training, but now I am pumped. I'm excited not only for what God is going to do in Thailand, but also for what He's going to do all over east Asia. It was such a blessing to spend time with so many people that have such a heart and a passion for God and for the lost. One of my favorite parts of the training was hearing my team mates' testimonies. It's so amazing to see how God worked in individuals with such different backgrounds and experiences to bring them to a saving faith and then to OMF. I can't wait to hear the stories of how God has worked in and through the Serve Asia workers.

I'm excited not just for the immediate future, as everyone goes off on their missions, but also for the more distant future-- for eternity. I can't wait for the day when we will all be together again, before the throne of God, worshiping Him with brothers and sisters from every nation, tongue, and tribe.

But even in the midst of all this excitement, I think it's important to acknowledge the dangers and the struggles that are going to come with this trip. For me especially, and I'm sure for some of my team mates, the fact that we don't really have a plan is going to be a test of faith. We're not completely sure of where we're living. We don't really know what we're doing, either. But one verse that God has been trying to pound into my head since my senior year of high school is Proverb 19:21, which states, "Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand."  Pray for me, that I would cling to this verse and trust that God has a plan even if we don't. Pray for the team, that the logistics would be worked out, but even more importantly that because we don't have a plan ourselves, that we would be more open to whatever God has in store for us. 

Pray for all the missionaries, that we would be equipped with the full armor of God to stand against spiritual attacks. Spiritual warfare of any kind is dangerous, but the testimonies we heard this weekend tend to sound more frightening than what we are normally exposed to. Here in the States, Satan tries to lull us into lives of complacency and secularism. Overseas, though, the battle tends to be more intensely psychological and physical. The speaker on spiritual warfare told us about a trip to Northeast China. Before she'd even reached the one month mark, Satan had placed suicidal thoughts and plans in her mind. She knew where, when, and how she would do it. Later on, she found out other team leaders had had those exact same thoughts. This isn't meant to scare us, but to wake us up to reality. There is a battle waging and our only offensive weapon is the gospel of truth. There is power in God's Word and there is power in prayer.

With all this talk of spiritual warfare, I'd really like to ask you to pray for the individual placements, especially the ones going alone to places they have never been before. The day we left, a couple of guys shared how they had been spiritually oppressed even during the training. Pray for those going alone, that they would be able to confide in and draw encouragement from their host missionaries. Pray that they would always feel God's spirit with them. Pray against negative thoughts and feelings, such as loneliness, depression, and frustration.  

Being with a team is great because you know you have a network of support to fall back on. Thank God for every individual he picked for our team and how we came together so well for the first time this weekend. But even in the best teams and even (or especially) on missions teams, there's a potential for conflict. Pray that we would have the "same mind, the same love, [be] in full accord and of one mind.. and in humility count others more significant than [ourselves]." (Philippians 2:2-3) 

In a sense, this training was a lot like the summer camps we went to as kids. We'd make fast friends and create some supposedly indelible memories. And at the end you'd exchange contact information and pinky-promise to be friends forever. But I think there's one key difference between this past weekend and those camps. With summer camp friends, we'd stay in touch for a little while and then fall out of each others' lives because there was nothing better to talk about than bygone memories or our selves. But I expect and I'm hoping that this will be different, because it's not about us-- it's about God. I wholeheartedly thank Him for each and every person that I met this weekend. If you're a Serve Asia worker reading this, I hope you know that I would love to hear all your "God stories" not only from this summer (or fall or winter), but for the rest of your life.

yours in Christ,
rebecca

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace... in the defense and confirmation of the gospel - Philippians 1:3-7