If you read the last comment that my mom wrote, then you already know that I am sick with montezuma´s revenge. I had a fever yesterday but it is gone (praise the Lord). Michael and the rest of the team are now in Vilcas Huaman. I pray that I will get better soon so that I will be able to spend some time in Vilcas Huaman and put faces with the names of the people they have already been in contact with.
The week of training was a great time of worship, studying the Bible, preparing for life in the village, and preparing to share the gospel to an oral culture. Because most of the people cannot read, we are going to share the gospel (from creation to Christ) in stories that the people can learn. Because they are an oral culture, they are able to memorize the stories much easier than we can. Another important aspect of sharing the gospel in these stories is that it is reproducible. I think we heard the word reproducibility at least 5 times a day, but I now realize its importance.
If we use certain special tools to share the gospel it is good, but if that person becomes a Christian, they will not have the same tool to share the gospel with. You don´t need any tools to share the gospel if you are telling it in the form of a story, and it is easy to understand. Our goal is the share the gospel in story form, let the holy spirit convict them of their need for salvation, and then disciple them. We will be asking the people to obey the Bible story (what are you going to do about what you have just heard), and also for them to share the story with others.
Another thing is that we are not trying to create an American style church. We are sharing with them what a Biblical Christian is, no more and no less. After a person accepts Christ we will tell them the story of the ethiopean Eunich, and encourage them to be baptized publicly. This is often a huge step of faith for the people because they are associating themselves with Christianity in front of the village.
Pray for the Work that Michael and the rest of the bunch are doing right now in Vilcas, and that I will get better soon.
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Mark,
ReplyDeleteYour Dad and I are continuing to pray for you and the others. We hope that you are getting better and regaining your strength. That you will soon be able to join the others if you have not done so already. We pray that God will use to share your faith to those that have never heard and that the Holy Spirit will go before you and prepare the hearts of those that you will minister to. MOM
Mark,
ReplyDeleteI am praying for your health to be restored so that you can continue with your mission there. I am praying that the Lord will encourage your heart as He strengthens your body. May the Lord bless your efforts as you sow the seed of His gospel.
Kelly Randolph
I wondered why I hadn't seen you on facebook. I am praying for you and miss you. I am done with my first class tomorrow, I wrote an 8 page paper on human cloning. I start my new class on Monday. This weekend is my grandpa's 80th birthday party. Please get better and don't drink the water.
ReplyDeleteI hope to one day go on a mission trip. I want to go to Africa and work with those suffering from AIDs. I plan to go after I graduate, so I have all of my training so I can better help them.
ReplyDeleteWow! I had no idea you were going to Peru this summer! I'm heading to West Africa Thursday for 6 months to start a literacy program through Bible storying. I'll be praying for you. This will be an awesome trip and God will use you greatly. You will also become exhausted spiritually (which you may have already experienced), but just keep in mind when that happens God will give you strength to go on, usually in ways you least expect it.
ReplyDeletePhilippians 1:2-9 v6 has always been a great encouragement to me as it reminds me that whatever God gives us to do, He will complete the task, even if it's after we have gone. When we have fulfilled our part, God is still at work and using the seeds we planted because we were faithful to His calling for our lives.
God bless, and know that I and many others share your heart and though we are all in different places around the world, we are all working together as one body under the headship of Jesus Christ.
Your sister in Christ,
Amanda Henkel