Today our group devotional centered on John 15:1-5 & 8; which addresses our need to remain connected to God in order to be fruitful. After group devotions we watched a David Platt informational video about Hinduism in preparation for our morning visit to a local Hindu temple. During lunch we were blessed to meet Sarah, a young Burmese woman who was raised in a Buddhist family, and to hear her testimony. We then returned to the ministry center at Vickery Meadows for our final afternoon with the kids ministry. We met the kids coming off the school bus, played with bubbles, volleyball, chalk, and other things before teaching the story of Daniel in the lions' den to such a large group of kids that we had to do the play outside (where many of the local adults got to watch as well).
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| Team at Hindu temple |
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| Amber and Sarah (former Buddhist) |
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| Playground friends |
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| Playground ministry |
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| Daniel and the Lions den |
From Jacob:
Today was our last day of being able to minister to the kids. Over the past few days of getting to know them, I’ve grown closer to them and have built relationships through activities and games we’ve played. Today was hard because it was the last time I get to see the kids I’ve made connections with and spent time growing closer to. I have been blessed by being able to make these kids happy but I think I’ve been the one who has gone through the change and realization of what I can do with God and what He can do for me and through me. He has blessed these kids through me and has made me feel a lot more appreciative of what I have. I am thankful that I got to come on this trip.
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| Jacob and Rashid |
From Emily:
The visit to the Hindu temple today caught me a bit by surprise; the tour began, not with a visit to their worship area but, with a brief overview of Hinduism followed by a question and answer time. I was surprised by many things about Hinduism but the biggest was in finding out that they do not seek new believers or evangelize in any organized way. I was also surprised to find out that many Hindus believe different things and that the temple we toured even had three different sets of idols designed to service three different belief paths a person could choose.
During the question and answer period, I got the distinct feeling that the lady who was giving us the tour very much preferred to not ask questions of her belief system and even rejected questioning ours when we offered to answer any questions she had of Christianity.
I left the temple with a feeling of pity for the many people who follow faiths that require people to attempt to reach up to God's level on their own strength and do not offer any form of assurance for the afterlife even if they devote their entire lives to 'doing the right thing' in the eyes of their chosen faith.
Praise be to our Savior who cared enough to reach down to us!
Our lunch with Sarah was a wonderful source of encouragement and re-energized me for the afternoon with the kids. To hear of her escape from the despair, bitterness, and frustration she experienced while adhering to Buddhism contrasted with the joy, forgiveness, freedom and life she glows with now was like a shot of caffeine when I needed it most.
The afternoon kid ministry was almost a blur to me as there were precious little ones asking questions and begging attention at every turn and two little sisters in particular who stole my heart and demanded most of my time. However, as fast as the afternoon play time seemed to fly, the story time was certainly a memorable one as I watched the children and even quite a few adults peeking out of their houses and lingering on porches listening to the story of Daniel in the lions den. The activity of the wordless story bead bracelet blessed me more than I ever expected as I witnessed team member after team member go over each color of the bracelet, telling and re-telling the salvation story in the simplest way possible. I also was in the thick of it and felt my own heart swell with gratitude at each opportunity and hope as I looked into each precious face.
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| Emily and friends |
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