Tuesday, June 26, 2012

ATM

Quick update: I realized I failed to update on my ATM situation which is now under control. I learned it is best to go to ATMS at larger banks or airports/train stations/etc. Thanks for praying for that situation! :)

Grace Center: Unexpected Adventure

During the past two days, I have been blessed as I explore and learn more about a unique evangelism program set up in KK. (Kota Kinabula) The Grace Center is a special school for the children of undocumented immigrants (especially Indonesian and Phillps.) Since the children are technically unable to attend a government school, many of the children are forced to then work in shopping malls, resturants, and various other low income places to help provide for families or many of the chidren end up begging on the street sides or in various gangs. The Grace Center's mission is to prevent the spread of limited/ no education for children of undocumented immigrants.  The first goal of the center is to provide a quality education to the children and the second is to show the love of Christ to the children. Many of the students come from very impoverished backgrounds and have gone most of their lives without knowing peace and love. The Grace Center offers the children not only a quality education that they would be unable to receive otherwise, but also they extend the love of Christ to the students. Students at government funded schools are not given a lunch meal, whereas students at the Grace Center are given lunch. The center was started in 1997 and has quickly grown as people hear via word of mouth about the education being offered. There are currently around 200 students attending and 50 of the 200 students are Muslim. Due to the governmental restrictions, it is illegal to pass out Bibles as well as to give open evangelism, because of this the teachers/workers are very up front and honest that Grace Center is a Christian organization. Many of the parents, even from Muslim backgrounds are grateful that a quality education is being offered to their children. Yet, it is still difficult. The teachers have small Bible studies, chapel services, and other special events around Christian holidays....their way of outreach is extremely and intentionally relational so they are not openly trying to convert...they are merely extending the love of Christ and offering valuable educational services to the students. The teachers and leaders of the center work to build relationships with each student and through extending the love of Christ and teaching them about the Bible and prayer, hope the student will then make their own choice to accept Christ.

Tuesday, I was scheduled to spend the day visiting the Center. One thing I've learned from international travel experience is always to expect the unexpected. Sometimes, plans change very quickly at the last second. This was the case on Tuesday. I was prepared to walk around the center, meet with the leaders, teachers, and observe and see the students...I ended up being gone from 8AM-3:30 AM. It was an unexpected adventure. A group from South Korea (missional choir) has been in town and invited a group of the musical students from the Grace Center to join them in a concert at a church in Kudat. I am travelling back to Kudat later this week to meet with pastors, but was not expecting this trip to occur on Tuesday. Despite the eight hours in a bus (four each way), it was a fantastic, long, day. The choir/ and group of musically students raised 10,000 dollars for the center. This trip also provided me with the opportunity to get to know some of the students and have amble time to speak with many of the teachers. Though I arrived back at STS, very late, the day was a blessings.

Some various prayer requests: for the church/ Grace Center in Malay. please pray for unity and for the government to lessen its persecution of Christians applying for jobs. One of the teachers I spoke with said that on all the job applications you must fill out your religion and Christians are discriminated against. Please pray for all the students at the Grace Center and for the teachers/ workers to continue to share the love of Christ and teach with patience and knowledge. Also, please continue to pray for safe travel for myself as well as health. I'm working hard to stay hydrated and well so I can fully participate and be present each day with each person I'm blessed to meet.

Thank you for your prayers. Much love in Christ.
Amanda :)

Monday, June 25, 2012

Update about China

Friends, Sorry I was unable to update during my time in China and I
hope to provide a full update as soon as I can. God has been so good
during my wanderings and I have so much to catch up on. Right now, I
am staying at Sabah Theological Seminary in Malayasia. I am able to
use the computers on campus so I hope to provide a recap (as best as I
can) from my time in China (hopefully, later today) I will be
attending the chapel service in a few mins. so I am unable to give a
full update but I will start....
When I arrive in Beijing, I was greeted by Michelle (whom I refer to
as one of my angels in China) she not only made sure my luggage had
arrived safely (it was late getting off the plane) but helped me at
the ATM, purchase a SIM card, and waited patiently as I tried to load
the Chinese characters of my host's address via my cell phone from
wireless. Since we were unable to reach my host, she helpled me into a
taxi and then also travelled with my on the other side of Beijing and
waited until my host was contacted and reached. The brothers and
sisters I met in China really and truly went above and beyond my
expectations of hospitality. Grace and SaSa (my host during the stay
in Beijing) and their church sisters living across the hall worked to
not only provide a place to stay but to also help me do some
sightseeing and arranged various brothers and sisters from their
church to meet with me durning my stay. I spoke with Grace and her
friend (also named Grace) during my first sightseeing day to the
Summer Palace about some of the activities in their church. Grace
explained that basically when the house church was opened (it is an
official church that meets at a house for the time being...I'll try to
explain more about this church classification system later) there are
people there to pray...even if this means 4 AM. Grace, who is an elder
at the church, spent the nights after taking care of my needs at the
church..praying with the sick and leading a Bible study to a group of
women. Grace also arranged for a trip to the Great Wall. It was
beautiful. We spent lots of time sitting around at the wall and
speaking about the church...I was unable to visit her church while
there so I wanted to get as much of a clear sense about her ministry
as I could.
After spending some time in Beijing and meeting with church leaders
there, I took the high speed train (about 310 km/hour) to Nanjing to
meet with a group coming from the United States with the Outreach
Foundation. I spent one night in Nanjing and then travelled with the
group to Haui'an, China. Haui'an is famous for Christianity in China
as it was the birthplace of Ruth Bell (Billy Graham's wife) She spent
many years there and had a love for the people of China. Haui'an
church had a wonderful museum honoring her and giving a detailed
history of their church. Every year the Outreach Foundation holds an
English exchange camp for pastors in the province to come together for
a retreat and to practice their English skills. I had the chance to
speak with pastors throughout the week and visit many churches in the
afternoon.  The largest church in the city that I was able to visit
had 10,000 members. Many of the churches have prayer meetings and
small group Bible studies. I was blessed to spend some time with some
of the hardest working, yet joyful pastors, worshipping, learning some
Chinese phrases, and hearing about their unique ministries. One pastor
at the camp questioned about America's terms, believer vs non-believer
and explained in China, Christians view people in two classifications:
believers and those who are yet to become believers. Christians are
very optimistic in their reaching out and inviting others into church.
During one of the church visits (where roughly 5,000 Christians
worship every Sunday) the group was greeted by traditional ethnic
dancing. One of the assistant pastors explained that this is used on
special occasions (Christmas, Easter, and during evangelistic events)
to help make new believers or yet to be believers feel welcomed in the
church setting which may be intiminating at first.The Christians in
China left a huge impression on my life. They are so joyful in their
worship. Everyone is smiling, clapping hands, and you can see in their
faces that they truly are happy and content as they worship the Lord.
One pastor in my small exchange group explained that while he is
thrilled the church is growing, he really prays for the people filling
the churches to have a true relationship with Christ. Even though he
is the head pastor of a congregation of 3,000, he takes time to pray
for all his members.  He works to develop smaller groups so all the
members are able to have a strong sense of Christian community.
Another pastor explained the importance of witness worshipping in
China.  This is a special worship service where yet to be believers
are able to come with friends who have invited them. The worship
service is non-intiminating where songs are song, tradtional dances
are performed.  The most important aspect of this worship is members
of the community giving their testimonies.  Brothers and sisters are
able to proclaim what God is doing in the midst of their lives. They
share stories of God's continued grace and how God has helped them in
times of suffering. My time in Haui'an and China was a blessing, as it
served not only as a rich learning experience, but also a spiritual
retreat.
Please pray for the Chinese church. Biblical training is very
important to Christians there. Since pastors are in short supply,
training for all members help reduce heresy within the church. Many
asked to pray for God to raise up new leaders within the church who
will remain faithful to the true Biblical teachings of Christ. Since
churches are growing so rapidly, there is a shortage of pastors and
much of the pastoral care situations are in the hands of other
brothers and sisters at the church. (Grace, my host in Beijing is one
of these "staff" members at a church)
I have many more stories and information from China but this is all
for now. :) Thank you for your continued prayers and I will try to
update again from Sabah soon. Love in Christ, Amanda :)

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Saying farewell to south Korea

My time in south Korea has been a huge blessing. Since my last post,I've been fortunate to meet so many great people. I travelled to visit with Dr.Son at Yonsei university and enjoyed squid for lunch with students from china, Indonesia, and the phillipines. We shared concerns about the church as well as joys. It was a great time of fellowship. I was given a tour of the school and then was lucky enough to meet with the missions professor. We discussed some more about the history of christian mission in Korean and he talked about the need for students to be on fire for Christ, so the trend of growth continues. As you may know the presbyterian church has a huge presence in south Korea about half of the world Presbyterians live here. On Friday I was able to travel to Jong suk church with grace, one of the phd students. She gave a tour and pointed out the footprints of top evangelizers at the church. In order to receive this honor, a person must share the gospel with one thousand people- there were six footprints- all belonging to women. The church is very big on outreach to foreigners living in Seoul as grace is one of the pastors for the phillipino sub church which meets on the campus of the main church. After spending part of the weekend with angela, a friend from summer camp, and having a great time of catching up and fellowship, I arrived back in Seoul to attend the famous Myung sung Presbyterian church. The church holds five services that are all packed in a huge building. There were easily 10000 if not more people worshipping at the service I attended. Hearing the choir sing with a full orchestra was too beautiful for words. The worshippers were very engaged in the service and the preacher was quite dynamic. I wish I could upload pictures now to my blog to show the size. The choir was bigger than any congregation I've been in. Many I've spoken with stress the need for quality Christians attending services over quanity, but it seemed this group was on fire for the word and for Christ. Very early Monday morning, south korea time, I'll travel to Beijing china to explore the city and meet with some folks there. I'll then meet up with a group traveling with the outreach foundation in nanjijng, for a English exchange. We wil speak with a group of pastors, tour their churches and various cultural sites, and spend time in mornings and evenings worshipping together. I'm looking forward to this time. Please keep my travels in your prayers as well as praying for Christians around the world- God is living and active on every corner of His great earth. I'm not sure of internet connection over in China but I'll blog again when I can. Love in Christ,

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Greetings friends! Quick blog post update from Korea. After feeling a little sick yesterday I was very anxious to get out of my hotel room. Since my schedule was free today, I took time to see the city of Seoul and learn more about Korean culture. I took a city tour bus and stopped at several sites ranging Crome war memorial of Korea, namsangoi tradiotnal Korean village, Seoul tower, changdeokgung palace, natural folk museum, and observed the changing of the guards at gyeongbokgung palace. I even managed to do a little bit of shopping. Walking around the palace grounds was very interesting as I was able to learn some brief historical facts about each dynasty and of course take tons of pictures. It was a beautiful day for sightseeing and I enjoyed being out and about the city. Tonight, I will try to go to a Wednesday night prayer service....I believe it occurs at 6 if I translated correctly lol :) I will probably go earlier to make sure. Korean Christians have various services on Sundays as well as Wednesday's with mornings being reserved for prayer. The Christians here are passionate about maintaining prayer life, which is something I greatly admire. Wishing all of y'all a happy Wednesday. Peace in Chirst, Amanda Also, my ATM card works at vendors but not ATMs. Thankfully I will be able to borrow money from my professor. Hopefully this won't be a problem elsewhere.

Monday, June 4, 2012

Series of Godwinks

since arriving in Seoul a few days ago, I have realized God walking with me and putting the right patient people in my path. For those who are unfamiliar with the book when god winks at you, I'd highly recommend it. The book tells a series of stories that show the consquences of god at work within the situation. In many of the stories God puts the right person in the characters path at the exact moment they need it. If you don't know me personally, I am very much a small town girl...always have been. In fact, when I moved Pittsburgh I had a hard time finding my way around. Navigating a foreign city like Seoul would be a challenge without the help of new friends, ministers, and randomly placed strangers. god definitely keeps showing up somehow to help me get from point a to b, which I'm so thankful for. Yesterday a business man walked me to the right bus station and waited for the bus with me to make sure the driver knew where I was going to get off. :) I was able to meet up with a friend of one of my friends from school who helped me get around the city some more. We went out for rice cake and traditional Korean teA, which was fabulous. My plan for Sunday changed a bit. I attended 100 memorial church. This church has several services because they are unable to hold all their members in their worship space for one service. I spoke with two of the 25 pastors and learned that between the services there's 6500 worship attendees. After a bit of confusion I was able to sit in on the worship service and listen to a translator translate. Though the church was non demoninational it was very traditional and had presbyterian undertones. I meet some English teachers who informed me that every week the church welcomes 3-5 new members...this is mainly due to the historical value of the church building. The church also had a museum of missionary service to Korea and a graveyard for foreign missionaries. It was interesting to read their individival stories. Monday I was able to navigate the bus system...with lots of help as the ,ap was in Korean and not English :) to myongi university to meet with the chaplains. Dr. Jae hong koo e head chaplain explained more about the history of the Korean church attributing the growth to church providing hope for future. He said Koreans are very passionate about prayers and hold prayer meetings daily....from 4-6am and all Friday night. He explained they take time to study the bible and have good and powerful pastors. The Korean church also does not hold year of the year budget meetings as all the members faithfully tithe since that is what the bible calls for and they desire to be obedient to the teachings of the bible. He also spoke of the new desire for quality over quantity of members staing he wanted members to be true Christiana and Christ followeers. We were joined by dr. Chung over a great Korean Chinese lunch. He spoke of desiring a strong passion from the younger generations... Similar to our situation in the us. When I arrived back to the hotel, an elderly man randomly approached me and we spent two and a half hours discussing missions, evangelism, and English literature. He explained he did his phd work in t.s Elliot's imagery and metaphor. Being an English major, it was great to speak with him at length about the great books. I also was asked to pray for his younger friend...grandchild to find a job and husband. I got the sense that she was considered about living life alone. It was great to chat with them. Random aside: I've enjoyed watching old lost shows as I wake up too early from jet lag :) Prayer requests: the chaplains at myongi asked for prayers for a continued And renewed passion for Christ. Please also pray for sage traveling and health along with my ATM card. I was able to draw out cash once then my cards keep getting rejecting. I'm hoping this issue will be resolved soon. Thanks and love in Christ, Amanda

Friday, June 1, 2012

Hello friends! Greetings from Seoul Korea,I arrive safely to the Korean church building that houses many of the Presbyterian offices in Seoul. Not too much to report yet, I'm looking forward to attending a 20,000 plus member church on Sunday though I'm told it is one of the smaller congregations! I was reminded of the verse staing the lord himself goes before you and is with you. Don't be afraid or discouraged. God certainly is here in south Korea and he has been using the wonderful kindness of complete strangers to help this small town southern girl navigate the big city. All is well. Please pray for me to fight jet lag as I explore south Korea. Love and peace in Christ,