Living Missionally!

Hey hey everyone! This week has been so cool! We continue to be blessed with so many amazing opportunities to spread the light and joy inside of us to those around us! 

Wedding!! On Saturday night, our squad was invited to an Indian wedding reception! The wedding was so encouraging to me! In all of the wedding festivities, Christ was at the center! The bride and groom walked into the reception to worship music, we danced to worship music, and the joy of the Lord was so prevalent throughout everything! Personally, I was greatly encouraged to see so many people praising the Lord, even in a country where it is extremely rare to be a Christian! During the dancing, my squad performed the “church clap” dance for all of the wedding guests! It was hilarious and so amazing!!

My squad at the wedding! And me and one of our hosts, Jessica!

Living Missionally! On Tuesday night, a group of 5 people from my squad went to a church service to speak about the importance of living missionally and on fire for the gospel! As I was preparing to speak, I was reminded that the gospel really is such GOOD NEWS and it literally changes our lives! Jesus has set us free and has given us new life in Him! We live in freedom from Him in our lives here on Earth and in his promise of eternal life in heaven! It is such GOOD NEWS!! So, my passion for the Lord and the goodness of new life in Him should overflow into everything I do and set me on fire to go out and share this good news! Also, God calls us to abandon everything that we cling to and to hold fast to Him as we go out and spread the good news! But, the best part is that God is our refuge and strength and will always be with us through all of it! And he wants to bring us more and more fullness of life and joy in Him as we learn to truly trust and lean on Him! I shared Isaiah 61:1 as I spoke at church. It says,

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord God has anointed me to bring good news to the poor, he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound. 

Stepping into Boldness! This past week, I have been learning to be bold and to not be afraid to speak up and preach in front of others. As I shared above, I had the opportunity to speak in church on Tuesday night! I also got to share a quick message and a bit of my testimony in church on Friday night! It is so cool that God empowers each of us to go testify about Him and also that the Holy Spirit is with us and guiding us through all of it! Knowing that the outcome is not up to me and is up to God is so comforting! Our mistakes can’t mess up God’s plan! God is so much bigger than anything we do or don’t do! 

Praises/Memories from the Week!

One of the students gave me and my squadmates, Gigi, henna! It is so beautiful!

Teaching our students about emotions!

Weekend trip to an island called Penang! It was an amazing time of soaking in the beauty of creation and spending time hanging out and laughing with each other!

Squad Halloween party!!

Coffee dates!

Prayers! 

• We are headed to Bangkok, Thailand! This week, my team found out that we will be going to Bangkok in about two weeks for our next ministry location! In Thailand, our squad will be split up into smaller teams in different parts of Thailand! Be praying for our squad as we split up, for safe travels, and for soft hearts of the people we will be serving and ministering to!
• Continued growth of relationship with our students here in Malaysia for our final two weeks here!
• Our ministry hosts! Be praying that their ministry would continue to be fruitful while we are here and after we leave!
• Energy and health for my squad! We continue to battle lots of sickness and are definitely not getting enough sleep! Pray for health and energy to push through even when we are tired!

Thanks for being here, for praying with me, and loving me! I love you all!

Until next time,

Alia