Big World, Small World

Let's see, where to start. I have so much I can talk about, but basically I am here at IT Project and already starting "Around the World in 50 days!" It's pretty intense stuff ...Well, since you are trying to follow me through, I will do a debrief of the days I think are more important. Not that every day is not, just that there are days that some are better than others! :) SO, on Friday we had evangelism training in the morning and then practiced the bridge illustration with our brief testimony stuck in there.

Little rabbit trail....As many of you know, my testimony is not really anything real exciting. I grew up going to church every Sunday, I always did my best to obey and honor my parents and avoided smoking, alcohol, drugs, you know the intolerables... I went to Christian schools and was surrounded by great Bible teaching and missionary families who showed me how to love like Christ loved. I am forever grateful for them and the years I spent there, because it was when I went to boarding school (Tambo) in Bolivia for 7th grade that I realized my need for Christ and to have my identity be found in Him rather than on the things I did for Him. Finally, the gospel was made clear to me as to why Christ died for me and not just that He loves me because the Bible tells me so.

So, there you go, that's my testimony in brief! That prepared us for Saturday morning when we did some more training and then headed to Chinatown to do some evangelism! We ate at the famous Foo Chow place, which is where Jackie Chan's famous movie Rush Hour was shot at. That's right. You read it correctly. I said Rush Hour and Jackie Chan! :) Anyways, after lunch, we got paired off and shared the bridge with a couple of people. I was pretty nervous since I never had done it, but thankfully I was paired off with Amy Breeding who had done it before. We went on a prayer walk first and then when we came back, these two little girls were blowing bubbles. NOW, these weren't regular water soap bubbles, these were Chinese blowing bubble paraphernalia. Naturally, as curious as we are, we approach them and start small talk. These two girls were accompanied by a man named Lolito, who come to find out was there with some of his college friends for a little reunion. SO, me trying to engage the conversation asked from where they graduated to which he said- Azusa Pacific! My face lit up and excitedly I told him my siblings went to the school and that Tony was graduating this Dec. Sure enough, a lady came out of the bakery and the first words of her mouth was, "Tony's your brother?" I said, "Yes!" Then she said, "Yeah, I can totally see the resemblence now!" Apparently I'm a girl version of what Tony would look like if there was one! :) It was crazy. Anita worked at the Internationals Admissions office at APU and was an alumni from there too. Talk about small world! It was neat, because this first encounter with "strangers" made me realize that there is always going to be something that helps us connect with others, but you will never find out until you talk to them.

The following lady named Wendy that we shared with claimed to be a Christian, but when asked if she had ever read Rom. 6:23, she said she didn't. Her dose of Christianity involved watching Joel Osteen every Sunday. As Amy began explaining the illustration and how any sin can separate us from God, she began to get uncomfortable. Before Amy could finish, she said her friend was waiting for her and needed to head out but that she believed everything the Bible says about Jesus and that she believed that God forgives everyone of their sins. Hopefully she continues to search for truth. I'm not here to judge her and what she believes, but I pray that she seeks God above all things and does not just settle with just believing, but that she will share her faith and be bearer of the good news to others.

After Wendy was Irene, an older Mexican woman who had problems with hearing, but was willing to hear what I had to say and share with her. She had this joy in her eyes and while I was explaining again how God's holy and perfect and man is not, she beat me to it and said, "But that's why Jesus came!" It was so encouraging because she was right on track and she kept saying how it didn't work if Jesus wasn't part of the picture. After I was done, we prayed with her as she wanted prayer for her family, especially her grandkids to understand and know Jesus as their personal Savior!

Lastly, there was this older Chinese man named Song who was playing a Chinese violin called an erhu? No idea how to spell it, but most of the girls were huddled around him and listening to him play music. Turns out, he had come just a little over a year ago. No family or anything, just himself. Besides playing music, he sold dentures and sharpened knives, scissors, etc. An unlikely combination, but guess it works for him! :) After playing a few more tunes, we handed him a John track booklet with both English and Chinese in it for him to read. Thankfully God used others before us to share with him and took him to a nearby Chinese church already where he can get plugged in. Praise the Lord!

So, that was my experience at Chinatown! Then on Sunday we did some more training and in the evening we went to Mosaic Church at the Mayan. They are basically a church that meets on Sunday nights when it's not a night club. It was different for sure, but God is using that church to bring so many people who would probably never step foot in a church otherwise. "For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them."- Matt. 18:20.

Yesterday, we had a work day, in which we did some weeding and did some cleaning in some of the courtyards at campus. We heard Neil Walker talk about God's heart for the nations and our response to change. That will have to be for another blog, because he had a lot of interesting points. BUT, I hope you found it somewhat encouraging and maybe interesting to hear what we're all doing here so far. I know I'm really bad at blogging...It's a lot harder than one would think! Seriously...start one and then you will know!

OH and today, we started perspectives! Jeff Lewis from California Baptist University spoke this morning about God being a missionary God. Lots of good information all trimmed down to 3 hrs worth of stuff. They weren't joking about the whole Intensive Training! Welp, I have 35 pages of reading to do, so I better get on it! ;) More to follow on what I am learning and not just what I am doing here soon. REAL SOON!

Much love,
Roxy