The Thief (Kristin)

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10

The thief reacts quickly. You see, two weeks ago I had the first Bible study with Taiza and Maria. They were so hungry to learn about God, especially Taiza. She stared at me with large, inquisitive eyes throughout our time together - time spent learning how to look up books in the Bible finding the chapter and verse, time spent talking about God as Creator and about His desire for us to know Him because he loves us so. Taiza's excitement was contagious - she being the person that suggested we do the Bible study in the first place. But in today's Bible study, it was only myself and Maria. Where was Taiza?

She's disappeared - and not just from Bible study. She has vanished from the community center as well. For the last several days, she has been on a drug binge, and the vicious addiction-guilt cycle has forced her into running - running from her responsibilities, from the people that care about her, and most importantly, from God.

But I am confident that HE who began a good work in her WILL carry it on to completion. I am praying for her and I ask that you would also pray for her. Pray that Satan's hold on her life right now would be broken and that God would draw her back to Him and to people that will lead her in a relationship with Him so that she may have life and have it to the full. Pray also that I may have the sensitivity to the Spirit to encourage and confront her with Truth.

What's He Saying? (Jeremy)

Four months into my first year here, a lady that worked at REAME invited me to the church in which her son served as the pastor. On that particular Sunday morning, I arrived late and tried to hide inauspiciously in the back row. It was to no avail, as my friend, with her hawk-like eyes, picked me off and dragged me up to the front. She introduced me to her son, who, minutes later, assumed the pulpit. From my seat on the front row, he introduced me to the congregation. Then, he announced that he would like for me to pray for the church after his sermon. However, with only six months of language experience, the difference between future and present tense was lost on me. So, I hopped out of my seat and made my way to the pulpit at that very moment. Everyone stared up at me with confused looks, while the pastor kindly clarified that he would call me up to pray after his sermon. I slithered back to my seat, wondering if my face was as red as it was hot. Forty minutes later, the fateful moment arrived. I climbed the stairs again, grabbed the microphone, and began. “Father, thank you for your brother Jesus…” I would love to say that it got better from there, but based on the eerie silence of the congregation, it didn’t. I didn’t know what I was saying, and instead of just keeping it short, I just kept going. Out of my mouth came a whirlwind of words that were completely incoherent to both me and the congregation. It was like watching a wounded animal suffer, where you are just waiting for someone to put it out of its misery.
I think last Friday night probably had a similar feel. Carol (my girlfriend), her family and I were gathered around the family dinner table. I got down on one knee and started spewing the same non-sense that I had almost six years ago. I remember saying the word love, God and marry but not much else. The idea of asking her in front of her parents was an attempt to respect something I value in her culture, but I was starting to question the intelligence of that decision. Her brother sat across the table, shifting in his seat, empathizing with my pain. I wanted to stop and start over, but, in situations like these, you don’t have the luxury of a reset button. Sometimes life is poetry, and sometimes it is more like a tragic comedy. Her gracious yes seemed to reign it all in and tag a fitting ending to what was otherwise a wonderful day. So, yes, we are now engaged. Our plan is to get married in late May and to continue living with the guys (with some space of our own of course). I find myself extremely grateful to God for the remarkable woman that he has entrusted to me.