#youngmission

[andrewqianwong]

final mission update for young.

So we've finished up our work here in mission. I give thanks for all the billets who put up with us, gave us a place to stay for all 17 of us. Gave us food to eat, breakfast, lunch and dinner which is a great testimony for living in Christian community. I'm thankful for the two Churches that allowed us to work with them, the Baptist Church and the Presbyterian Church which is an absolute joy. They entrusted James to oversee the teaching of our part, which becomes a great privileged for us and an honour to uphold.  I'm glad to say that it's been great to lead bible study and to preach God's word once again. I fear that I may preach hypocrisy, so I pray that I may live out God's word in my life. Only critique for me about preaching today was having too much content which is good to know for future sermons. I hope I can preach at the Presbyterian Church, because the Pastor Tim may like some breaks from preaching next year and hopefully I get to have another opportunity to continue developing my gift.  I do want to say it's been a great privilege to observe Christian families live out the Gospel and truly it's a precious gift to see the word of God thoroughly taught in these families. I'm also challenged to live out this faith of mine back at home in Canberra which has spurred me to love God more. I'm thankful for the team that I got to serve with, I've been encouraged by their efforts and picking up the slack where I have been lacking. I've also very thankful for James Stone for the success of this mission trip because of his organisation skills and leadership plus the bible teaching that he provided for with. It's been an honour to serve alongside with him for the last time and to really learn under his wing. 

Above all, I'm thankful for God for giving this opportunity for us to share in the love and fellowship with other brothers and sisters whom we don't really know. In fact I'm thankful for all the conversations that we had and the rich opportunity to be able to tell people about the good news of Jesus in some shape or another. I'm thankful the God who has placed Louis (a guy at the youth group) to come and trust in Jesus and is willing to get baptised for his faith. I also praise God for all the other conversations we had, like Theo who is a backpacker who heard God's word tonight or Mark/Robo who heard about Jesus when we walked up to them. Perhaps Alfred and Brendan who works at Garry's meats and who heard about Garry's faith in Jesus last night at the Men and Meat. Or the kids who we reach out to through kids club, school presentations or Arvo Church kids service. God has been working hard by using us to bring the message of Christ to a few. I'm thankful for Jesus who has been working in us to help us grow in our faith. Amen Tomorrow I head back to Canberra, I'll probably get cherries along the way. I'll give a hug to my billets and the kids that I got to live with. 

[andrewqianwong]

an update on young mission.

So far we have been running bible studies, testimonies, doing Christmas shows at schools, visiting an age care facility/ a dementia ward, door knocking/advertising, Women's event and Youth Group. We have just done Kids club and tonight we have our Men's event. We're pretty exhausted too, so prayer is needed for our dependence on Jesus for energy levels and concentration. We also get a break today down at the pool so looking forward to rest. 

Tomorrow is our final day for mission, we'll be preaching, continuing in giving testimonies and Sunday School. I'm looking forward to preaching myself, which I'll be giving a talk on Acts 10. Also I'm looking forward to having lunch and dinner with the two Churches that we've been working with for the past three days.  We'll head back on Monday and we'll probably get some cherries before we leave, since we are in Australia's cherry capital.

[andrewqianwong]

tonight at youth group.

Tonight was pretty hectic. I've never experience doing youth group out on a farm before either. Unfortunately the two teens who were at the skate park didn't come along. Pray that they may come tomorrow night. The rest of the teens were all boys, only 1 church kid, the others were all unchurched. There were 8 boys all up and no girls.  We played mat ball, which apparently is all they love to do. It's basically get the ball on the mat with two mats and two teams. There is no other rules, so there was heaps of shovin' and pushin'. I even scratched my shoulder along the ground as I got physical and we lost too.  We then ran our games, which were a bit messy yet a competition between two teams. Then we went inside for food and drink. Our team did a bit of prep and moved two cars for lights. We had a testimony, followed by a drama, "Everything" by Lifehouse. Then had a talk, which was about looking to Jesus with the theme of endurance tying into the games that we played before and the Everything drama.  We followed it up with a discussion group and we ended with playing 44 home. Was a great night apart from me standing on a fence and breaking it during 44 home and scraping my arm which has now stopped bleeding. Other than that I wish we had more of an opportunity to get to know the boys, although it's also encouraging to see Damien who is really good at relating to the boys in such a short amount of time. I thankful that tonight went well even though we're slowly running out of fuel. Praise God.

[andrewqianwong]

teaching your children the gospel.

I've been encouraged by my host family to see the dad in action with his interaction with the kids. Somehow the oldest son is well behaved and I think it's through the constant discipline and training that the father displays with his kids. I've only been around to see the dad in action because I haven't seen much of Jess. After dinner Phil will read the bible with his kids. I'm really want to model that when I become a father. Just being able to teach God's word to your kids is such a privileged and a responsibility as a christian parent. He would read out of a kids bible and he also had some stencils prepared probably from a Sunday School teaching booklet so his kids could colour them in.   Also one great thing was when he prayed with his youngest son. As he prayed he waited for his son to finish his words, because he's using a prayer that is familiar with his sons. It was a lovely prayer too, but I don't remember all of it. He included his names of his sons to believe and trust in Jesus and it's cute seeing Jedediah pray for his own name and his brother to believe in Jesus.  I hope one day to replicated this attitude of teaching the bible to my children.

[andrewqianwong]

walk up and advertising.

After lunch we were doing a bit of advertising with events. I handed a few out yet I was more interested in having a conversation with someone than to be handing out pieces of paper.  I managed to talk to a young German backpacker. He was telling me that he was about to leave Young to go to the Gold Coast that afternoon. So I talked on to see if he identified himself with being a Christian. He said in Germany there are two types of Christian, either Roman Catholic or Protestant and he said he identifies himself with Protestant. My response was pretty joyful about it, and asked him how his walk with Jesus is going along. As I reflect on this, maybe I should have asked about how he became a Christian or when did he trust in Jesus because I thought perhaps it would have helped me if I knew he understood what the Gospel is. 

I met another older man as I gave out a leaflet. He identified himself with the local Catholic Church and I asked how he's going with Church. He responded that it was hard due the the priest under fire with child abuse. It's horrible to hear these things and he told me it's been hard to trust in the priests and really have a heart grieving for these families that have to go through this. It was rather a quick conversation although I wish I could have stayed longer to speak with him.

[andrewqianwong]

first morning at mission.

This morning I felt I didn't get enough sleep, but it's okay I'll keep pushing through. I didn't really get to spend much time with the kids, perhaps I should wake up earlier.  Today we did door knocking. I didn't feel worried about it this time, probably because I'm okay with the idea now and I'm confident in God. I went with a girl named Alex who hates door knocking and felt really against it.  We met a mum and her daughter having a smoke. Who told us she's worried about paying the divorce application because she was filing for a divorce with her husband. So she didn't want to talk to us about God or Christmas because it wasn't immediate to her.  Later down the street we met a lady behind her screen door who said she wasn't interested. I wasn't exactly stunned by it, but we left respecting her privacy. I just wished I said "Have a great Christmas" or "I really love your house and what you have done with it". I felt a little disappointed because her house was painted purple and pink and it really deserves a compliment. Perhaps I might drop a note tomorrow just to let them know it looks great. The last house was the best house. There was a lady sitting on her porch drinking a cuppa tea. She was open to a conversation and immediately said that she believes in God because her daughter passed away at the age of two. She believes that her daughter is with God. Alex and I talked with her for ages, talking about her life, what she's been up to, what she's doing for Christmas, her granddaughter being her joy of her life, her son being a mischievous bugger and really opening up to us. Some where in the middle I asked her name and introduced our names. Her name is Lorraine and she seemed like she just wanted to have some company. We talked for about 45 minutes and I asked her if she wanted to her the Gospel about Jesus, which she responded sure. I told her about Jesus being God and taking our punishment of sin and how Jesus wants us to trust in him. I really hope somehow God will be working in her life. Her response was her two year old daughter who passed away and is now with God. I'm praying that the revelation of the Gospel will really impact her life to be trusting in Jesus for her salvation. 

[andrewqianwong]

leading a bible study first night.

It's been a great joy to head straight to someone's place completely random and run a bible study for them. Although I was here last year so I did recognise John and Garry at the bible study. I thought it would a challenge to be able to relate to an older demographic so a few nerves were thrown into the mix of emotions. It was a real delight to be in their company and to share with one another about our lives. We had a range of ages probably around their late early 40's to late 70's + three uni students and we had one of their sons sit in about 15. I'm pretty encouraged that he was there in the bible study, it really reflects the nature of the bible where the fathers teach their children. It really did show because John the dad really had this great relationship with his son, being able to relate to him well and he also had a wealth of understand what the bible said.

I was greatly encouraged by their wisdom and knowledge. They not only knew answer theologically but were able to show how it applies to them in their lives. They were so open and honest about themselves and just showing us how dependent they are upon God. That it's by grace and really we lives our lives worthy of his calling that is pleasing to God because of the wisdom of the Spirit, the understanding and the knowledge of the will of God. It's really encouraging to see that even in Young there are faithful followers of Jesus who are living their lives to please him. Through conversation I was able to gage that there is plenty of work here to be done and I think I'll be mindful of being bold for the gospel. I will keep an eye out for backpackers because I'm sure they would love to engage with people in Australia. I can't wait to see what God has in store of us for the next couple of days.

[andrewqianwong]

arrived at young.

So I've arrived in Young and already ministry has started. My first point of contact is the family that I'm staying with. I'm pretty thankful for staying with their family for the few days here. They have 2 boys which has been a delight to meet. I've been entertained by their intelligence and creativity. Even though I was tired and really exhausted from a 5 day conference, spending time with these kids is quite a joy in itself. I was fearful that the older brother would bossy to his younger brother one is 5 and the other is 3. Thankfully the older one is well taught and well mannered. Probably reflects their parents discipline and teaching. I'm thankful for them to be my billets. Still have yet to meet their mother though.