So, my wonderful blog viewers, we Englishes have been off the blog and interwebs map for a while now. For this, I apologize. The only excuse I can give is that the Boardwalk Chapel is time consuming. Though time here has been rewarding and incredible beyond imagination, free time that is not consumed by rest and food (necessities) is hard to come by. Looking back, I probably should have been more like my friend Tim and updated facebook statuses daily rather than attempting to fill up a blog every other day. Looking forward, this beautiful black hole we call ministry/missions takes a lot of time, and I am growing less sure of my updating abilities once we get to Japan. Let us pray that I can figure out how to do this better! :)
Though the summer is nearly over (We have three official weeks left, and one week after that of only evangelism), and I am sure I can once again post more regularly about more current items, I'd like to share a few of my favorite lessons/times at the Boardwalk since we last posted. Consider this my personal reel of "Best Ofs" this summer.
1. Ministry to Muslims: We have met a lot of Muslims this summer, mostly from Alexandria. A lot of them came for the summer to work on the Boardwalk at various shops lining the coast. We have immensely enjoyed evangelizing to them and forming friendships with them. All of those on staff pretty much had our own favorite Muslim friend that we individually talked to and prayed for most. I had my "Abdul" who works in the t-shirt shop two stores over, though Chris Byrd and Isaiah talked to him quite a bit as well. Isaiah had his "Abdul" who works in the paid parking. And Jed fervently wanted to do a bible study with the one who has his heart most: Omar. I realize this sounds a bit odd; however, choosing close friends of different religions and individually pleading before the Throne on their behalf is incredibly powerful. Us all having our "favorites" helped us plead with true hearts and passionate Spirits. We also had a prayer meeting for the Muslims specifically a few weeks ago which staff, youth group members, and Christians from surrounding shops attended. To start off, we watched a youtube clip of Nabeel Qureshi, a devout Muslim who converted to Christianity and now follows Matthew 28:19-20 fervently. After watching this, we broke into heart-felt prayer for friends and strangers we had met over the summer who believe in Allah rather than in the true Triune God of Truth. A few also fasted for the Muslims on the Boardwalk the following day. Prayer Note: Isaiah and I are currently talking to a new favorite friend who is actually incredibly excited abut the gospel of Jesus; she had never heard it before. She was pumped to receive an Arabic bible from us last night, and we plan on going back to her shop and reading it with her.
In summation, encountering more Muslims, sharing our hearts with them and with God in reference to them, and learning more about Islam in general this summer has been a blessing!
2. Danny Dieckmann's Youth Group: Though there are many youth groups that I enjoyed this summer, Danny's youth group (which included many of his siblings) was part of the highlight of my summer. Due to the rapport they already had with the chapel, the tight-knit nature of their relationships with each other, their good planning, and their outgoing and out-of-box personalities, they brought my heart much joy! We not only had a great week working on Drama, which was awesome because they are all naturally talented actors and actresses. We also went to the water park here (Splash Zone) along with Nate, Alexandra, and the Dieckmann youth group. It was a blast! From the big bucket that gave us all back pain (lol) to the awesome four seater water slide that we rode with Nate multiple times, it was a great Thursday morning! In addition, they all took us out for breakfast at Key West Cafe before they left. Just in general they made me feel like a part of their youth group family from the start, and this was awesome! It was nice to have a break from feeling like I needed to make youth groups closer via my openness and just have a group envelop me with love and closeness from the start.
3. Conversations with brother Ninja Tim or TIM-O-TEE: Tim conversations this year have been invaluable to me spiritually. Not only did our friend Tim love all of the Asian foods and chopsticks that we eat/use/obsess about (Nate was also part of this group of Asian lovers), he also made very good conversation. I was able to open up to him easily and because he is a logical philosopher but also speaks in analogy and picture, hearing his thoughts about things was awesome because I actually understood him and well! It was so cool being fed the logic that I needed wrapped in pictures that I could swallow easily. Tim was incredibly important to my understanding the doctrines of hell, the wrath of God, and the justice of God this summer. Paul English, Isaiah's dad, started me on the journey before I got here, Jay-Z (our leader) helped quite a bit, and them Tim happened and everything clicked. I no longer have a hard time with God's justice. In fact, I celebrate it and speak with a lot more boldness, partially do to my friend Tim who can speak of magic and doctrine in one sentence. My kind of communication! It's like Disney with Depth!
4. Getting to Minister as a Married Couple About relationships: Another one of my favorite parts of the summer was getting to have input in people's love lives, relationships, and prayers pertaining to romance and marriage along with my husband. I cannot express to you how cool it is to speak alongside the one God meant for me about these things! And the awesome part is: Isaiah and I fill in each other's thoughts so well. No, we don't finish each other's sentences. That is not what I'm saying. What I mean is we tend to speak to people's hearts about opposite sides of an issue; thus, leaving them with the full/whole picture. I enjoyed speaking to others about romance and Jesus so much this summer! What a privilege to be married to one who can round out what I say. What a privilege to be with one who loves my communication too. What a privilege to get to be in someone else's head and heart and life to such an extent that we truly do start to become one flesh not only to each other but in conversation with others!
5. Talking to Folks About Struggle and Pain: I used to wonder why I struggled so much with pain and kept asking God to take it away, but this summer alone made it all worth it! I learned that I LOVE evangelizing, but am especially good at it when I stay at the Heaven & Hell machine here since the questions give me logic to follow which I can then infuse with analogy, passion, and relatable material. It seemed that every time I worked the machine, folks with a ton of struggle would come up to talk. God was drawing people to me who he knew I could help due to my past and his Holy Spirit. I loved speaking with people about suicide, being gay, being hated by God or their parents, being raped, and death of loved ones. I did not love speaking about these things because I am a sadist who wishes everyone pain. I loved talking with folks about these thins because thanks to growth this summer I was able to communicate justice and mercy rightly and point folks to the true validation for their pain: the cross of Jesus Christ! I loved grieving with people but also offering them a solution and a God, the only God for that matter, who validates pain and suffering and struggle and who experienced it Himself! Praise be to God!
Well, that's all for now folks. Talk to you soon!
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