A week ago my mom and I accompanied the Alpine Short Term Team on an overnight sightseeing tour. On this trip, we took the whole group on a tour through the rainforest canopy. Part of the tour was walking, but most of it involved zip lining through the trees. For some of the group, it was a real step outside of their comfort zone being hooked on to a line and flying through the jungle. I think, however, that everyone had fun. I was very entertained by the thoughtfully placed signs on the paths. Some of them gave useful information about fauna surrounding us. One sign enigmatically informed us, “Rain and sun jungle. Tree growth and leaves.” But my favorite was, “Thank you for do not smoke.” It just sounded so sweet.
This weekend I had a great experience with translating. Today Luis Diego, the director of International Teams Costa Rica, is traveling to the Middle East to visit some of our workers there. In preparation for his trip, he asked me to translate a document from English to Spanish of best practices for fruitful workers in a Mus lim context. Because I did not have much time to work on the document while we were hosting the team from Alpine, I had to do most of the translating this weekend. I was very fortunate to have help from my mom and her house guest Phil. I was happy to translate this document because I am so excited to have this wonderful tool for all our workers, in Mu.SL.im contexts or not. This eleven page document will prove to be a great asset in helping our teams become more fruitful in their ministries. I wanted to share some of my favorite points from the document.
- Fruitful workers pray for God’s supernatural intervention as a sign that confirms the gospel. A demonstration of God’s power has been a key factor for many MusL.im.s who have come to faith in Jesus Christ. Aware of this, many fruitful workers pray specifically for God to intervene through dreams, healings, deliverance from evil spirits, and other clear signs to confirm the truth of the gospel.
- Fruitful workers model following Jesus in intentional relationships with believers. Fruitful workers recognize that discipleship is a relational process. While spending many hours with seekers and believers, they reveal their own faith journey. Whether they are hanging out at a coffee shop or praying for the sick, fruitful workers find ways to share relevant biblical stories or teachings from the life of Jesus. Their goal is to demonstrate vibrant faith as a constant follower of Jesus and to coach the seeker and believer to do the same.
There are so many more I could share with you, but instead I will just ask you to pray that God might use this document to encourage our teams and help us bear more fruit.
By the way, the Alpine Team went really well. They accomplished a lot of work such as redecorating an apartment for a missionary couple that will be staying here on furlough and building a retaining wall. However, the best part was seeing them return to Illinois more interested in being and making disciples of Christ through authentic, every day relationships.
Please Praise:
- The Alpine Team went so well with only one injury (some broken glass and a quick trip to the ER for stitches).
- We had several great conversations with new Alpine friends.
- I had a great overnight trip to the beach with my mom. We both slept 11 hours!
Please Pray:
- Luis Diego is traveling to a difficult country where we have workers. There seems to be a lot of spiritual warfare going on in that area of the world right now. Please pray for protection for Luis and our workers in that country.
- I had a great conversation with one of the teens on the Alpine Team and am praying that he will continue to pursue an intimate relationship with God.
- The Roland family is getting pretty tired here. My dad will be arriving from a hard trip to Bolivia just a week before we receive another work team. On top of it all, we received the sad news of my Great Aunt Jeanne’s death on the 4th of July. Please pray that God might be our strength as we continue to serve Him.
