Outreach Dec. 2, 2007-Jan. 27, 2008

It’s great to be able to finally update you on all that God did on our two month outreach.  Our first 4 weeks were in Belize.  After our time there we went to a small village called Santa Cruz.  Our last two weeks of outreach we spent in San Pablo on Lake Atitlan.

Our time of ministry in Belize went very well.  We ministered in 17 different locations which included: schools, orphanage, hospital, nursing home, community centers, churches, police academy, radio station, market area and a votech center.  One of the highlights for us was conducting children’s ministry in some small villages where we worked with a pastor who has a vision for reaching these communities.  We met one young boy who at the end of our meeting did not want to go home.  You could see fear in his eyes.  We found out that his mom beat him, whipping his back with a belt and he had scars to prove it.  His mom came to one of our evening services and prayed to receive Christ as her Savior. 

We enjoyed our stay at the YWAM Belize base in Belmopan.  The staff took good care of us and provided a variety of ministry experiences for us.  The warm weather-90 degrees zapped most of us each day but we had a comfortable place to rest and recover each day. 

We left Belize on New Year’s Eve and spend a night in Flores.  Guatemalans love fireworks so that night was especially noisy with all the celebrating.  On New Year’s Day we visited the Mayan ruins in Tikal.  It is an amazing place in the middle of the subtropical rainforest.  The Mayans were very advanced in many areas but they had religious practices that included human sacrifices.  On New Years Day we left Flores at 9:30 p.m. to travel through the night to Santa Cruz.  Their was a huge difference in the weather.  We arrived in Santa Cruz in the early morning.  The wind was blowing, it was raining and about 40 degrees.  Most of the time we were there it was very cold and we had no place to warm ourselves as the rooms we stayed in had no heat and had opening below the roof to let air circulate.  We had thin mattresses to sleep on the cement floors and one shower to share among all of us.  I had to buy an extra blanket to keep warm at night.  But in spite of the cold weather the children arrived each day, usually around 100 of them.  We did children’s ministry in both the morning and afternoons, and they really enjoyed it. 

In this community there have been some very bad testimonies of people who claim to be Christian.  One of the pastors who is still there had a child with a 12 year old girl in the community a few years ago.  The girl and her child still live in the community and the pastor is still working in the church!  Many people look at the bad examples that have been demonstrated and are reluctant to go to a church or become a Christian.

On our final evening in Santa Cruz, we showed a film at a little store near us and about 30 people showed up to stand outside the store and watch it.  The adults in the community are difficult to reach but we were glad that at least some of them could view the film that has a very powerful true story of a man whose life was completed changed by Christ. 

I am glad we came to this village for the week and even though it was physically very hard because of the cold it was well worth the sacrifice.  Many of the children heard the gospel message clearly communicated for the first time and we were blessed to see many of them pray for salvation. 

After our time in Santa Cruz we took a 12 hour drive to Lake Atitlan where we conducted the rest of our ministry.  The first week we were there we worked with Pastor Antonio.  We did children’s ministry every afternoon, and in the evenings we had services for the whole family.  Pastor Antonio’s church speaks a Mayan dialect that is very different than Spanish, so many times we would translate English to Spanish to the Mayan Language.  One early morning, at 5:00a.m., we helped continue the construction of Pastor Antonio’s church.  He still needs about $10,000 to finish the first level.  His current church building has walls made of bamboo with plastic wrapped around it.  It was a privilege to be a part of helping with the construction project, and with what God is doing in that church.

The second week at Lake Atitlan we worked with Pastor Efrain.  Pastor Efrain along with Pastor Antonio, has a huge heart for their community.  With Pastor Efrain we did children’s ministry, out door evangelism, and helped a medical clinic that came to his church.  It was fun to be able to be a part of the clinic.  I helped out in the Pharmacy.  After the doctor saw the people I would get a sheet of what medications to give them.  I could not pronounce the names of the medications, but I was handing them out.  I was really nervous at first, but then I started to have fun. 

When outreach came to an end we headed back to Antigua.  Our last four days we had a time to reflect on what we experienced and learned during out time with YWAM.  After this experience I can now say that this was the hardest thing I have ever done.  However, I am very glad to have had the opportunity.  God has taught me many things.  This experience has prepared me for ministry more than any other thing I have done…more than my Pastoral Studies.  YWAM was not meant to be easy, and when we had our graduation on Sunday evening the 27^th, I felt a great sense of accomplishment. 

Thank you for all your prayers and support during this time.  Only heaven knows the impact that you have had.  Without prayer the heavens cannot be opened.  I get to see some of the results of your prayers here, while you pray believing that God is moving.  Your prayers have been answered, and God did move. 

Thank you for riding along on this journey with me.  God bless.

Click on the Pictures link on the right hand side to see pictures of the outreach.

Week 12 Nov. 25-Dec. 1

It is hard to believe that this was my 12th week and my last week of the Lecture Phase. Each week has been a new experience for me with a new topic and a new teacher. There has been times where this phase has seemed to go slow, but other times I look back and wonder where all the time has gone. I am very grateful for the time I have had learning about so many important subjects.

This week was also my last week leading worship at the English Speaking Service. I have enjoyed the opportunity that I have had to be able to lead worship during this time. It has been fun going to the English Speaking Service and meeting many new people from all over the United States and from around the world. Most are learning Spanish, a few are Guatemalans learning more English, and some are Missionaries to Guatemala. Occasionally, we get some people who are on vacation. It has been a joy to be a part of the YWAM ministry at the English Speaking Service.

This week’s class room topic was “Living by Design.” The focus of the class was discovering my Personal Life Mission. We had an incredible teacher and communicator from Sacramento, California teaching the class. The first two days of class, Ken taught us all about Living by Design and why we need to define a Personal Mission Statement. The next couple days we did nothing but think back over our lives and answer questions. We discovered our core values, our life principles, and our passions. We thought back about promises the Lord has given us either through His word, or through people, or any other way God may have given us a promise. We took time to think about the most influential people in our life and write the qualities we admire most about them. We wrote our strengths and talents, and even our weaknesses. We wrote qualities that we would want people to say about us at our funeral. We also took time to write what we would do if we knew we could not fail.

After I brainstormed and compiled all this information alone, I took time to write out my own Personal Constitution. From that I created my Personal Life Mission Statement. The goal of this class was to write out a Personal Life Mission Statement. My mission statement is:

Reach, Develop, Equip with VISION

I will reach the lost, develop disciples and leaders, and equip the church with a vision.

It was a very important week for me to discover my very own Personal Life Mission.

Sunday, December 2nd our team will be leaving for outreach for a total of 8 weeks. For all the month of December we will be in Belize. We will be staying at the YWAM Base near the capital city Belmopan. After Belize we will be going back to Guatemala to minister in a very poor village called Santa Cruz. They have no electricity and very little to live on. They basically just get by. There has been a problem with children dieing there because of a lack of nutrition and sickness. After a couple weeks there we will be going to Lake Atitlan. There are a couple towns there where we will be ministering in as well. We will be there to serve the church anyway they need us. After Lake Atitlan we will travel back to Antigua and our time at YWAM Antigua will be over.

I will not be able to connect with internet very well while I am away for outreach. I will not be updating this blog every week. I hope to share an update at the half way mark of our outreach, and then again at the end of the outreach. Please keep me and the team in your prayers as we go. Thank you once again for you faithfulness to the ministry.

Week 11 Nov. 18-24

Evangelism!!! That was the classroom topic of this week. This has been one of my favorite weeks of class. I learned many new things about evangelism, and how to be ready to give an answer to those who ask. One thing that I learned this week about evangelism is what our motive should be. If our motive is to bring salvation to people many times we will fail. If you have ever witnessed on the streets, workplace, malls, or any other place, you will know that there are many rejections. You may go home after those experiences and feel like a failure. If your first motive was to bring salvation to people then you were a failure if no one got saved. However, our primary motive to evangelize should be to bring glory to God. We will never fail if that is our primary goal. You may come home after a night of rejection on the street, but you have not failed because you have brought glory to God. Our second motive should be to bring salvation to people. We also looked at how to respond to the many questions people ask while evangelizing. We must study to show ourselves approved.

Do you consider yourself to be a good person? Most people do. However, most of us differ as to the definition of “good.” The Bible says that God is good, and the Ten Commandments are His standard of goodness. So, we will look at God’s Law…

With a tender conscience, ask yourself if you have obeyed the following:

1. You shall have no other gods before Me. (Have you always loved God above all else?)

2. You shall not make yourself an idol. (Have you made a god in your mind that you’re more comfortable with, a god to suit yourself?)

3. You shall not take God’s name in vain. (Have you ever used God’s holy name as a cuss word? Thats blasphemy, and it is very serious.)

4. Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy.

5. Honor your father and mother.

6. You shall not murder. (God considers hatred to be as murder.)

7. You shall not commit adultery. (Whoever looks upon a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.” -Matthew 5:27-28; this also includes sex before marriage.)

8. You shall not steal. (Have you ever stolen anything? - The value of the item is irrelevant.)

9. You shall not lie. (Have you ever lied even once? Including answering these questions.)

10. You shall not covet. (Have you ever jealously desired what belongs to others?)

The Bible says that God will punish all murderers, rapists, thieves, liars, adulterers, etc. He will even judge our words and thoughts. On Judgment Day, will you be found to be guilty or innocent of breaking His Commandments? God’s Law demands justice, and the penalty for sinning against Him is death and Hell. But there is good news. God himself made a way where His jsutice and his goodness could meet. We broke the Law, but He became a man to pay the fine. Jesus suffered and died on the cross to satisfy the Law. Then He rose from the dead, defeating death forever. Therefore God can forgive us and grant us the gift of everlasting life!

If you die in your sins there is no second chance. God will give you justice, and you will end up in Hell forever. Any troubles you have at present are dwarfed by the trouble you are in with your Creator. His wrath abides upon you (John 3:36). God doesn’t want you to go to Hell. Neither do you want to go there, so confess your sins to God right now, turn away from them, don’t look back, and put your trust in Jesus to save you, that is your only hope, and you will pass from death to life.

For those of you who have already put your hope and trust in Jesus, be thankful this Thanksgiving season for His Goodness. For those of you who have not turned from your sins and have not put your hope and trust in Jesus, be thankful this Thanksgiving season that Jesus Christ has made a way for you to be with Him forever.

Week 10 Nov. 11-17

This week was the last week of the first half of my YWAM experience here in Guatemala. I am so grateful to have this experience. The teaching has been so valuable, and I have learned a lot. This week we learned a little of the History of Missions, but spent most of our time learning about Cross-Cultural Communication. I enjoyed learning about the different aspects of CC-Communication, such as: Language Learning, questions to ask about a culture to understand it, symptoms of Cultural Shock and how to respond to it, and other valuable material that is helpful in knowing before and while being in a new culture. What made class even a little more exciting this week was the small earth quake we had. While sitting in class the ground began to shake. It was a neat experience. Don’t worry it’s normal here. They are only small earth quakes that don’t do any damage. It just shakes a little.

Outreach is now only a couple weeks away, and we continue to work on dramas that we will be presenting during that time. We also have been working on a program for children. On Wednesday we invited the neighborhood kids over to the YWAM base to have a Kids Club. Over 80 children showed up for this event. We started off with singing a few songs with the kids, and then moved into the Bible story. Erin (one of the other students) and I, teamed up and did the Bible story. The story was on the birth of Jesus, His death, and Resurrection. Erin did the Birth of Jesus while I put the felt pieces on the felt board. I must say I miss the felt board from children’s Sunday School. After Erin did the story of the Birth of Jesus I took over and did the Death and Resurrection of Jesus. I enjoyed my time doing that. The kids were good and listened carefully. After the Bible story we did another song and a magic trick. The kids were amazed with the “magic.” Then we did the wordless book. The pages in this book do not have words. Instead each page had a different color. Cynthia told the salvation message using the wordless book. And like every kids event on Missions trips all the children raised their hand to ask Jesus to come into their hearts. After they prayed the Prayer of Salvation we handed out little wordless books that the children had to color. When they were finished with their wordless book we gave them a snack and away they went. We all enjoyed our time with the kids. We are excited to be doing more of that in a couple weeks when we go on outreach.

This Saturday we had a family movie night at our base. Over 100 people showed up for our feature presentation. Moms, dads, and children. We played two 45min cartoons. Between the movies Katie shared the Salvation message and gave an opportunity to respond. After the movies we gave out popcorn and lemon aid. Our house was packed.

Thank you for being interested in what I am doing here in Guatemala. It means a lot, and it is encouraging to know that you care.

Please click on the “pictures” link to see pictures of both the Kids Club and the Movie Night.

Week 9 Nov. 4-10

I wanted to take this week to thank all of you who have been praying for me, who have supported me financially, and those who continue to be a part of this missionary experience by reading my weekly updates. The comments I receive weekly from those who remind me that they are praying for me have been an encouragement. It is a great encouragement that you have been reading my weekly updates as well. It is a wonderful thing to know that you are there supporting what I am doing here in Guatemala. Know this, that you have an important role in sharing the gospel throughout the world. You may not be here, but through your prayers of intercession God will release angels to go forth upon the earth to engage against the enemy in spiritual warfare. God hears your prayer, and people are being saved as a result of your obedience.

Throughout my time here I have had different opportunities to share about the love of Jesus. One of the most challenging of those experiences was last Friday when I talked to a group of hard core New Agers. These were not you usual “not sure what I believe people.” They knew what they believed, and nothing was going to change their mind. Only the power of the Holy Spirit can break through their illogical thinking, and take them to a place of solid truth. I talked to them for about an hour before we ended the conversation. They were not going to get me to believe what they believed, and I was not going to change their mind. However, it was a fun time. Both me and the New Agers enjoyed our long talk and debate. There were a lot of laughs. As I was about to leave, they said that they were very challenged by the questions I asked (they only talked in circles while trying to answer them), and they were very happy that we were able to talk without me getting mad and angry with them. If nothing else they were affected by how I treated them. They were not your normal city people, they were hippies. But I know that God loves them just as much as he loves me, and quit honestly, I had the most wonderful time talking with them. I would have to say it has been my highlight of my trip.

The other night I went to the park just to sit, think, pray, and watch people. As I sat there I noticed I had my dress shoes on. I knew that I would be asked a number of times if I wanted my shoes shined by the “shoe shine boys.” Sure enough I was asked. A young teenager asked if I wanted my shoes shined. I told him no thanks. Then he sat down next to me and said, “What do you want? Do you need anything? Do you want any weed?” I told him I didn’t want anything. I talked to him for a while. His broken English was enough for me to understand what he wanted. He wanted money. He had gotten desperate and started to sell drugs. Guatemala exports billions of dollars of drugs a year. I continued to talk to him to try to talk some sense into him. He wasn’t interested in Jesus, and he did not understand why I would not give him money. I told him that I was not going to give him money because he was selling drugs. I gave him a few options, but he wanted the money now. I could not help him.

I wish I could tell you that both the New Agers and this young shoe shine boy gave their hearts to Christ, but they didn’t. However, seeds were planted, and I know that the Holy Spirit will not give up on them. I tell you these short story’s to say that I need your prayers, but more importantly those who I have had an opportunity to minister to need them as well. This story of the young teenager, is only one of thousands of street kids who try to make the money for the family. Some will get beat if they do not bring home enough money for the day. These young boys need your prayers.

Our team has three more weeks left in the classroom, and then it will be off to Belize. We will be in Belize for 4 weeks, and then we will come back to Guatemala to minister in some villages for 4 weeks as well.

Pray that…

~no weapon of the enemy will prosper against us.

~we will all be in agreement in all we do.

~we will be free from the spirit of fear.

~God will turn the hearts of those we minister toward Him, and that He will give them a clear understanding of the gospel.

~all wickedness in our path will be bound, and the Holy Spirit released.

~the harvest will be great.

~we would remain healthy.

Thank you again for your prayers and support. I covet them greatly. There are some additional costs for outreach that I need to come up with before the end of this month. If you could help out in this way, I would be very blessed. Please pray, and ask God what He might want you to give. It is a blessing to have you as a partner in this ministry. God bless you.

If you plan on making a financial gift please make the check out to Shawn Sislo, and write YWAM in the memo. You can send money to:

3218 Cumming Ave

Superior WI 54880

Week 8 Oct. 28-Nov. 3

A part from my busy schedule, I do find a short time to lay low and relax. Without the entertainment of TV and hanging out with friends I have had an opportunity to read some very good books. I have read more books these last two months then I have read all my years in school. This week I would like to mention a few things about a book I started to read earlier this week called “Intimate Friendship with God” by Joy Dawson.

This books main focus is learning how to have a intimate friendship with God through understanding the fear of the Lord. We must understand what the fear of the Lord is in order to understand what it is not. When we first hear this phrase, we automatically think it means to be afraid of God. We are not to be afraid of God because He created us for His pleasure and for intimate friendship with Himself. In God’s Word, we find that He has clearly defined the fear of the Lord for us.

Proverbs 8:13 says, “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil.” God has no tolerance toward sin; therefore, He will not compromise with it. God says in Leviticus 19:2, “Be holy; for I am holy.” Therefore, understanding what it means to hate sin is of primary importance in order to fulfill that command.

Another definition of the fear of the Lord is given in Malichi 2:5. God says, “My covenant with him (Levi the priest) was a covenant of life and peace, and I gave them to him, that he might fear; and he feared me, he stood in awe of my name.”

What is His name, that we are to stand in awe of as part of the fear of the Lord? God’s most dynamic, two-word description of himself is unquestionably, “I AM” (Exodus 3:14), meaning He is everything that is perfect and excellent and complete and flawless;

EVERYTHING we will ever need Him to be to fulfill us.

EVERYTHING we will ever need for Him to work in us in order to conform us to the image of His dear Son.

EVERYTHING we will ever need to work through us to make Him known to others.

So, for us, the fear of the Lord should do two things: First, produce in us the same attitude toward sin that God has, which is to hate it. Second, to give us a deep respect for and understanding of the holiness of God, the power of God, and the total sufficiency of God to meet man’s need. While it is very important to obey God because of what He says, it is even more important to obey Him for who He is.

Week 7 Oct. 21-27

Sunday the 21st Stephen Bell, his wife, and three-year-old daughter flew from Kentucky to be with us this week to teach on Spiritual Warfare. However, they did not get here without a fight. Before their first lay over in Houston, Stephen, who was our teacher for the week, passed out on the plane. His wife was sleeping at the time, and he absolutely had no energy to wake her. When he was regaining consciousness he had enough time to grab the puke bag before he threw-up. That was the first time out of five that he would throw-up. When they landed in Houston, paramedics checked him out, and eventually after some delay he and his family made it here. His three-year-old daughter also threw-up all over in the car on the way from the airport to the YWAM base. Some may say it is coincidence that he and his daughter got sick on the way to Guatemala to teach a group of students on Spiritual Warfare, but I say it was Spiritual Warfare. The enemy did not want him to be here. Even the paramedics advised him not to come. However, Stephen understands that the enemy hates the truth, and Stephen came to speak the truth, and to teach us how to engage in Spiritual Warfare as offensive not defensive warriors.

This week I learned so much about Spiritual Warfare. However lets take a look at one aspect of the battle.

Practical ways to help you prepare for battle

1. Place yourself under a proper covering and accountability
First, you must submit to God. Make Jesus Lord of your life. Do not even think for a moment to go into battle without being submitted to God and other authority. You will get smoked by the enemies flaming arrows. Second, you must submit to your authorities and/or leaders. Remember, God’s delegated authority is still His authority. Leaders are meant to be a spiritual covering for us. Biblically, the only time you and I have the right to not obey our leaders is if they are asking us to disobey God or do something unbiblical. Even then we are to remain submitted with an attitude of honor.

“Strong relationships and accountability are what helps us to stay safe and undeceived.” -Bill Johnson

2. Have a proper understanding of your identity in Christ and your purpose in life

If you don’t know who you are or what your purpose is on this planet then you won’t know what you are truly fighting for. Identity and purpose are built upon the foundation of friendship with God that is growing daily. You need to get to know Him well. Intimacy with Jesus will give you the strength and the perseverance you need to displace these powers of darkness. Without it you will not last.

Read Ephesians chapters 1-3. These three chapters are full of what our identity in Christ is.

3. You need to understand that putting on what God has provided you with and doing everything to stand your ground is your responsibility.

God has fully equipped you to win the battle. What has he given you? First, if you are born again He has given you the Holy Spirit. The same Spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead lives in every born again believer. That is good news. The devil has been stripped of all authority and rendered powerless. Every born again believer has more power and authority in them then the enemy posses. Second, you have the truth. The greatest weapon in Spiritual Warfare is the truth. Satan hates the truth. Third, you have the word of God. The word of God is sharper then any two-edged sword. Fourth, you have the Armor of God found in Ephesians 6. Guard yourself and stand firm.

4. Your battle is never against flesh and blood

The enemy wants you to think that your battle is against people, but that is a lie. You must grow in discerning what’s really happening. We need each other to stand strong and fight together for breakthroughs in our society.

Above all of this you must remain obedient. Everything that you and I do out of obedience to God pushes back the kingdom of darkness. If you are obedient to God you are engaging in Spiritual Warfare. Remember that satan is a created being which means he is limited. God created satan. God is all powerful. To God, the enemy is nothing. You must not allow yourself to be impressed by what the devil is doing in the world. Rather, you must be most impressed by what God has done, what He is doing, and what He is going to do.

Week 6 Oct. 14-20

Looking back over the last 6 weeks, the first half of the 12 week Lecture Phase, I have realized how much teaching has come to me. After 108 pages of notes that I have taken I am very grateful of the information that has been taught. It’s not just information, but it is very valuable information that has taught me how to draw closer to God in a personal relationship. The truth is, it’s all about Relationship.

What good is information about God if you really don’t know God? I don’t want to know about God, I want to know God. We have become so used to going to church and pray at every meal time, but have forgotten or have never known God and His very presence. God is not distant from us. Even when we are in the deepest sin, God is there. He is all-present. Yes, that sin separates us from knowing Him on a more intimate level, but God is there when you sin. How does that make God feel? The Bible says that God is grieved in His heart. He is not just hurt…or upset…or sad. The Bible says that He is grieved in His heart. I get the picture that God weeps and is affected deeply in His heart when we sin. And remember, sin is sin to God. No one sin to God is worse than another. We all have to go to the cross, and at the foot of the cross is level ground. No one is higher and no one is lower when you come to the foot of the cross. We ask for His forgiveness, and ask for His blessing to be in our life. We need to stop seeking the blessing and seek the Blesser. We need to stop seeking God’s hand and seek His face.

If you are like me, when you struggle with a sin that you want to overcome you pray to God for Him to take away the desire, and you ask for God’s help to overcome the sin issue. We focus our prayers on that sin we are dealing with. I believe we need to change our focus. We need to focus on loving God. We need to become desperate to know God more. We need to focus on the One who overcame every temptation. Think about Jesus in the desert when He was being tempted by Satan. Every time Satan tempted Jesus, Satan tried to get Jesus to loose His focus. However, every time Satan tempted Jesus, Jesus changed the focus and focused on His Father and the Word of God. Change your focus in times of temptation. Focus on loving God.

We seek Revival…we desperately want revival to break out in our lives, in our churches, and we want to see transformation in our community…we want to see the manifestations of the Spirit flow freely through our lives, but again it all goes back to your relationship with God.

Are you seeking revival? Are you seeking transformation? Are you seeking the manifestations of the Spirit? This may surprise you, but if you answered “Yes” to each of those questions then you need to change your focus. If you want Revival seek the Reviver. If you want Transformation seek the Transformer. If you want the Manifestations of the Spirit seek the Manifester. This is not a hard concept to understand. It is very easy. Do you need healing in your life? Seek the healer. This is all about Relationship. Jesus Said, “Seek first the Kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you.” Do you wonder why the greatest commandment is to “Love the Lord God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength?” Because when your number one focus is God, He will give you the desires of your heart.

God wants to Transform nations, but He is waiting for a people who will become desperate for Him. He is searching for a people who breathes the very breath of “Yahweh”. God is tired of the church seeking blessings. He wants us to seek Him, the Blesser. Do not think for a moment that God will not over look our church buildings to find someone to bless, heal, anoint, and revive. God is looking for a desperate soul who is seeking after Him. He is looking for God Chasers.

Week 5 Oct. 7-13

I am now 1/4 finished with my YWAM school…5 weeks out of 20. Each week goes by fast because of my full schedule. They keep us very busy.

This week’s classroom discussion was on World View. The Leader at the YWAM base Bruce Ahlberg was the teacher for this week. I learned the need to find out the World View of the culture I am working in, and how to do discover the World View. The definition of a world view is the central assumptions, concepts and premises widely shared by members of a culture. I learned how to observe behaviors (what is being done)…observe values (what is good and bad)…observe beliefs (what is true)…and discover world view (what is real). Each step is very important in working in a different culture. A different culture is not necessarily a culture in a different country. The definition of a culture is a group of people who share a similar world view. All of us have people we want to reach. We must discover what they believe so we can be more effective in reaching them. Just like a preacher likes to know who his audience is so he can better relate to them, we too must know how to relate to those we want to share the love of Jesus with. This does not mean we adopt their world view and be like them, but instead, we must know their world view to discover the key to sharing the Gospel in a way that they will relate to.

Learning and understanding other cultures and world view’s is very important. However, we too must know what our own world view is so we are ready to give an answer to any one who may ask.

1 Peter 3:15 “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks.”

Know what you believe…Know what others believe…Defend what you believe…Stand up for what you believe.

I had a wonderful opportunity this week to speak at the English Speaking Service. It went very well. The Holy Spirit was present and God moved in the hearts of individuals. Thank You so much for your continuing Prayers. I am very blessed to have you as a partner in this ministry.

Week 4 Sep. 30 - Oct. 6

Lecture phase is now 1/3 finished. 4 weeks have gone by out of the 12 week lecture phase. It has been a great time of learning.

This week’s classroom teaching was on “Personalities and Spiritual Gifts.” I am so grateful to learn about such a valuable subject. It is important to understand personalities. Why do people act the way they do? Why do people respond differently to different situations? Why are people the way they are? The answer is very easy. There is not one person who is exactly alike…there are different personalities. The way one person responds to a situation may be different than another, but it doesn’t mean one of them is wrong and the other one right. It just means they are different from each other. It was an eye opener to get introduced to the different personalities through this weeks teaching.

A part from learning about different personalities I learned in more depth about “Spiritual Gifts.” There are three different categories of Spiritual Gifts.

MINISTRY GIFTS

• Prophet
• Evangelist
• Apostle
• Pastor
• Teacher

MANIFESTATION GIFTS

• Wisdom
• Word of Knowledge
• Faith
• Healing
• Working of Miracles
• Prophecy
• Discerning of Spirits
• Tongues
• Interpretation of Tongues

MOTIVATIONAL GIFTS

• Perceiver
• Server
• Teacher
• Exhorter
• Giver
• Administrator
• Compassion Person

We focused on the “Motivational Gifts” this week. The teaching was about linking the different personalities and Motivational Gifts together. I learned how a certain personality will work differently in a gift than a different personality. It was such an eye opener for me to know how to better understand people and their gifts. As a leader this is especially important for me to understand. The more I study and learn this subject the better and more effective I will be able to lead, and the better I will know how to delegate.

It is important for everyone to understand personalities and gifts to better know how to work with people. We are all members of one body. I am just a part of the body. I alone cannot accomplish very much. I need to work with the rest of the body to have the greatest affect in reaching lost souls for Christ. Do not hide yourself, because the body is incomplete without you. You have a vital role in your work place, church, and family. Let’s work together as one body to accomplish what God has set out for us to do.