After 10 months of travelling around the world, I have
visited many countries and each country has their own unique languages. As we stayed at each country, it was inevitable
to pick up a few words and phrases to communicate with the locals. However, I have discovered a secret unique universal
language that I was able to communicate with people in every country I visited.
You want to know what it is? Here it is.
Manchester United, Cristiano Ronaldo, Arsenal, Cesc
Fabregas, Real Madrid, Kaka, etc.
The secret universal language is soccer.
Every time I speak out these soccer lingual, instantly you
will see a passionate expression out of the person's face. Whether they support the same team you do or
not, they will love to talk with you about everything from the skills of a team
to the hair style of individual players.
It's just amazing to
see how God uses a passion of mine and turn it into a language of building
friendships around the world.
Many people have asked me what I have learned in Cologne,
Germany. After a deep thought, here is
my conclusion.
First, I have learned a group of Christ followers who are so
in love with Jesus that they are willing
to leave their country, their jobs, and/or their friends to go to a very dark
area where Jesus called them to be the salt and the light.
Second, I have learned a group of Christ followers who
valued the importance of community living and love for each other that they are
willing to sacrifice the short commute to work or to school and choose to live
close to each other so they can build a long lasting relationship together.
Third, I have learned a group of Christ followers who are so
passionate about sharing their love for Jesus to the next generation of youth
that they are giving up their valuable family time to go out and bring God's Kingdom to
them.
Thank you to all the members of Die Brücke for this valuable
lesson. Love and Miss you all!
Here is a blog that is written by my new teammate Erin Winget about our new team Remnant. Erin Winget is an intellegent woman of God, who has an amazing gift of leadership and gift of discernment which can bring the team to a new level.
A lot of things have changed this debrief including our teams! We were aware that there would probably be changes for our teams because squad leaders must be appointed from within the squad so that our current squad leader, Allison, who has been on the race before, could phase out and the squad can become more self-reliant. The whole process is intentional and with our spiritual growth in mind so even though thinking about the idea of changing teams was a little intimidating, our whole squad was aware that our leaders weren't just picking names out of a hat, they were consciously placing us where we could grow. So allow me to introduce my new team!
TEAM REMNANT
remnant |ˈremnənt|
noun
a small remaining quantity of something.
• a piece of cloth or carpeting left when the greater part has been used or sold.
• a surviving trace : a remnant of the past.
• Christian Theology a small minority of people who will remain faithful to God and so be saved (in allusion to biblical prophecies concerning Israel).
adjective [ attrib. ]
remaining : remnant strands of hair.
ORIGIN Middle English : contraction of obsolete remenant, from Old French, from remenoir, remanoir ‘remain.'
NEIL BRUINSMA: Our fearless leader. Formerly of team Dunamis, Neil is a strong man of God who is sensitive to the Spirit and willing to face any challenge with a steady persistence.
DENNIS HO: My logistics partner in crime! Dennis is a gifted man that will shepherd our team well. He has so much wisdom and knowledge to share.
BEV RHOADES: Bev and I were close from the beginning of training camp and both had a feeling that we'd end up together eventually. She has a great prophetic calling on her life that God is refining and purifying.
CARLY FARVER: Carly is a woman of God with a powerful gift of intercession and a strong voice for her generation. I am so excited to see how God is going to use her in the next seven months!
JESSICA MCVEY: Jess is one of my former teammates and I am so excited that I get to continue my relationship with her as a teammate. She has strong discernment and a passion for Scripture. God has truly written His Word on her heart.
MICHELLE MCDONALD: Michelle is another one of my former teammates. She is strongly gifted in the prophetic and the more she walks in it the more she comes alive. She also hears God's voice strongly in her artwork and God has gifted her with a relational heart that seeks the lost.
I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am to be a part of Team Remnant. No doubt God has great things ahead for us. Please pray for us as we get to know eachother, learn more about our team identity and seek God's face as a body.
After 4 months of amazing life with the Dunamis family, our squad had a team shuffle in our last debrief. Two of my teammates, Sara and Brenda, have move to another team. My brother Ben has move to a new team with a new role as the team leader. The other teammates, Carly, Bev, and Neil, are still on my team, but it is not the same as the Dunamis era has come to an end. I miss Sara, Brenda, and Ben dearly.
First of all, I want to apologize to all who has followed me on my blog, especially to all the moms of Dunamis. For the past few months, I have been hiding from everyone because I have been trying to balance my race life from traveling around the world, living in a community life, doing ministry plus, and finding time the process what has been happening. I also have to admit, I was a bit lazy on my part as well to do any blogging. I apologize to all.
Right now, I'm doing well and ready to get back into blogging mode and write out some blogs again.
I'm currently in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, doing ministries in an area called Mbagala. People in this community are usually squatters and 95% of the residents are Islam in faith. Please continue to pray for us.
I have been carrying a yellow ribbon with me for months now. It is to remember and symbolize the people that are lost and are affected by the earthquake in Sichuan, China. I can still remember the photographs of the pains and lost on the internet. The horrible disaster that took lives away from families. Houses are now a pile of rebel. Dreams have been shattered.
Knowing I will be going to China in November, I was hoping to be able to go visit the epicenter or the temporary housing area where the victims are living. Even though that didn't happened, I did get some encouraging news about the rebuild and recoveries happening in the area. Furthermore, I heard The Message of Hope is spreading and Homes are forming rapidly within the areas. Praise the Lord.
Every lament will need to end in order for hope to return. For myself, I have finally let go of my yellow ribbon because it is time to pray for joy to return to Sichuan.
As I stepped off the plane and placed my first foot into
Hong Kong, there was an uneasy feeling. This feeling was weird because I'm finally back to my place of birth,
yet I didn't feel like I'm back home. Last time I was in Hong Kong was 12 years ago. Since then, everything has changed. Buildings are taller and newer, MRT system is
more advance, and even the airport is on its own island now. My world is being collided by the past and
the present.
As I walked around the city, I felt very strange. I was surrounded with all Chinese people. I
was able to use zero word of English everywhere I go. Everything was so strange. The strangest part was I once view Hong Kong
as the Pearl of the East has now faded away.
Sitting on the Star Ferry to go across Victoria Harbour was
amazing. The skyline view of Hong Kong
at night was breathtaking. But deep in
my heart, I felt sad. I felt this
spectacular view is masking the true identity of the city. Behind the tall amazing buildings lies a concrete
forest. This forest is filled with brokenness and emptiness.
People in the forest need Christ.
After some time of reflection, I finally realized this
uneasy strange feeling is from the Lord. This is because for the first time I'm coming into Hong Kong not as
Chinese, not as Canadian, but as a citizen of Kingdom.
