WOW
This second half of outreach has outamazed me X10 from the last one. If you thought hte stories in my last post were powerful, if you thought hte things that were seen in the last post were awsome, if you thought that that was a pretty intense report of God's true power of seeing him move through people, and fight against darkness.....
oh boy...ha HA!
So, where to begin. I left the plkace where i currently am, Vila, a while back now, and went back to Lelepa, where we finished off hte water tank so that it is "fully operational"...heh. We were there for a while and had some cool time where we went and prayed and worshipped in this HUGE amphitheater cave that they say spirits are in. But that was Lelepa, adn although there are stories tehre, that I will tell you all in person in full detail, awsome stories, amazing stories, funny stories, i need to get this blog done fast before this internet cafe place kills me of my money.
SO we went to The Island of Emau, and that was possibly one of the most amazing, most powerful times of my life. I have seen things i never thought i could have seen before, i have seen God move, i have seen the reality of hte spiritual world like there is no tommorow. THe west... just doesn't see it... it's so hidden... but not here, they know whats real.
We went around to all 6 villages on the island, backpacking, and in each village we were taking a census for health, occupational things, etc etc. Just to serve the people. 2 nights in each village, some on hte coast, some in hte hills, one by a lagoon.
Some villages built relationships with us so strong... in the two days that they actually wrote us songs and danced when we left.... tears in their eyes. So moving. This one elder, William, from the second village actually came with us to every village after htat on the island, and became hte 12 member of our group.... and thus, we became the 12 disciples of sorts. And just as the Bible says the "signs that will accompany followers of christ" include, casting out of demons, healings, safety from sicknesses, and more. We experienced them all.
Like..... i docn't even know how to tell all teh stories..... i really can't i guess, it would take much too long on a blog, but i can promise you all very good reports when i get back, with photo's and all sorts.
I've been speaking a fair bit, for example the other day I spoke to a group of 40, 20 somethin's year olds, about the world you enter into when your a christian, the reality of what it is, and totally taking away the veil over people's eyes that being a christian is somehow.. a "wimpy" thing, becuase it throws you into a world, into a real battle that is sometimes hard to handle... spiritually, it drains you.
But it is worth.. every.. single.. second of it.
I had one church elder who was watching my "message" come up to me later for prayer, and told me he was incredible moved by it... he kept repeating it. I'd love to be able to tell any of you readers about it as well, it was probably one of my largest revelations I've ever recieved was this new perspective. Christianity is NOT just salvation and 'going to church', oh man, it's so much more.
SO aside from even the discipleship and the missions work in itself, we have all been having SUCH an amazing time, we have climbed mountains, we have been swimming in hte beautiful south pacific, we have been eating... some of the strangest food, I had not been shaving until yesterday haha, lots of amazing bonding times and awsome times with the guys especially haha, we have been scratched and bruised, we have laughed and just... it's amazing.
BUT! i have to go, time to get on with the rest of today..... THANK YOU EVERYONE for your E-mails! For your shout out's! On Myspace, or even to through my Dad hahah. I Love you all so much, and i wish you all the best.
Stay strong
Keep Praying
Believe
and Fight.
Pray Dangerous Prayers.
-Jon
PS. OH YEA, I GOT SCABIES, and in short form of some other funny things.... there is now a baby on one of these islands that will soon be named "Joe-Chucky" (A little girl.. haha), i was just reminded of that right now... anyways, have to run)
5 comments:
hahaha "fully operational"
that made me laugh...and i felt realy nerdy for it...
awesome.
can't wait for you to come home and share these stories in person so that you can actually do them the justice they deserve...just make sure you come home at some point were starting to think your gone for good bro.
love you and miss you dude
Mike
hahaha "fully operational"
that made me laugh...and i felt realy nerdy for it...
awesome.
can't wait for you to come home and share these stories in person so that you can actually do them the justice they deserve...just make sure you come home at some point were starting to think your gone for good bro.
love you and miss you dude
Mike
why did that go twice?...oh well now you'll be popularish
Jon!
I'm so glad to hear you're still alive. I was starting to get worried, especially when I read on the ywam website that 8 ywamers were killed the other day. Scary stuff! As Mikes comment kind of mentions, we miss you. And we're starting to devise ways to trick you into coming home. haha. just kidding. We know what you're doing out there is so special and so important, but life is weird without jonarkle around to chat with. Glad to hear things are still going well. Take care.
-Amanda
Wow thats amazing stuff Jon. I really hope you are comming back in march. I miss you alot, it's just not that same around here without you. I can't wait to hear about all the amazing things you've experienced so far.
Keep strong.
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