Hello everybody! We just finished up our first week of missions with a tearful goodbye — God did amazing things at Luodong this year.
The camp was 4 days long, each day lasting from 9am-4pm. During this time, we ran three classes (drama, baking, and English) and a workshop (photo scavenger hunt, creative writing, and dank memes). Over the course of these short four days, many real and deep new friendships formed between the high schoolers and our team members and also amongst the high schoolers themselves — many of them hung out with us from 4pm till dinner time playing basketball, board games, and just talking. God opened so many opportunities for us to share about His love, grace, and salvation these past four days during both English and Drama. In English small groups, the high schoolers discussed the purpose of life, the afterlife, and the gospel as we challenged them to think deeply about their eternity. In Drama, we had the opportunity to declare God’s love for them, and the hope they can find in Him as we encouraged them to search, find, and understand Him for themselves.
As a last hoorah, we held an evangelical outreach the day after camp ended, inviting the students, as well as their friends and families. Around thirty campers showed up. During the 1.5 hours we had with them, we played games, sang praise songs, shared a testimony, proclaimed God’s love for them, shared the salvation that can be found in Him, and held an alter call. Praise the Lord that four campers decided to place their faith in God, while two others expressed strong interest/curiosity in Christianity (one taking home a Bible, while the other attended church for the first time in her life the next day).
We left Luodong with heavy but hopeful hearts. Amongst many other things, these kids are faced with social, familial, and spiritual pressure. Many want to pursue God, but are unable to as a result of strong opposition from their families. Many were once believers, but due to pressure and opposition from school administration, family, and culture, have become discourage and have slowly left the church. Many face social hardships and have shared about being out casted, bullied, and ostracized. Please pray for these kids. Pray for hope. Pray for healing. Pray for open eyes and strong hearts to believe, and rest in the love of their Father. Pray for the church that continues to reach out to them — pray for boldness, for perseverance, for wisdom, for an abundance of love and understanding, for comfort and encouragement. Pray for the new believers and for the seeds that were scattered.
Thank you so much for your prayers and support. Praise the Lord for all that He has done, and all that He will continue to do.
