The past few weeks..

My dear friends,

Life has been so filled with joy and praises, God has been blessing me in so many ways. I love everything about being here at the Home of Loving Faithfulness, from changing dirty diapers to taking the kids out on their walks. I don’t always find the work exciting, and there are some boring parts, but all in all, I end each of my days feeling very joyful and very tired, and my health has also been improving a great deal. Though I’m still somewhat careless, and end up getting hurt. Last week I hurt my back, and this week I had my toe stitched up. But both injuries are healing well, so praise the Lord!

I’ve been sharing a very close fellowship with some of the other volunteers here, as well as keeping a good relationship with all of my other colleagues. This has been a real blessing, as I had been worried about having difficult colleagues. Please pray for me and my association with both the Christians and the non-believers amongst us, as I would like to grow deeper in my bonds with both of these.

As far as volunteers go, there are a lot of volunteers that come once a few times a week for several hours, as well as ones that come and live in for a few days at a time. Almost 3 weeks ago, four American students, 3 girls and 1 boy, came to work with us and they’re staying for 6 weeks, and two of them are in my unit, the boy (Lap Ching) and a girl called Anna. And through my association with Lap Ching, actually, I’ve been spending more off my “off” time in fellowship and talking to different people that lived in the rooms next to us, and it’s been wonderful, because we’re starting to expand our nightly fellowship from just us two at the chapel, to include a nurse from the Ark called Joanna. It’s been a lot of fun, and we’ve been doing a lot of sharing and it’s been a real blessing.

There was a lady that volunteered a while ago, and she only stayed for two weeks, but during her two weeks, she’s done such amazing work, just serving however possible, either helping the kitchen staff with the dishes or cleaning, or helping Pui Yee with the garden, and throughout that entire time, she’s also been witnessing to one of our unbelieving colleagues, and she also spent a lot of time with Lap Ching and I. She’s very humble and very blessed, and she’s taught me a few things and has been a great source of encouragement and a reminder for each day, even though she’s back to her family almost a fortnight ago. We’re still keeping in touch, and through her sharing with her fellowship, one of her friends has been enlightened and has offered to sponsor me for my work, and I feel greatly blessed. Between the two of them, they’ve committed to giving $1,200 a month for a year, and that brings my deficit to $3,800. I’m still in need of funds, but I know God will take care of this for me. My rule for offerings is that if God leaves you no doubts about giving to me, then I’ll accept it. For non-believers, I’ll accept your gifts without asking you to pray, because I know God’s association with you is very different from what He has with ones who listen for Him.

Recently, I’ve been responsible for leading a small group on Sundays, we’re going through a book called Holy Conversation, and this week’s chapter is about Talking about Jesus. Since I’ve cut my toe, I’ve been sent home to rest, and I’ve been spending this valuable time meditating and getting my homework done for the week. I realised despite knowing all the stories in the Gospels, and knowing about Christ’s miracles, I cannot retell His story from another angle, or in more depth. I’m just limited to what I know from the Gospels, and the Bible isn’t exactly a highlighted studying guide, and I’m stuck! So I realised that one of my first and foremost goals for this year has just revealed itself to me. I need to know Jesus. I need to know who I claim to be my Savior, who I accept as my heavenly Father, and who I call Lord. I need to know who I am serving. It’s such a big shock that I’ve been serving Him for so long and I haven’t even scratched the surface of who He really is. Blind faith indeed! So I’m going to work really hard, and study and really get to know Christ. That’s my first goal.

My second goal is to, of course, prepare my way to Africa. That’s where I’m called to serve, so I need to know how to get in, how to survive, and how best to train for it. So that means kinds of ministries, living expenses, travel and medical insurance, cost of training, etc. My first step towards this is to get back in touch with my friend, Cheuk Chung from OM that I bumped into on Doulos, and from there, who knows.

So those are my goals. And now for some prayer requests. My dad might be transferred to Australia for a year, so please pray for my family, for our health and for our love for each other. Pray that I’ll be able to really get some housework done on my day off, and really show my brother and my mother that I do care for them, despite needing to be away most of the week to seek my purpose. My parents don’t believe in Christ, so please pray for that. And also, please pray for my brother’s studies, he’s going into year 11 (grade 10, or form 5) next year, and there’ll be a lot of coursework to do and a lot of important exams that he has to work with. Just pray for clarity of mind, and steadfastness and patience in his studies. And that he’ll know when to rest, and how much to work, and that he’ll have a goal to work towards, rather than just letters on a grading sheet.

My dear friends, also pray for my work, my clarity of mind, as I do have a bit of attention deficit and that becomes apparent sometimes, but God will account for that for whatever plans that He has for me, and He will give me a hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11). Please pray for my steadfast love for our King, and my health and my love for the kids.

In Christ’s Name I serve,

James.