Felt like I kind of wanted to sum up some of the highlights for me of our trip and thank God for all the great & memorable moments we had. We were so privileged to have this experience and to see God at work in it and to be able to make it back home safely. Yeh!
Bill has shared this story often since we came back home so I thought I'd write about it in our blog. We had something happen in Taiwan that was quite a shocking experience. It was with a demon/fallen angel that came into our room. It was definitely a good incentive to pray and intercede for the Buddhist family we were staying with! They had an idol to a female goddess/Buddha that they worshipped in the top floor of their home and they played chant music 24/7 (Bill said he felt like saying "change the station!). Bill woke up in the middle of the night and I was having a nightmare and speaking out in my sleep. In my nightmare, it sounds crazy, but there was an asian woman that was burning up my cooking utensils (cookie sheets, etc.) and I was getting really upset about it! and was saying in my nightmare "stop doing that! why are you doing that?". Bill sensed a demonic presence and could see a form of something near the door and he commanded it to flee and, at the name of Jesus Christ, "she" fled actually right through the door (I say she because she appeared to me to be an asian woman from in the house that was in our room, but our door was locked, and we could tell that it was not human but demonic). Bill read later about how this demon is actually an "anti-Christ" in that she's the Buddha they call on to save them when they're in trouble, and how it's an afront to God of how she takes worship away from Jesus Christ as a type of counterfeit "saviour". Bill felt that she was saying in my nightmare that any works of God done there would "be burnt up" and he felt led by God to pray that she not be allowed back into the home unless she pointed people in the house to the true saviour. Then, we left a tract in the room and prayed over it before we left the house. Bill shared this story in Korea with the leadership at a "poor peoples church" (it's an outreach on Saturdays that our Korean friend attends) and the scripture ...don't be glad that the demons flee, but that your name is written in the Book of Life (my paraphrase). What was neat about this is that the speaker said it concurred with the message he had given about spiritual warfare during the service but we had no idea - as it was in Korean (only God could know). Then, at the first service at Central Heights after we got home, our pastor shared this same verse in his message. So God has been really speaking to us about this passage lately which is cool!
I feel really thankful for some of the things God showed us on our trip and I want to give Him the glory for it and for bringing us back home safely!
In China, we had the opportunity to give away 2 Bibles to people we met. That was SO encouraging! It was neat how God lead us to people that were hungry and open. Both times, it was a battle and what the enemy meant for bad, God turned around for good. I want to remember to pray that God's Word will take root in their lives.
We had many other excellent moments God gave us to connect with people on the way and talk about spiritual things - like Nathaniel in Hong Kong who was a seeker, spending time with Charlie and Andy and their dad, Kenny, with good friends in Tianjin, meeting university students and talking about politics, immigration and God, being interviewed in Korea (for a documentary in the US) and being able to share about the God who helps you love your enemies and can cause Koreans to go to Japan to share Jesus with them (when according to their history, they should hate them), meeting so many different people everywhere we went - asian and european, etc., spending time in different churches and with asian believers. It was great!
I shared before in our blog about another really neat thing that happened at the "poor people's area" we visited in Korea. There was a man that Kelly (our Korean friend) and her friends had prayed for, for almost 2 years. He never wanted to talk to people or let anyone pray for him. Then Bill asked if he could pray for the man and he agreed. Bill prayed for him and we had our picture taken with him (it's in the "more fun in Korea" section of the blog). Kelly was really excited about this because it had never happened before. Recently, as an update to this, Kelly told me that finally, last Saturday, he came to church by himself. Kelly said it's a miracle as it's the first time that he's come to church. So that's pretty exciting!
Another praise report is how God has provided for us another international student. Her name is Hanny and she is Korean. I didn't know if we would get another student as I hadn't heard from the school district and there was a good chance we wouldn't get one. Then Pastor Park asked if his niece could come and look at the room (Benz' old room). We really see God's hand in how He has arranged so many details in us getting another student and it's really encouraging. She even wants to try snowboarding!
