Facing parental objections? Shereen’s solution: Trust and Obey the Lord!

It was a struggle for me to decide to Trust God for His providence or obey my parents. In the end, God answered my prayer and changed my parents’ hearts. It was a win-win situation… being able to trust God and obey my parents.

During the wrestle with God, my parents and myself, many things were going through my mind. There was an irony that despite my parents being Christians, it was difficult for me to get their permission to go on a mission trip. And what more going for a mission trip for the third time. Each time I go for a mission trip, I would encounter this problem, even now. I thought that they did so as a way of procrastinating and tried giving excuses (or reasons) that they did not like the idea of asking financial support from their church friends. I felt very discouraged as I did not get their full support and blessing. After sorting things out with God and Man, my conviction to go to Japan grew even stronger and I knew God wanted me to go and spread the Good News. I took the faith step, signed up first and continued talking to my parents. In the end, they allowed! =D Praise the Lord! Raising support is another testimony in itself as I had to look for new supporters, but we’ll keep it for next time.

I really encourage you guys to sign up with faith and trust God in whatever concerns you have.

“…If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom 8:31)

Tomorrow’s (9th February, Friday) the last day of sign-up for Gen12ii and CM2007!

Afraid of security issues? Here’s a testimony that our Lord saves and protects those who obey His call. Lindy shares her experience:

Last year, I went to Pioneering Campuses at TP and RP. Although it was a local project, it was nonetheless as challenging as going to China or Thailand, as these are ‘closed’ polytechnics, meaning that religious activities are not allowed on campus. Through this missions project, my perspective of missions, esp. local missions, has totally changed, as I see how real God’s Hands were in the plough, both locally and overseas.

In a typical week, we would alternate between TP and RP, and would walk around the campus to pray, share Christ, meet the new friends we have met, and attend their Life Meetings.

The most memorable event happened about halfway through our project. It happened on a day like any typical day at RP, when we were trying to share Christ by giving out surveys (illegally). Halfway through a survey I was conducting, I heard an Indian facilitator questioning one of my team mates about the purpose of our survey and also asked if we had any permit to do this on campus. Then he requested that one of us follow him to the office. In my head, I was thinking, “Oh man! This is it! Being caught by the authorities! End of mission.”

Being the Assistant Team Leader and one of the older ones there, I volunteered myself to follow the facilitator, along with another team mate, Amber. As we walked behind the facilitator, my other team mates went to gather the whole team to inform them of what had happened and to pray. Amber and I started to pray as we walked to the security office.

Just when we were nearing the office, the fire alarm sounded, and the whole school was put on alert! When we reached the office, we were told to wait for a moment, while the facilitator started to troubleshoot the security system. Everyone in the office was so busy with the system, that they forgot about us! We continued to pray and even planned what we were to say later. However, about 15 minutes later, the facilitator came to us, told us to get a permit the next time before doing such a survey and, let us off.

Amber and I were stunned. We were so amazed at how God brought us out of this crisis so amazingly, that we did not even utter a word. At once, i was reminded of Paul and Silas in jail in Acts 16, and how the earthquake came and shook the ground, and the chains were immediately removed. The God who saved Paul and Silas was the one who saved Amber and I out of this trouble! How great is our God!

You might be thinking, what expectations do I need to have if I were to sign up for Gen12ii? Below is a testimony of how God has been sovereign and has not worked in ways that Man expected Him to, but in His own ways to glorify Himself. Grace Wee shares from her experience…

Many times, I believe that when we are tasked for a church event or mission trip, we would cultivate a spirit of excellence, hoping and praying very hard that faith targets would be met, students would turn up for the activity and many would come to receive Christ. That is not wrong, but what I’m trying to say is that this is our cheery picture and God wants to show us His cheery picture that only through His view, we can comprehend the whole picture.

Greatest Lesson Learnt:
Isaiah 55:9 – “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and your thoughts higher than my thoughts.“

I went to North-East (NE) Thailand with a group of 10 in the last Gen12ii. In previous years, they had sent 2 groups of 10 each, so ours was considered a small group. I went with the expectation that something BIG would happen in the trip, that God would use a small team like ours to do HUGE things. But things didn’t turn out the way I expected.

We organized evangelistic events through a picnic, a Singapore-themed party and a camp. Our faith targets were not met. This taught me a GREAT lesson: Many times we expect our own agendas to be fulfilled but we forget God’s agenda. His ways are so much higher than ours. Looking back, even though we did not fulfill what we targeted, we made many long-lasting friendships that would eventually be won for Christ!

I believe that God didn’t want us to have a touch-and-go friendship with the Thai students, but to build on the friendship, get to know their personal needs first before introducing Jesus to them. That was HIS agenda.

So here is my encouragement to those of you who are still considering signing up Gen12ii: Expect God to surprise you in ways you cannot imagine; all you can do is to marvel awesomeness!

Part II of the Gen12ii testimonies sees Cheryl Lim on her adventure at Bethany Nursing Home, located right where we’re at: Singapore!

I went to Bethany Nursing Home for Gen12ii last year. It was one of those experiences that you’ll never forget. God really showed me that He uses the willing and not the super capable people. This is because before I went I was like, “Urgh, I can’t speak Mandarin that people understand, much less the cheem cheem dialect.” Those who didn’t understand English, most of them could understand my “superpower” Mandarin! God really used this trip to mould me and teach me how to love people despite their differences – age, culture and beliefs. I took home lessons like, perserverence (because it was a rather trying period of time being with the sick), and how to count on Him – that His strength will ALWAYS be made perfect in our weakness, and His grace is ALWAYS sufficient for us! Instead of going to be a blessing, I felt that I was blessed instead, by the loving, old and wise people and my wonderful team members!

Wondering about what Gen12ii is going to be like? Find out the experience of those who have gone before you! The 1st from a 6-part series, this is Rachel’s Gen12ii experience:

In the past, I could not imagine myself going on a mission trip because I thought I wasn’t the type who would be out on the mission field. However, God changed my heart and I went out to East Asia.

My reason going for GEN12 was to experience God and see the harvest field in East Asia. I also want to be a blessing to the people there because God has blessed me abundantly.

I remembered a friend I made in East Asia. I shared the 4 spiritual laws and my testimony with her and she received Jesus into her life that night! I was surprised because I did not expect her to say YES immediately. She realized the unconditional and unlimited love of God and she wanted to know Him. We know it was not what we said, but God who touched her heart personally. I was really happy because God blessed me to be able to go to East Asia and used me to share the Gospel with her. More importantly, I am able to be part of His mission to bless others with His love! =)

To find out more about Gen12ii, click here! Next week’s LM will also take you “Around the World in 2 Hours”!