"The Harvest is Plentiful..."

Wow... I am blown away by the glorious grace of our Father in Heaven. Quick recap of the day...

SMAC was fun this morning- phrasal verbs and then asking crazy questions like, if you could go on a date with a celebrity, who would you go with? If you could be really good at any hobby or sport, which would you choose? The scariest response I got was one young lady said "Paul McCartney", who is like 80... it was a lot of fun, though, and the kids all even said "awwww..." when I told them it was time to go. Praise God for a fun morning there!

I then took the bus to the right stop and made it to Wong's house only to find that he wasn't feeling up to meeting today. So I met with Diana and helped her learn English for about an hour and it was a blast! I REALLY love the family that Wong lives with (although I still don't know their apellido- last name)... please keep them all in prayer (all 6 of them) and Wong as well...

I left thinking that I was going to go with JM to teach the professors at UNACH, but Edison called and canceled again... so I had the privilege of spending the afternoon with the Coupes! I met their friend, Cristian, as well. He's a really cool guy who just graduated from high school and is already giving sermons at their church. I had the blessing of helping the family get rid of their leftovers (and they think I'm doing them a favor) and then also helping Mr. Bill and Cristian move some furniture to their storage place (in case I didn't mention it, they return to the states July 31). It was a ton of fun rolling the barrels (which is how their stuff is stored) around and joking with Cristian and Mr. Bill. We returned to have brownies and ice cream and I discovered I'd been duped by the lady at the ice cream store... she gave me cherry ice cream when I asked for Vanilla (she was very sneaky about it now that I think about it and never showed me the ice cream case up close... I was also pretty inattentive throughout the purchasing process). As Cristian put it, she probably said "Stupid Gringo, he has no idea".

I left for TKD after that and Wong was only there for the very beginning. We learned some of the basic forms and sections for the exam to "level up" a belt color (though I'm not here long enough for that. It was fun, though)... afterwards, I stuck around with Henry again and was helping him with his restaurant words and some basic English (months, days, etc) when he mentioned that he had just received a Spanish-English New Testament (in a terrible translation) the other day. I asked him a bit about his faith (Catholic) and if he reads the Bible, which he answered "yes, but I don't really understand it". CHA-CHING! I was so excited already and we were just getting started...

We started to talk about the virgin Mary and he said that "The Bible states that she has 6 kids more after Jesus, so how could she be a virgin?" (in Spanish- the whole important part of the conversation was in Spanish which is just another testament to God using a broken instrument, me and my Spanish, to accomplish glorious things for His Name). He also stated that I'm the first person he's ever met that agrees with him on this subject, which tells you something about the majority of Ecuadorians and their faith. He told me how he seeks to live a good life for God and loves talking to Jesus all the time during each day. When I asked him if he was going to heaven someday, he gave me one of the most interesting answers I've ever received: that when he died he would go to sleep until Jesus returned and then he would ascend into heaven. Apparently this is a Jehovah's witness belief (Mr. Johnny informed me)... the kicker came when I asked him if he would get to heaven because of his deeds or because of his beliefs, and he answered "deeds, because many people say 'I believe in God' but live a bad life. I am living a good life and because of that I am going to heaven..."

One of the other wonderful things was whenever I opened the Bible and had him start reading, he would read on and on and on until either the passage stopped or I stopped him! We looked at John 3:16, Matthew 7:15-23 (tree and it's fruit- I used this to help him see that just because people say they believe in God doesn't mean He will accept them into heaven), 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (our bodies are temples for the Holy Spirit), 1 Peter 3:9 (don't repay insult for insult, but with blessing), Luke 10:27 (the first and second greatest commandments) and John 14:15 ("If you love Me, you will obey what I command"). It was a glorious time pouring through the Scripture, and he kept telling me that I was "absolutely right". He also told me he always tried to live the best life he could for God and was a very peaceful, non-violent man. But after that, one of the most encouraging things I've ever been told during this type of conversation, he said (and really meant it): "I am going to start living a better life tomorrow... no! From this moment, I am going to live a better life". WOW! Praise GOD! And later in our conversation, after much explanation, I asked him again "how are you going to get to heaven? By your deeds or your beliefs (faith)?" And he answered "by my beliefs". After an hour and a half of conversation, he prayed the "prayer of salvation" and ladies and gentlemen, we have a new brother in Christ. He prayed the prayer with such strength in his voice, and this guy does everything to his fullest ability, so I know he meant it. We had another guy join us right before the prayer and pray right along, but I don't know if he really meant what he repeated... please keep him in prayer. Also, as the trials come for our new brother, Henry, please be steadfastly keeping him in prayer, that God grows him into a wonderful man of His to be a blessing to the nations! It was so wonderful to see the joy in his face and countenance and say, as we were leaving, "Dios te bendiga, hermano" (God bless you, brother).

This is what God has called us to do. This is what God has called me to do. I miss my family like crazy and can't wait to get back to my JMU friends, but I can't even begin to comprehend leaving this place. God has taught me so much and blessed me in ridiculous ways. After my conversation with Henry tonight and the prayer, I was so humbled (still am) and wanted to cry... yet also so full of the joy of the Lord. All the glory be to God... forever and ever... Amen.

Matthew 9:37-38
"Then He said to His disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into the harvest field.'"

Here I am, working in the field, just doing my duty as an unworthy servant of the Lord.

Thanks, God.