"While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head. Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, "Why this waste of perfume? It could have been sold for more than a year's wages and the money given to the poor." And they rebuked her harshly. "Leave her alone," said Jesus. "Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her."
It's indeed a very good reminder, that we have to seize the opportunities to serve our Lord wholeheartedly and with our best! We ought to prioritize things in our life, because there are too many distractions and temptations in this modern era that pull us away from God. Let us remember to place God the highest when we rank our daily responsibilities, and only God alone can satisfy our hearts and give us hope. It's one of the lessons we learned from this trip.
When we saw the brothers and sisters at IBCB thirsting for God's words and teachings, and still holding on to their faith in this chaotic and dangerous environment, we couldn't help but give thanks to God. We are indeed very blessed to have Pastor Lee and Mrs. Lee shepherding us, and go to church without any fear. Psalm 146 says, "The Lord is near to all who call on Him, He hears their cry and saves them, the Lord watches over all who love Him, but all the wicked he will destroy." We believe that their voices are heard and God will show His abundant love and grace to them.
In the morning we visited different stores to preach the gospel. Thank God that some Spanish-speaking youths who have the compassion of spreading the Gospel came with us. We came to know Ah Lek at the first store we visited, a young man from a Yan Ping family but was born in Venezuela. At first we were not confident enough that he would understand what we were talking about since he spoke very little Cantonese and English. But God touched his heart thus he understood the Gospel and accepted Christ with joy! From this we experienced the work of the Holy Spirit. Many people yearn for the peace and assurance from God. On the same day, three more people accepted Christ as their Savior. Praise be to God!
Nicole shared 1 Timothy 4:12 "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity." The youths enthusiastically read and memorized the verse together.
Then Elizabeth led two ice-breaker games. One of them is called "Affirm me", in which they had to share with us their gifts and good traits from God. The game was followed by a message from Galatians 5:22, about the fruit of the Spirit. Praise God that all programs went smoothly, and most importantly we got the chance to talk to the youths and enjoy the sweetness of God's teaching together.
See our the happy faces? :)
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