Celebrating Independence Day in Asia is always a bit of a challenge. There are no BBQs, no parades, no fireworks shows or anything of the sort to go to, and so it usually ends up being me and a few friends scraping together a semi-traditional 4th of July meal and watching “Independence Day”, the action movie from almost 20 years ago where the world is attacked by space aliens.
But this year was different! This year we had one of the best celebrations of all – sharing in the excitement of one of our Asian sisters, Joy, getting baptized! Of all of the baptisms I have gotten to be part of over here, this was one of my favorites. Around 10 brothers and sisters gathered in our apartment as we listened to Joy share the story of how God had pursued her from a young age, and how she made the decision to follow Him as a senior in college and now, on July 4th, 2015, she was getting dunked. It was such a special time of fellowship, commitment, prayer, and well, joy! And there were even cupcakes afterwards – chocolate peanut butter – and if that doesn’t scream “America”, I don’t know what does!
Continue to pray for Joy as she has made this public step to follow God. Ask that He will continue to guide and direct her life, and use her to do great and mighty things in her country.
Also, please pray for our annual Summer Retreat that we will have here in the X in just a few weeks. This is a very special time when our disciples from all of the CT cities gather together to fellowship, have fun, and to be trained and equipped for the work they are doing on their campuses! Ask God that all the planning details would come together (especially for me as I am coordinating it, hahaha), and that God would impart something special to our group during that time.
Thank you everyone!
Happy Independence Day!