Friday, October 28, 2016 at 12:12 PM Darren Lo
Before missions, my heart was all over the place. When we first began talking about missions, I was very excited, since I wanted to experience sharing the Gospel in a foreign country. During the entire second semester, my heart was in great anticipation for missions. However, when summer hit, I began losing the excitement because of work. I began using my energy and thoughts to focus on work. I would come home very tired, wash up, then go to sleep. Spiritually speaking, I was out of it. I became so distracted that I lost my reason for going on missions. At some point in the summer, I began to pray to God, asking Him to remind me of why I’m going on missions in the first place. As people began to ask me why I went to Thailand, I remembered why it was that I wanted to go on missions: to obey what God has called each one of us to do. He called us to go and make disciples of all nations, as well as be His witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the Earth. As the promised time came close, I began to feel more “mission-minded.” It wasn’t until we were onboard the plane that I began to feel excited. Once we arrived, I still wasn’t fully excited to be at the conference, since I didn’t have that much expectations for it. However, throughout the entire conference, I enjoyed the fellowship with my brothers more than the conference itself, as I felt handicapped for not being able to understand most of the things going on as I didn’t speak Korean. I did hope that in the conference, I would be equipped and refocus my heart for missions. Indeed, after my brothers encouraged and blessed me, and after Beggar’s Retreat, I felt ready to go on missions.
Once missions started, I began to see how Ramkhamhaeng University was. Our first unofficial day on campus allowed me to see the type of students on campus, how many students were on the smaller campus, as well as how Thai CCC were doing. Once we began to share the Gospel, I became really passionate about sharing. For two or so weeks we went around campus, sharing the Gospel to the students. Though it was a long journey, God was with us the entire time, whether it was during team time, or the various events we had. Throughout the time, I learned so much about my own strengths and weaknesses, how I interact with different people, and I began to develop how God views the lost people in the world. I enjoyed every moment, from all the team times, to morning devotions, to the meal times, to sharing the Gospel, and all the different events for the students.
I remember that for one of our bigger events, Friends Night, we really prayed for many students to attend. I remember that as we prayed for the event the night before, I felt a little worried because on our first day on campus, we passed out fliers to the students to invite them to the event, and I remember seeing many students reject the fliers or take the fliers without any genuine interest. Despite that, I prayed knowing that God would exceed my expectations, and boy did he exceed them. Our goal was to have at least 200 people, including ourselves, attend the event. The following day, which was the day of the event, we continued to pass out fliers to everyone, but just like the first day we were on campus, many students didn’t seem interested. They day passed by, and it was time for Friends Night. I had invited some of my new friends to come, all of which but one came. As students started arriving, I was soon blown out of my mind by the number of students that were arriving. When we began the program, there were students standing in the back! We had to grab chairs outside of the room in order to seat the students standing. Not only that, but at the end of the night when we were serving food to the attendees and cleaning up, I was warmly greeted by many of the students even though I wasn’t as popular as some of the other members in my team. To see many students open up in such a short amount of time was only the work of the Spirit.
Now that I’m back at school, it’s been rather difficult trying to have that same passion I had in Thailand at school. Having started my fifth week, I am already burdened with not just school work, but also ministry responsibilities, church events, and whatever else life throws at me. To top it off, facing the reality of campus life hit me in the face. So, as I continue with this year, I can only hope and pray that I would continually be obedient to what His will is and to take action when He calls.
--Nelson
I remember that for one of our bigger events, Friends Night, we really prayed for many students to attend. I remember that as we prayed for the event the night before, I felt a little worried because on our first day on campus, we passed out fliers to the students to invite them to the event, and I remember seeing many students reject the fliers or take the fliers without any genuine interest. Despite that, I prayed knowing that God would exceed my expectations, and boy did he exceed them. Our goal was to have at least 200 people, including ourselves, attend the event. The following day, which was the day of the event, we continued to pass out fliers to everyone, but just like the first day we were on campus, many students didn’t seem interested. They day passed by, and it was time for Friends Night. I had invited some of my new friends to come, all of which but one came. As students started arriving, I was soon blown out of my mind by the number of students that were arriving. When we began the program, there were students standing in the back! We had to grab chairs outside of the room in order to seat the students standing. Not only that, but at the end of the night when we were serving food to the attendees and cleaning up, I was warmly greeted by many of the students even though I wasn’t as popular as some of the other members in my team. To see many students open up in such a short amount of time was only the work of the Spirit.
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