A Little Romans for You

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice -- the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

-Romans 12:1-2

Cultural Worship Services

Hope everyone is doing great. I’m in my fourth week in training which is crazy because it feels like I just arrived. Everything’s really going well, really enjoying the classes. The foods not amazing but it’s digestible. So far we have had two cultural worship services which are some of my favorite times. The first worship service was to represent a house church in China. We removed our shoes and went into a smaller room packed with people. Everything was in Mandarin. We sang songs, had prayer, and heard a message all in Mandarin. The whole atmosphere was really amazing. This past Sunday night we had a worship service representing the Sub Saharan Africa. The room was divided into two. One side was the ladies and children, and the other side was filled with the older men in chairs and the rest of us younger guys sitting on laid out blankets like being outside in the grass or dirt. The ladies all wore a head covering and a long skirt while we wore long pants and a long sleeved shirt. The service was conducted in Swahili as well as other local languages.

I just love the whole experience of worshipping Jesus in different ways. If I ever get to where I think that I must worship Him with a guitar and drums or some other set way, then I’ve got a problem. Any way to praise Him is great: dancing or no dancing, instruments or no instruments. It all doesn’t make a difference. What matters is that I’m giving God all the praise and glory because He deserves everything that I’ve got. I need to not forget that worship is not just a "service" but is every day in everything I do.

Please be in prayer for me this week that I absorb all of God’s truth and all the wisdom that is here to take in. Pray that I have an open heart to everything being taught and that my heart continues to break for the people of Portugal.

Two Weeks into Orientation

So I have finished up my second week of orientation, and everything is going really well. They are keeping us busy with classes and assignments ranging from bible study to culture and logistics. Being here and learning more makes me even more ready and excited to go and use what I’ve learned. I can’t wait to get overseas and look forward to meeting everyone. Today we went through language training and how important language is to adapt to the culture. Even though living in Spain two years ago and working on learning the language was difficult, I look forward to doing it all over again in Portugal especially since I will be there for longer. I love to get to know about other cultures and seeing how people outside of my own culture live. But while I am here there are a few prayer requests. Please be in prayer that:

• I’ve got an open heart and mind to all that is being taught over the next 6 weeks
  
• God shapes and molds me into the person He desires for me to be
  
• My heart breaks for the people of Portugal
  
• Your heart breaks for the people of this world who do not know about the love of Christ