Here am I

One of the women I work with, Sharon, asked me for a Bible Tuesday night. Please pray for her as she opens God's Word - that if He wills, she would understand the truth and grace and life found there, and be redeemed by the Blood of Christ. Also pray that she would be able to not work on Sunday mornings so that she may come to church.

I smile - well, obviously because this is awesome - but also because she is one of the ones I've been praying for patience with. A transformation unto godliness in her would be a MAJOR testimony to a LOT of people.

Last night I gave the presentation on my trip to Turkey before my church body - and my mom, dad, brother, grandparents, and little cousin came, also. SO GOOD.

I'm done being on the computer, so I'll paste in here a brief bit I wrote my friend Charlie about it, and write more another time. Maybe in an hour or so, even. I'm at school with no specific assignments and already prepared for my later exam, so I'm blogging... but now I'm going to go research common symptoms patients go to a medical office complaining of, and common medical emergencies and how they're triaged (placed in order of urgency to be seen).

on last night:

I didn't get to talk to my grandparents afterward (they scooted out), but they sat with Jack and Joy, converted Catholics who joined our fellowship a couple years ago (my grandparents are Catholic). Joy was a nun for five years! She said they talked to my gp's about their move from the C church to this one.

So yesterday, to get ready for the night, I left school after my first class and spent the day cooking! What fun, and a nice break from the usual routine.

I didn't have a speech planned - I'd thought about writing one a few times, but never got anywhere. I did have a slide show (nothing fancy) that played and I talked about some of the pictures, told other stories... I told the story that I wrote on my blog and it had quite the impact. Even my brother's face was completely serious. ... it was SO GOOD. Shared what the missionaries I'd met said they wanted the believers here to know; what I saw in the lives of the Turks I met; why Turkey needs Christians willing to live there...

My family talked with my church family, and I could tell my dad and brother just really enjoyed the fellowship. During the presentation, Dad was gently smiling the whole time I spoke. So encouraging.

My brother said afterward, "When you were up there, I could see the little Amanda again." The way I was when I was little. Myself, I guess. I am becoming more myself all the time - it's really awesome. Freedom in the joy of the Lord to be who He made me to be.

I love my brother... Keep praying for him. He saw something different in the faith last night. He saw my heart and heard truth and of the vast difference between our God and the god of Islam. And he tried to stump me with a question that I wasn't stumped by. :)

My grandparents heard of nominal Muslims with their traditions and duty-driven worship that is so much like their own Catholicism. What's so cool is that the things that I did know I wanted to say, but didn't know how to say them so that they would be relatable to any unbelievers - well, the words were there.

I can never remember everything that's been said after I give a presentation or share a testimony or whatnot. It's cool because the Spirit speaks - the ONLY reason I can approach eloquence and entertainment :) (left to my own strength I would ramble and stumble over words and be quite boring.. hahaha.. but it's true!) - but then I have only vague recollections of what I talked about. Now that that is complete, though, I should be able to write about the trip. I think I'd been stopped from writing so I wouldn't have my own words to fall back on when speaking. If you're reading this and you were there last night, maybe you could comment on what you learned from the presentation - what stood out most to you. That would be helpful.

I love my church family. What lovely, encouraging, open-hearted people. And I love knowing my calling. I am a missionary: right now, here in NH; when the command comes, out there, and I will be so glad in going.