This week I am staying with one of the sweetest families I have ever met! The entire family has been saved for four or fewer years. They are now extremely active in the church, and have been unbelievably gracious this week!
One of the best things about them is that they still have such a fresh excitement over their salvation. Having lived most of their lives, and even starting a family, without knowing Christ, it is so exciting to see the extreme changes in their lives.They are constantly praising the Lord for how He has changed their family, and they are now burdened for their extended family to be saved.
Both of our families parents are unsaved. They have come to church a few times, but have never shown much interest in being saved. They invited them to the service tonight, and they promised to come. The Egerdahls (who are also staying here), our host family, and I have been so burdened for them to come and be saved.
They did come tonight! Immediately everyone tried to make them feel welcome in the church. All of the hymns and songs that we sang seemed so perfect for them! Also, the message tonight was one of the clearest and most powerful gospel messages I’ve heard! During the invitation I was begging God to open their eyes to the gospel. I prayed that He would show them their sin and their desparate need of salvation. I asked Him to fulfill His promises that His Word will not return to Him void, and that it is not His will that any should perish.
However, their parents did not receive Christ tonight. They did not indicate a knowledge that they needed Christ, and they did not move during the invitation. However, her mom did say that she had some questions for the pastor and spent quite some time talking to the pastor’s wife after the service.
Even though it was difficult to see them leave unsaved, I know that God is working in their lives. His timing is perfect, and His promises are still true! Please pray that they will come to another service and receive Christ!- Amanda
Joel and I had an intriguing conversation with a Polish man named Karol. He moved from Poland to the U.K. a few years back to learn to speak English. While he was there, he was led to the Lord, and then shortly after, married an English-speaking woman. He said they had moved to Australia to have more room (and more Christian opportunities) for their kids to grow up in. He didn’t feel like England was really offering those things. Karol and his wife have been married 4 years, have 3 children, and just do what they can at the church and in the neighborhood to share the Gospel. Karol said something interesting that I don’t want to forget. He was talking about how he was out one day and, “of course, he had to share the gospel with the man he met and was talking to.” Then he looked at me and said, “I mean, if I don’t share the gospel with everyone I meet, then why should I bother being Christian?” That really hit home. I know I don’t witness to everyone I meet, and I try to salve my conscience by reminding myself of the times I have witnessed and of the children and teens I’ve been able to lead to the Lord. Karol has never been to Bible College, never been to American, and never even been in Greenville! Yet he lives the true Christian life. I think that God used this simple Polish man to prick my heart and stir my soul up about why I’m even still alive.- Megan
I am noticing God really convicting me for the need for more prayer in my life. I can read the Bible then my prayers are so shallow. All I did was ask God to do things instead of really using the time to get to know my God.
I have been studying all of the passages in the Bible on Jesus’ prayer life, and what a rebuke it is to me. If the Son of God spent tons of time in prayer communicating to God how much more should I (lowly man) spend in communication to God. So I practiced what I was learning on the last plane trip. I would just close my eyes and talk to God about everything and before I knew it I had been talking to God for a long time. God has been so good to me to teach me how to pray. This whole trip has to be bathed in prayer and what better time to learn from God? – Bridget
Since we don’t have those early morning chapels this week, we are using our morning times to meet together as a group, have a time of devotions, pray together, and share testimonies. This morning, Kevin spoke to us for actually a lengthy amount of time. I didn’t really notice how long it was, because I was very engaged in what he was saying. He began by sharing his burden for the team as coming from a former team member. Kevin had a lot of wisdom to share, since he had a lot of lessons to learn while he traveled. He has come out of it a great disciple-maker who also has a great love for people. His challenge to us included a plea for our own brokenness, for us to pursue the Pettits as a ministry, and for us to go deeper in our walk with God. I’d heard this story before, but hearing him talk about how he used to watch Tim Chapman sometimes stay up all night praying for a week of meetings was so compelling. Even though Kevin seemed to be directing most of his challenges to the new team members, I was greatly challenged, rebuked, and motivated to live a deeper, more purposeful life for the sake of the Gospel. – Megan
The Lord has been very good in doing great things this week. Seeing Him work in so many ways has been wonderful! He is able to work through the weakest of vessels and in the most surprising ways. After the Sunday morning service, I was able to talk to a military couple for a while. They had invited a fellow Coast Guard member and his family to church on Sunday thinking they were saved, and they invited them just to be friendly. But to their surprise, their friends responded during the invitation. I could just sense the joy in this lady’s heart as she was telling me the story. They never expected the visiting couple to get saved during the service, but were overjoyed that they did. This reminded me of a couple things: 1) Having a Bible with your name embossed on it means nothing without Christ; and 2) God can use ordinary situations to do amazing – and surprising – things.- James
After the evening service tonight, I was standing near the door and
greeting people as they left. I started a conversation with a man
named Walter and soon realized that he had just recently started
attending Harvest. He was incredibly friendly, and we were having a
great conversation when he abruptly mentioned that he wanted a coffee.
I pointed him toward the coffee shop and was about to bid him good
evening when he asked if he could buy me a drink. I was so stunned by
the kindness and generosity of this visitor whom I had known for no
more than 10 minutes, that I almost declined. I accepted his offer, and
we continued our conversation. I was then able to invite him to come
back to services the rest of the week, and he told me he would. It
impressed me that something as simple as buying a stranger a cup of
coffee could have such a powerful effect- Mike
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I’ve always had the awareness and knowledge that we need to love others, and to love them the way Christ does; but this truth has never meant more to me than it does now. Through being in Guam, the Lord has really opened my eyes to what it means and what it truly takes to love others as Christ loves them. I realize I still have much to learn and understand but the Lord is really showing and teaching me a TON about this love. This is awesome! It’s amazing the work the Lord can do in your life if you ask and allow Him! – Olivia
For lunch on Sunday, we had what they called a “Staff Lunch” in the cafeteria, where the entire Harvest Ministries staff was invited to eat. I enjoyed fellowshipping with several couples who work here, some of whom Joel knew in college (Andrew Potter and Jeffrey Borchardt). The neatest thing about the lunch, however, was the challenge that Brother Steve gave to all of us at the end. He really admonished us to make sure that things in our own hearts were right – especially relationally. He said that as servants in the Gospel ministry, we are the ones most responsible for whether or not the power of God is strong this week. Anything we do to grieve the Spirit will in some way hinder the power of God. It’s not that He won’t work at all, but His power can be hindered if we are grieving the Spirit. That was definitely a good reminder for me going into a huge week like this.
Once again, we had a wonderful evening service. And this time, the entire HBBI group sang. Let me tell you, those guys can SING!! I almost jumped out my seat when the guys started singing. Wow! We could all learn something from them. It was just so refreshing! Several children as well as adults accepted Christ at the end of the service, so it is evident that God is at work here. It is wonderful, exhausting ministry – the kind that, at the end of the day, makes you just collapse into bed.-Megan
“This trip is not just about me and others investing in my life. I am really challenged to see what I am doing as far as living out the Great Commission and edifying others. I am also challenged by the example of Harvest Staff and these church here to do the best of my ability as to the Lord.” -Jessica
This morning I woke up at 4:30am and could not go back to sleep (jet lag can be an ugly thing). I decided that instead of lying there in bed for 3 hours, I would like to see an island sunrise. So I grabbed my Bible and a cup of mango yogurt and set off. After driving 10 miles south, I found a small, unmarked road and decided to pull off. That road happened to lead down to a beautiful bay, with palm trees and coral rocks. As I sat in my car and watched the waves crash against the beach in the faint, morning light, I was reminded of God’s complete control over nature when He writes “Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them” (Psalm 88:9). His control extends not only to nature, but also to the circumstances of my life. Just as I can trust Him with the events of nature (ie. sunrises, crashing waves), I can trust Him to order the events of my life. – Mike
It was a good day, but a spiritually exhausting one. I was impressed by the spirit in the church. The HBBI students sang in the services today, and it was awesome. They sang in a manner that reflected their island culture, yet they sang from their hearts. It was moving to hear them sing the song about heaven in such a simple harmony. As they were singing I was picturing all of the islands they represented and thinking about how they are the ones that will go back to their islands to spread the Gospel. There was a real sense of the moving and working of the Spirit today in the services. I felt a sense of spiritual warfare throughout the entire day. This should be no surprise, however, considering that many people came to Christ today. As Brother Steve said at the end of tonight, “When God is working, Satan is also at work.” I praise God that He is greater. -Joel 
