Our mission in Canada drawing to an End

I wanted to blog at least one time before the week closes out for our time in Canada. I am so grateful to the Lord, for this experience that He has blessed me with! My brother intentionally placed me with the younger children ages 5 and under. I was really excited about the opportunity to work with the younger kids. God has given me a gift in creativity and teaching a sport to younger children will stretch to the point of a necessity to use creativity with them! Along with teaching them how to play baseball, I have been given the opportunity to lead the Bible study time with them! I chose to share Bible stories with them with the intention to closing out the week tomorrow by directing the children to how Big God is!

Running different baseball drills have been quite interesting! Holding the attention spans of 4 to 6 years old is not an easy task! I have been very thankful for the other leaders that helped with the younger children! Especially Kristian, my awesome French translated! Let me tell you... Holding younger children's attention is already a huge task but when there is a communication barrier, the level of difficulty raises to a ridiculous level; however, it is at times like these when God really shows His strength through our weakness! I am so amazed by how God has torn down this huge barrier throughout this week! Nothing is impossible with God! Even when we are faced with a situation that is way past our limits, God shows up in the mightiest way!

I am so thankful for how God works through the most difficult situations in life! It is also easy to feel discouragement when faced with hard situations! In these moments it's easy to forget the power of God in the most of tough situations and we rather complain about them than looking to HIM for guidance and direction. Also when we are faced with these types of situations, we realize just how much we don't know and how incapable we are when it comes to life. When we are weak, He is strong! We must remember His promise from Matthew that follows a command! Go, and make disciples of all nations... And remember that I will be with you always!

Remembering His promise,
Twiga

Canada Missions

Well we have been able to minister to different areas in Quebec so far since we arrived. We are staying with a sweet family in a city called Rawdon. They have been tremendously hospitable! They are a French speaking family that also know English which works out best for us haha... I do know some French, so it is kinda neat that I can understand a little here and then! I have also spoken a little French to a few people while I've been here and it was really cool to know that I at least have made a little connection to a different language speaking area!

The first place we ministered at was a little church named Renaissance Church here in Rawdon. We are actually staying with the pastor of the church here in Rawdon as we minister in Quebec. We did a lot of yard work for the Renaissance Church: mowing the grass, cutting down hedges, weed-eating and some other things. It is a small little church that is located a few miles away from the town of Rawdon. It is so interesting because everything is in French wherever we go! After we finished, we went back to the house and spent time getting to know one another. I am grateful to be serving with the students that are here with my brother!

Then, Saturday we helped put together a fence for a family on the outskirts of town. We got to use a chainsaw and sledge hammers: manly tools haha... The family we helped made us lunch which was so good! They made sausage and pork! I ate good for sure! Later on we went to a fair in Rawdon to help clean up afterwards. I had opportunities to talk with the people out at the park, which was where the fair was held at. The church has been aiding this fair for several years now and when we arrived they knew that we were with the Renaissance church immediately by our presence! What an amazing doorway to gospel presentation!

Sunday, my brother and I, along with a few students from my brothers student ministry led worship for Renaissance Church. I was so thankful for the opportunity to help lead in worship! I was also grateful to be a part of ministering alongside my older brother, Jason! I am so proud of his zeal and love for the Lord and in relaying the message of the Cross to others! Jason preached on Galatians 2:20 and how as we move forward, we must be hidden in the cross as we live our lives! He spoke about how we must not look at the cross and the saving work of Christ and then move forward in our own strength but that the cross must always be present every day of our lives! Gelatins 2:20, Paul says, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live but Christ lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in Jesus Christ."

After church I went out to the park and played with Emma, my niece. It was so fun to hang out with Pookie, the name my brother an sister-in-law calls her a lot. Me and my brother then went to throw baseball at the baseball field, which brought back memories of my childhood. I am so thankful for my family and being here with them in Canada this week! Oh, and I also had the opportunity to be a part of Elijah, my nephew's bath time, which was a blast!

Tomorrow morning we start up the baseball camp with a range of 20 to 40 kids! Please pray for these kids and their families as we minister to them through how we act around them and engage in conversations with them. Each day one person from our group will speak on a different narrative that reveals the gospel. We will cover creation, the fall, redemption and restoration, then my brother will bring all of those narratives into the centrality of the gospel! I am excited to see the Lords work this week!

Takin the gospel to Canada,
Twiga

Bonjour

I have now officially spent a full day in Canada! I arrived in Burlington, Vermont Thursday at 12:30 pm. Vermont has some really beautiful land! There were farms everywhere. It was really interesting because I had just encountered The Statue of Liberty and the huge city of New York 3 hours earlier. Talk about going from one extreme to the other haha...

When I arrived to Vermont, I met my brother and his group out at the front of the arrival area. I was completely surprised because a week ago he had mentioned the possibility of bringing Erin, and it was not supposed to work out. As I went back to the rear of rental car, Jason mentioned he had a big surprise for me! I opened the door and I saw my nephew, niece and sister-in-law! I was so shocked and excited at the same time! I don't get a lot o opportunities to see them, so this is a very rare and exciting opportunity! Getting to hear them say uncle Eric is like sweet music to my ears! I am so thankful for time that I will have with all of them!

I jumped in the car and we were on our way to the great land of Canada, EY! An hour and a half in our trip we found ourselves at The Border, another first time experience for me. There have been several first time experiences for me on this trip so far. When we arrived in Montreal, I was quickly reminded of my days in Atlanta, except for everything around me was covered in the French language haha... Just forewarn everyone, driver are crazy in the city of Montreal!

In just under 4 hours, we arrived in Rawdon, Canada. Beautiful country everywhere! Farms, extravagant Catholic churches, and beautiful lakes! Canada truly has beautiful land all around! We pulled into a subdivision where the house we were going to stay at was located. My brother was connected with a pastor of a small church of 35 in Rawdon. Ron and Isabelle are a wonderful couple an have been a joy to be around. I am very thankful for there hospitality and friendship! Please pray for their chuch Renaissance Bible church, as they seek out more people to come fill the church.

Well, that was the premise of the arrival. I will blog on the ministry we are doing later. I am very glad to be here and thankful for God using me to be a light in the darkness! Just something to keep in mind while you pray for us: Canada has one Bible believing church to every 20,000 people. A tough reality for me to hear!

Taking the gospel to Canada, Twiga

Do You Believe?

So here I am doing laundry and packing for my trip to Canada with my brother and a team from his church he serves at! I cannot believe that this trip is already one day away. Tomorrow morning at 6:30 am, I will be flying up to Burlington, Vermont and we drive 3 hours up to the Montreal area. Next week we will be running a baseball camp with kids and most importantly we will be putting the saving work of the gospel in action! Yesterday at work an older man that works under me began talking to me about how he doesn't hold a believing view in Hell. First of all this is very typical of my encounters at the warehouse! God moves constantly there and I must be entirely intentional in my evangelism when roaming around my department, while leading these people. I just smiled when this particular man opened up to me because I knew that somehow God was not only at work in this warehouse but also in the process of readying my heart for this trip. God is always at work! The problem when it comes to sharing the love of Christ to people is that we aren't always prepared! Paul points out that we should prepare our minds for action! We are always in the midst of Spiritual Warfare! Paul also made it very clear that we should place our minds on the things above: holy things, godly things, gospel-driven things! If we allow it, our minds can be running a thousand different directions! And each and everyone of those directions can potentially have nothing to do with the gospel! So how do we set our minds on the things above? How do we bring this gospel-driven mindset to the front of our thoughts and then place it into action? Well firstly, we must PRAY! The Word of God tells us that if we ask God for things we need, things that are eternally significant, He will give them to us! Secondly, in order to be gospel-driven, we must READ the Word of God! It's not just a piece of literature, it's the Living, Breathing, Communicating, Double-Edged Sword, the Word of God! We must treat it that way! Do not simply read it and walk away! Believe what it says! As you read it, ask God to reveal Himself to you! Ask Him to hide the Truths that you are reading in your heart, so that when you do encounter others, the gospel will then flow out your actions and you will speak important truth into the ones that you are speaking to! Thridly, Beware and Hold Fast to The Truth! Ephesians 6 clearly demonstrates that we are at war! Paul reveals that it is vital to put on the Full Armor of Jesus Christ! This is not to be taken lightly! Satan is not stupid neither is he oblivious of the Truths that we hold to! Satan also knows that these important Truths are very much for REAL! He will do everything possible to deceive us and throw us off our pursuit to sharing the saving power of Jesus Christ to the lost! One other thing I would like to share from my heart... Well, it's an answer to a question. We call these journeys, mission trips, but when are we to begin a mission trip? When we arrive to our ultimate destination? Or does it start at the very first encounter that the Lord presents us with? We are always to be ready to share Jesus Christ to people! So when I find myself next to a teenager on the plane I am flying off in, my goal to share the gospel is right ther and then! What is our purpose in this life? Why did God create us? To Know Him and make Him Known!

These truths do not only apply to people heading overseas or to a different part of the country, But to every individual that calls Jesus Christ their Savior! It applies at work, at school, while you go out to town to do errands, if your a mother and your at home raising your children. Wherever you are, Be prepared! Be Gospel-Driven!

Do You Believe?
Then what are you doing about it?

Believing that the power of the Gospel is always at work,
Twiga

Approaching Evangelism

So it has been several months since I blogged last! A lot of has been going on since my last blog. I am now employed full time at a warehouse and I was recently promoted to the position Team Lead at work. The more I engage my job with the Word of God, the more I realize that my sole purpose as Team Lead is to first, Be a Godly leader. Second, reveal the gospel through my actions, words and duty. And finally, preach the gospel! I realize that my job is a financial need and blessing as well, and that is important, however; God has placed me in that warehouse with the command to take the light into the darkness! Why? Well, because eternity doesn't include the stuff I get here on the earth. All the materials that you and I own will fade away! The only thing that holds eternal significance is Jesus, the One and only true God! It's says in His word that we are like dust! All He has to do is blow and we would dissapear as if we weren't even here! His Word also says that the Nations are like nothing to Him! Just take a whole week and meditate on that truth! So, I think I will just say that God is in control and we are only here on earth as long as He allows it! So back to evangelism. The Lord has truly done an incredible thing in my life in the last several months! I believe that an incredible transformation has happened! Please understand before I go farther that I 100% boast in Christ for this revelation! I think about John's revelation in the Bible and I just get mind-boggled over what it must have been like to be in his shoes while recieving such incredible vision from the Lord! I am a firm believer that God still gives us vision. I don't think it is the same way that John experienced but rather a vision of selflessness. A vision for what eternity will be like! And this vision is clearly seen through the scope of the gospel! We have access to God's Word and the more we engage it, the more vision we obtain. This is why I find myself going into the warehouse I work at and see souls in need of the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ, rather than a mondane process in which we call work, which is obtained through an 8 hour window or more... Now please understand, my vision for the gospel to be placed into the lives of my coworkers can be blurred, because just as Paul writes, we still battle between the things of the flesh and the things of the spirit! So if we are to deal with this warfare, then how are we to succeed in gospel action? One word: PRAYER! Yes, prayer. Evangelism isn't a type of equation! In the end, the saving power only lies within the Truth, which is The Gospel! Christ crucified! There is absolutely nothing within my ownself that can successfully point men to Jesus! It is only by the saving work of the gospel that one can be saved! God demands glory and He deserves every ounce of it! Obviously it is important to spend time in The Word, therein absorbing the truth that will ultimately flow outwardly, but prayer must be the one thing that is at the forefront of our evangelism! Pray for opportunities to share the gospel with your coworkers! Pray that when you receive those opportunities, and you will, that you will be bold and gracious to reveal the greatest truth that anyone could receive! Prayer takes focus off of us and onto the mission, which is the proclamation of the gospel! There is a reason that the Bible reveals the very need to pray without ceasing! Taking up your cross and following Him! We are actively crucifying ourselves to the ways of this world! We are at the midst of Heavy, Spiritual Warfare! You will be pursued by the enemy, when living a gospel-centered lifestyle but be encouraged by the ending words to the Great Commission! "Go, therefore unto all the Nations, making disciples of men. Teaching them to observe all the things that I have commanded you. Baptizing them in the name of the father, son and the holy spirit." and then here is the part we MUST NOT FORGET! "And Know, I will be with you Always, even until the End of the age." We are girded under Him and we see in Romans 8, that nothing will separate us from the love of God! We fear No Evil because He is on our side! And He has defeated death and we will forever be His!

So, soak up the Truth! Pray and Live out your faith in Action! Evangelize!

Praying with you,
Twiga

Doing the Will of The Father

Reading through the gospels, it is extremely evident that Jesus, the Word made flesh, the Son of God, devoted himself to doing the will of the Father. Now it is very important to understand the centrality of the Trinity. Why? Because... well it can be very confusing because of the idea of one God, three persons. It is a pretty common thing to be somewhat ignorant of who the Trinity really is and how They work but it is very essential to understand this Truth in the Christian Life! If you are struggling to understand how the Trinity works, I would encourage you to dive deeper in the scriptures and look for books that are based solely on the Trinity. (NOT "The Shack") For to embrace such a view that this book claims to how the Trinity works, is complete blasphemy and disgrace to who God is and how He works in our lives! Now that I got that out of the way lets talk about the will of the Father.

In the gospels, Jesus always proclaimed that anything that He taught on or revealed was directly from the Father. Now, understand that the Son and the Father are ONE and always have been. A great scripture that explains the essence of this is from John 15.

[I Am the True Vine]
[15:1] “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. [2] Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. [3] Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. [4] Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. [5] I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. [6] If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. [7] If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. [8] By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. [9] As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. [10] If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. [11] These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
[12] “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. [13] Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. [14] You are my friends if you do what I command you. [15] No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. [16] You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. [17] These things I command you, so that you will love one another.
(John 15:1-17 ESV)

This scripture is a prime example of what our relationship should be to God! As Christians, some view that doing the will of the Father is an optional thing. This is not evident when one looks at the Life of Jesus. We are called to "Do The Will of God"! Lets just look back at the Life of Christ. He submitted to everything the Father willed Him, The Son, to do. The persons of the Trinity are not any less eternal or divine than the other. I am reading through a book called "Knowing God" by J.I. Packer right now. I think Packer explains the relationship amongst the Trinity in an excellent way.


"It is the nature of the second person of the Trinity to acknowledge the authority and submit to the good pleasure of the first. That is why he declares himself to be the Son and the first person to be his Father. Though coequal with the Father in eternity, power and glory, it is natural to him to play the Son's part and to find all his joy in doing his Father's will, just as it is natural to the first person of the Trinity to plan and initiate the works of the Godhead and natural to the third person to proceed from the Father and the Son to do their joint bidding." ("Knowing God") Ch. 5 'God Incarnate', p. 62

So as Christians what do we take from this? Well it's simple! If Jesus, the Word made flesh, submitted to the Father's will joyfully, then we are most definitely called to do the same! How could we ever think of God's will in our life to be optional? Such a way of thinking is less than the Truth of the gospel and what our life is to be under the Godhead.

So my encouragement to you and I is this: Our purpose in life, is to do the will of God! We are to know God and make Him known to all men! To live a selfish life, is to reject the central truth of the gospel! Die to self, carry your cross and follow me! May we make God's will necessary not optional in our lives in everything we do! Remember Romans 8:28

[28] And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
(Romans 8:28 ESV)

"Good" within the context of this text is not a human understanding of good but the will of God! May you go about your day girded under His grace and love, and share the good news to all men!

Looking to do the will of my heavenly Father,
Twiga

A Thought On The Manger

2,000 years ago, the most incredible event happened in history! God stepped down into the world as fully flesh and fully God and was born into the world as a helpless babe and placed into a manger! We can read about this account in the gospel and just say, "Cool" and then move right on to His life and death on the cross. But, I would encourage you as I have myself this year to truly meditate on the account of God placing Himself into history! Jesus took himself out of a place of Glory and Splendor, a place where He and the rest of the Trinity shared a perfect, unblemished relationship and entered into the world as weak, miry flesh to offer something that would rock everyone's world! He exchanged a place of Sinlessness for a place that would be infested with SIN! He exchanged a place that is absent from brokenness, sorrow, grief, pain and hate for a place that possessed all of these things in fullness! The exchange that Christ made is an incredible mystery! Not one of us could ever understand the LOVE of God! We are so far away from such mystery, that we can only use experiences and relationships to try and understand the Love of God. And still fall extremely short! As we think on the historical account of the Messiah taking His place into the world to bring Salvation to all that would receive it, I challenge you along with myself to dwell on the exchange Christ made when He left glory to walk amongst us! I have been thinking about this incredible exchange and the more and more I dwell on such an incredible account, the more I am amazed and mesmerized by what He did for us! So as you recall the Shining Star, the Shepherds, the Angels, Mary and Joseph, the manger and everything that represents the Beautiful Christmas Story, don't forget to take time and dwell on the mysterious account in Jesus' exchange when He chose to become flesh and live amongst us! It makes me say, "Oh, What a Savior. Oh What Love, Oh What a Salvation, Oh What an Exchange!"

Merry Christmas,
Twiga