An Intimate Time with God!

What an Awesome God we Serve!
I have been back from India for about a week, what an INCREDIABLE experience!! I am still taking in everything that I saw. All I know is that Devanhallai has a very special place in my heart and would love to serve there full-time in the future if God opens that door. When I went overseas, I think I was always telling God that was willing to go anywhere, but was I really? I am not so sure that I was, after God called me away from Korea and to Indonesia, it was a huge step because they are very different. I went from a country that has many churches and very vocal Christians to a country that is mostly Muslim and not very many churches. He was also calling me away from a group of people that I had developed relationships with and considered family to a place where I knew no one again. I was willing to go to Indonesia because I knew that God was calling me there, and I really do want to be where God wants me, but what if God would have said go to India? I know that ultimately I would have gone, but would I have gone without the reservations that I went to other places. I think sometimes God lets us see a place before he calls us there and sometimes he doesn’t that why we have to have the ultimate faith that God does have a plan for our life and his plan is always what is best for us.
I had known for a while about this trip to India, but I was like I will go one time, no big deal. It made it easier because my best friend/Sister Lara was going. I knew that something on this trip was going to happen because of everything that Satan was doing to prevent me from going on the trip and everything he was doing to discourage me. When I stepped off the plane in Bangalore, India, I knew that something was different and it wasn’t just the lack of sleep over the last 36 hours. When Pastor JD and Ruth picked me up at the airport, I knew that this was going to be something that was going to change my life, and change it, it did. I never thought about India as being a place that God might call me too or did I ever have a desire to go there other than on a visit. After spending 11 very intense days with God, I will be going back in March for 8 days for Spring Break and who knows, maybe God is calling me their permanently, and if he does I will be ready. JD and Ruth and the people in India will always play such a special role in my life because of the ministry they have in the villages. They were such a huge blessing to me, and God used them to show me that even though they have so little their lives will always be richer because of the relationship they have with God. How many people can say, that my life is Rich with God, but have nothing. The people that they work with have nothing, but have so much because they have God and people are coming into the Kingdom of God all the time. God has an awesome way of changing your heart to come into HIS will for your life. My prayer is that if this is where God wants me that the doors will open in HIS time and HIS time alone, not my time. My time is never right. If I have learned anything from living abroad is that I never want to be the driver in my relationship with God, when HE is driving and in control of my life it is always much simpler than when I try to take control. When I wake up every morning, I ask that God take control of that day because in the end all we need is JESUS.
Well, I managed to go to India for 11 days and not get sick which is a very big accomplishment, but Tuesday night after I returned I cooked chicken at my house for my roommate and two of the other teachers. The chicken didn’t smell bad or look bad, but it was very bad. The other teachers ended up in the hospital on Wednesday morning with food poisoning. Wednesday morning I wasn’t feeling so good, but I was like, I will get over it, everything will be fine. As the day continued, I started getting sicker, but I continued to say that I will go home and sleep it off, but Thursday morning their was no more lets be positive. I can say that I have never felt so sick in my life. It was the stomach flu times a 100. I sent a text message to the school asking if someone can take me to the doctor, but since the other two girls where in the hospital, they took me straight to the ER, the door was said you will be staying. I new that I was dehydrated at the very least because I wasn’t able to eat or drink anything since Tuesday night and now it was Thursday morning and I was still unable to eat or drink. They quickly hooked up an IV to start pumping me full of fluids, antibiotics, and giving me medicine so that I would stop vomiting. The doctor then proceeded to tell me that I needed to eat, sounds good to me, if I could! Even with the medicine, I was still unable to hold down water most of Thursday and it always got worse during meal time. I would smell them handing out food in the hallway and I would start getting sick. This still didn’t stop them from bringing me food and telling me to eat. Honestly I would have eaten in a heart beat if I could get past the smells. I slept most of the day on Thursday which was good. Thursday evening brought visitors starting with some girls from one of the Indonesian churches; apparently our Doctor is a very strong Christian man who gives them a list of people he believes are Christians so that they can go pray with them and then they go pray with anyone else who wants prayer. They were such a great gift from God that day. After they had left that night one of the teachers came to visit us along with some of the Grade 12 students who brought fruit(bananas, oranges, apples), and one of the Grade 9 students. So when the doctor did rounds on Friday morning, he asked if I had eaten, I was like no, if you can find something that doesn’t have a smell then maybe. He decided it was time to change my nauseas medicine to something they were putting in my IV because on Friday morning it was really bad again. After several doses in my IV, I was able to eat ½ a banana on Friday evening. I was so excited about it; I sent a text message to my roommate, who was like Good job. This was huge, because it was the first thing I had been able to eat since Tuesday. It was also nice because the Head of our School came for a visit, which was encouraging. Then Saturday morning came, and I was able to eat a banana again, after the nurse had given me medicine twice in my IV to help me from getting sick that morning. When the doctor came around, he said that I could go home. I was so excited, but I also knew that I was going to have to take it easy or I would end back up in the hospital, but after 3 days, I was more than ready to go home!
When you are in the hospital you can’t really do anything, so I decided that this would be time that I would spend with God, I had brought a book about a Missionary family to Mozambique, and on Friday someone brought my Bible and IPod to me. So when I was awake, I was reading and praying as I knew that the next week I would be going on a Spiritual Retreat with my students and it needed to be surrounded in prayer and what better time to do it when you have to stay in bed. I also new that I needed to pray for strength as it was going to take a lot out of me and at that point I knew I didn’t have it. On Sunday morning, I decided that I was going to go to church, so I got up and went. I was so exhausted that I passed out in the van on the drive back to my house after church and slept for 3 hours and could have slept longer, but knew that I needed to get some things done so that I could sleep that night. I was still only able to eat toast and banana’s because every time I tried to eat meat, I felt awful. I know that it is going to take time to get my strength back, so I will be taking it one day at a time and one meal at a time.
During my time in the hospital God brought this verse to me:
And we know that in all things God works for the good
of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28
God cares about every aspect of our lives and I knew that even though I was sitting in a hospital that HE would use that time for his good, he did, it was time that I could spend with him in preparation for the spiritual retreat this week. It was good quality time that could be spent with him because what else was I going to do. God has unique ways of using things that happen in our lives to draw us closer to him and remind us of his presence.
I am thankful that I serve a God that cares about not just my spiritual growth, but EVERY aspect of my life. Nothing is too big or small for God to handle. I pray that God brings those moments in your life that draw you closer to him and it doesn’t take going to India or being sick, it could just simply be by having a God day; a day where you spend a very intimate day with God. We need God days from time to time to help us reflect on him outside of our quiet time and going to Church.


In Prayer,
Melissia

Missing Momo and Adventures in the Horizon

Today is one of those days that I am really missing the states. Today, Momo Helen would have been 91. I have been missing her a lot lately, but I know that she is watching over me, I also know that she is not any pain. I could imagine that she is in Heaven eating her burnt toast saying it is only a little brown and drinking coffee. I know that she remembers everything and she is catching up with all of her friends and family that have gone before her. I really believe that she is a huge part as to why I do what I do. She was the person who took me to church for the first time, and continued to take me until I moved to New Mexico. She was woman who not only believed in God, but she lived it. She was an example of how to walk the walk and talk the talk. She was a person that you could always count on when someone was at home and couldn’t go to church; she was always up to visit people after church and to pray with them. She really taught me the importance of the power of prayer and how we need to pray continually for our friends and family. By her taking me to church, I was able to learn and grow in my faith at a young age. I remember being at Centrifuge and knowing that God was calling me into missions. I always wanted to go on mission trips when I was younger, but it wasn’t until I was graduating from college that the door finally opened. I remember telling Momo that I was going to Korea to teach, and how excited she was. It was always funny as she got older and couldn’t remember things that she would always remember that I was in Korea and ask when I was coming home. I knew that she always praying for me and that was a comfort to me especially on the hard days. I am very thankful that God allowed me to be back in the states for a few months so that I could spend time with her before she passed away. I will never forget her amazing love for me and other people and my only hope is that I can impact people for Christ like she did. I miss her greatly everyday, but know that one day I will see her again in Heaven and that is something I will always look forward too!

As some of you know, I am going to Bangalore, India September 19^th-October 2^nd. Please pray for this trip. The first 5 days of the trip we are going to be giving vaccinations and teaching Praise and Worship songs and sign language, and I am going to be with several people from Shanghai. After that I am going to be there alone (no other foreigners), it looks like I am going to be running an English camp for the kids at the orphanage at night, working with the local Widows, and the untouchable kids (the people on the lowest level of the cast system in India) in the village. Please pray for safety while we are their, for money for the vaccinations, that God opens doors so that we can share the Gospel with the people in the village, and for our Visas. I will apply for my visa to go to India next Friday, please pray that it comes through, because I am really not sure how to get the Visa. I am trying to get information from the Indian Embassy in Jakarta, but it has been difficult so far, I know that this trip is where I am suppose to be during my Ramadan holiday. The first time I heard about the trip, God just kept saying you are going there, and when I took my current job, the days off for Ramadan where the same. I love God’s perfect timing.

It is Ramadan, which is the holy month for Muslims where they fast from sun-up until dusk; they are not even allowed to drink water. Normally I hear the calls to prayer 5 times a day where I live, but they are even louder during Ramadan. Every time, I hear the prayer calls even at 4:30-5:00am, I try to pray for the Muslims so that they will one day know God. Please pray for them.

I am totally thankful for such a wonderful school. God has truly blessed me, and love the opportunity to teach the word of God to my students and look forward to see what he has in store for term 2. I am currently praying about starting a girls bible study with the 7^th -9^th grade girls, but still looking for possible Bible studies to do with this age group. The girls seem really interested, so I am looking forward to seeing what God will do with this.

As I have said before, I am living outside of Bandung, Indonesia. I am about 30-45 minutes away from the city by Taxi. When I first arrived here their was a taxi that would come up the hill to pick us up, but now they have decided they won’t come up the hill anymore. It is very annoying, so I today I decided to try an Ojack (motorcycle taxi). They are cheaper than regular taxi, but you are riding on the back of a motorcycle in a country where they don’t have traffic laws like the states. The guy took me to the Ankot station (bus station, but they are really small vans), so that I can take a bus to Paris Van Java (the shopping area) so that I could go to Starbucks and do some much needed grading and lesson plans. This was a big thing for me as I am starting to find my independence more. Where I live is very very nice, but it is nice to go to the city for a change of scenery. I am really praying about getting a motorcycle/motor scooter in the next couple of months. They are relatively inexpensive, but I am not sure, since driving here is quite crazy. Many times they make a road marked for two lanes of traffic each way three lanes! I will keep you posted on whether I decide to get a motorbike, but tomorrow I am getting a cell phone, so when I am out I can call a taxi, since they have no trouble bringing me home, they just won’t pick me up! Does that make sense to you? Because it doesn’t to me!!!!

Love and miss you all!!!

First 4 weeks in Indonesia

Hi everyone!
What an awesome God we serve! I am in the process of finishing up my first 3 weeks of school. I am having so much fun getting to know my students, while teaching English and World History. Bandung, continues to be a wonderful place to live. I am very thankful that I am a hard sleeper so that I am not woken up by the 4am Muslim prayer calls, although I do hear them throughout the day, it is like a reminder to me that I need to pray more often, and to take time then to pray for a few minutes. I am still learning where things are, but everyday it gets easier. We are blessed to live in an amazingly large house, but like I said before that I am still in Indonesia, so we never know when we are going to have water or not. We are hoping the school will soon find out why we keep losing water and why the electrical outlits have a mind of their own. We(my roommate and I) just keep reminding ourselves, how awesome God and this too will pass and we try not to dwell on it too much.
This past weekend, I was in Singapore getting my working visa finally. I am so thankful that it finally came through, and we were able to enjoy Singapore for the weekend. Singapore is so beautiful and clean. Shannon and I took a tour of the city that included Sentosa Island, and the Singapore flyer(world's largest Farris Wheel, with an awesome view of the city). It is a lot more expensive than Indonesia, but we had a great time and we were able to hang out with one of my friends from Seoul who now lives in Singapore. I will try to post some pictures of Singapore soon.
In about 5 weeks, I will be heading to Bangalore, India for a mission trip. I have two weeks off from school for Ramadan. I will be meeting a friend from Shanghai who is going to give vaccinations and we are going to be teaching the kids new songs and sign language to go with the songs. Lara will leave after 5 days, but I will be staying for another week. I am not sure what I am going to be doing yet, but I know that God has it worked out, I may be doing an English camp in the afternoons, working with Widows in the village, or working with the village kids (untouchables). I am excited to see what God does during this time. He has made it very clear that this is where I have to be during my break, and I know that emotionally this is going to be a very difficult trip. Even though, it will be difficult it is through this that God teaches us so much. I know that it is one of those places that you go to and will never be the same, which excites me because I want God to continue to mold me so that I can better serve him.
I want to share a little about the school that I am working at. It is an International Christian school, but some of the students and teachers are Muslim, we also have students that are Hindu. Everyone is required to attend devotionals every morning and chapel on Friday's, as well as the students being required to take Bible. It is so neat to see students asking questions and to see how they respond when they are presented the gospel. The amazing thing is that the teachers that teach the Bible classes aren't afraid to tell it like it is and ask the difficult questions. I feel very blessed to be at my school, because it reaching students and teachers that might not otherwise be reached.

Please continue to continue to pray for me as my body adjust to the food and water (I have finally turned a corner and starting to feel better, but the first two weeks were awful). Also please pray for the students and teachers of MNIS and for the upcoming Mission trip to India that God's word will be preached and that seeds will be planted.
I will keep everyone posted and try to write more often.

Final note:
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Chirst Jesus.

Pictures.

This is a picture of the field across the street from my house. You see people working in the fields starting at day break continuing until the late evening.

My awesome house that I am so thankful that God has provided.

I will post more pictures when I get internet at my house, hopefully this week. I have some really cool pictures of a wedding I attending on Saturday evening.

Bandung

God is Good! I made it safely to Bandung. It is absolutely beautiful here. I am definitely living in the country here(instead of the Concrete Jungle of Korea). We are about 30 minutes from downtown Bandung. God has truly blessed my roommate and I with a beautiful home to live in for the next two years. The house is awesome, but we are reminded every morning that even though the house is big, we still live in a 3rd world country, hot water is treat. We have a hot water heater, but it only works when it wants to and the school says it is life in Indonesia so thankfully it never gets really cold here. We have a two story three bedroom house, where we can sit on our balcony at the rice terraces across the street. The weather is also amazing, it stays about 70 degrees, with a nice breeze blowing most of the time.
The school is really nice. I arrived on Sunday, and started work on Tuesday. This past week was full of meetings and lesson/unit planning. It was a very interesting week, because we were at work all day and dealing with jet lag. I would go to work and as soon as I got home, I would call it a night, everyday seems to be getting better. This coming week is going to be a challenge, as Monday is our final day of prep before students start on Tuesday. I have tons of work to do before then, but know that it will all get done, it always does. I am really excited about meeting my new students, since I am teaching a 7th-9th grade Reading, 7th-9th grade World History/World Geography, and 10th grade Current Events. I am teaching a lot of new classes, so I am excited to see how the year turns out.
Today, was awesome as I was able to go to church. My roommate, two other expat teachers, and I all went to Bandung International Church which was very comforting. God truly blessed us today and I am looking forward to the fellowship there and a home group with my roommate and the other two teachers.
Please continue to pray for me during this transition and God reveals his purpose to me for being in Indonesia.

Moving to Indonesia

I have finally decided that I am going to keep a blog as I move to Indonesia. I am still not sure when I am leaving for Indonesia, but it should be sometime this week. As frustrating as it is not knowing what day you are flying out, I know that it is all in God's hands. I know without a doubt that this is where I am suppose to be over the next two years, especially since Satan is doing his best to dull my excitement. I am excited to see what God has in store for me, and what he will be teaching me. I am sure some of it has to do with patience and waiting for his perfect timing. I am hoping to post at least once a week and post pictures of the beautiful country that I am about to move to. Please pray for me as this going to be a change for me, I am use to living in Korea, but I know that it is going to be very different. Indonesia is considered a third world country and I am sure that will bring its own challenges, but with God's help it will all be fine. I will post a message as soon as I know when I am leaving and another message about my first impressions of my new home.