Week 16

For the first half of the week, Werner finished his classes on 2 Corinthians and we finished the DVD lectures on 1 Samuel by Charles Price. And on Wednesday, we had classes with Dale and a really cool Skype class with Wayne Weismann, Joseph’s dad on the three temples (the one in Jerusalem, Jesus, and us as Christians).

During morning tea on Wednesday, I got to present my first Bible study on Psalm 46:10. It was slightly nerve wracking but I made it :P. And I managed to get at least a B.

On Wednesday afternoon, after thoroughly cleaning out one of the Capernwray vehicles, I got to rake rocks out in the back yard with a bunch of the guys. It really felt like we were slaves working in a mine so the guys were making tons of jokes about forming unions and going on strike and such. But it was tons of fun (and a good workout!). When we were done, we all jumped into the pond (in our work clothes!) to cool off.

Right after Wednesday supper, Hanna, Adam, Ben, and I headed out to Timaru to assist with the youth group at Life Church (our ministry this semester). This time, we just listened and watched (although Ben led them in two worship songs). Next week, we get to lead the whole thing, so one of us will present a Bible study, someone else will probably share a testimony, and we’ll do a bit more worship. I’m excited to get to know these kids and be able to impart to them a little bit of the wonders God has been revealing to me about Himself over the past year. Unfortunately, because the youth group is in Tiamru (which is half an hour away) it means yet another late night for me. I think I am pretty close to giving up trying to wake up early and I’ll just become a night owl so I can get stuff done in the evenings.

On Thursday, after an informing class by Roy (who works for Open Air Campaigners), we went out into the streets of Timaru in groups of two to do some street evangelism of our own. After approaching one lady and being rejected, Michael and I walked around until we came across a ‘spiritual shop.’ We hesitated before going in because we could sense that there definitely was something spiritual going on. But we did end up having a really neat conversation with the owner. His beliefs seemed vague and hazy (actually, the whole shop had a really mind-numbing feel to it), but Michael did an excellent job talking to the man using his own language to portray the idea of what we believe. I kind of just stood there and listened and prayed. When we came out about half an hour later, Michael said he felt like he had just been in a fencing match, not because they were arguing – in fact in was a really nice, real conversation – but because it was very spiritually demanding. Afterwards, we talked to one other man (who had no interest in talking about spiritual things) before meeting up with the rest of the gang. I must say that I don’t think street evangelism is for me. (Warning, I am about to go on a rant, if you’re not interested, please skip to the next paragraph) It seems to me to be such a pushy way to talk to people (although we did try to start the conversation by telling them that we were Christians but that if they didn’t want to talk to us, that was ok). In my mind, it seems better to get to know a person personally before sharing the gospel with them because our lives speak volumes and our words can so easily be just that: words. And, although Jesus did do ‘street evangelism’ it seems to me that because He is God, He already knew each person intimately so He knew where they were coming from and where they were going and so He could speak the words that their hearts most needed to hear. Whereas I, on the other hand, had no idea who the people I was talking to were. I don’t really know much about this, but I get the feeling that it is almost more important to really invest in a few people instead of trying to convert someone in five minutes in the streets. Of course, I think that if I end up beside someone on a bus for example, the conversation would probably naturally turn to ‘spiritual things’ because God should be the most important thing in my life, but I don’t really see the value/benefit/(I’m not sure exactly what word to put here :P) of going out with the express intention of approaching random people on the streets to tell them a watered down message of the gospel. Sorry about that random rant (written after my exhausting day out in TImaru). If you have an opinion on this subject, I would love to hear it!!

Ok, so we just finished our debrief after the day of street work in Timaru and I am now feeling a whole lot better about the whole thing. It was really neat to see how God worked out certain situations. For example, one of the groups met up with one girl and presented the gospel to her then another group met up with the same girl a little later and by then she had a whole bunch of questions that the second group was able to answer. There were also a few people who were really searching who seemed to be really grateful for the conversations and for the information.

On Friday, Barbara Neville (Richard Neville’s wife, the guy who taught us on Genesis) taught us on Children’s ministries and how to prepare a presentation for children. It was really informative and at the end, we got to prepare two presentations of our own.

Saturday was a nice lazy day. A bunch of people were out working for the people they had rented a car from over Christmas break and a few people went out boating, wakeboarding, water skiing, and tubing with the Geraldine youth group. That gave the rest of us a quiet day to get some work done on our Bible studies (or sit around pretending to work on our Bible studies but actually chatting, playing solitaire and just hanging out). After supper, Joseph, Michael, Adam, and I went for a walk along the riverbed. It was a nice quiet walk and by the end, everyone had managed to get their shoes wet.