Thoughts upon re-entry

A million thoughts race through a never ending saga of "what if's" and "what now's". My summer is all but done and then... Drum roll please... REAL LIFE! Oh no. But to recap how God is faithful and to give testimony to His might and power would take perhaps more time than I have the patience for. So a brief summary of my last two weeks in Russia will have to whet the appetite of those who are interested in my adventures here on earth.

It began in March when I was asked to think about going to Russia. I told God I thought it was impossible for Him to provide the money needed for two trips this summer. How foolish was that? Immediately it became evident that the God who can do far more than we ask or imagine could very easily provide more money than I thought was possible. May 7th passed. I am a college graduate. June 1st happens. I embark on adventure number 1, Samoa. In Samoa I learned how God can lead and sustain in times of need and in times of plenty. July 6th comes and I am back in Southern California. 9 days elapse and I am back at LAX embarking on Adventure number 2, Russia.

Russia a land of atheism and immorality. Alcohol is everywhere, as easy to get as water. Teenagers smoke and drink. Girls walk the streets in scandalous clothing, it is normal. Prostitution is illegal but the law is not enforced. Government corruption is contagious and bribes are given for anything to get done. The Russian Orthodox Church is in bed with the government and controls a lot of the religious sphere. A history of persecution haunts believers who have to be strong in a land of sin. Most Baptist (protestants) with a history of believers in their family have seen family members killed or jailed for their faith. Believers have to be strong to survive. It costs people their families, their friends, their jobs, their money, their ambitions, to come to Christ.

Luke 14:26-27 "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple."

I don't write this so that you pity the believers there. If anyone is to be pitied it us here in America who have it so easy. It is those who have never given up their lives for Christ because they have no need to. Let me ask you this, If heaven was a place where you could have everything you ever wanted, everything you ever dreamed of, but Christ was not there would you still want to go to heaven? Christ should be our desire and we have to give up everything in order to follow Him. Indeed I count all things loss for the sake of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Have you counted all things loss?

I digress... Back to my story. We arrived in Samara Russia at around 2 am on Saturday the 17th. We went to bed for a few hrs of sleep before getting up for a wonderful breakfast. After a day of sightseeing and learning more about Russian culture we went to bed early to try and rest up for a week at camp. Sunday we awoke and got ready for church. After church was lunch at the mall and some shopping followed by dinner at one of the local pastors houses. It was a great time of fellowship. I experienced many early morning at this time due to the time change and the fact that the sunrise is at 4 am. This gave me good time to pray and reflect. Monday is when our "ministry started".

Our first week was comprised of teaching English and leading games at a church camp that involved 3 of the local Baptist churches in Samara. Each day we taught English for 2 hrs a day. Also for 3 days we led the game time in the afternoon for 2 hrs. On top of that we would participate in small groups, some in our group helped lead worship, as well as try and do whatever else we could to serve. It seemed like there was never a dull moment. Each member of the church who came to camp tried to bring one non-believing friend with them. This made for a mix of believers and non-believers. We couldn't really tell them apart because of the language barrier. Most people in the camp were high school age, but the range was probably from 13-24. I was paired with Irene from our group and we taught the level 2 English class (there were 4 levels). We had to speak through a translator to help them understand the games and drills we wanted them to do. Teaching was fun. I learned a lot from the experience. Doing the camp games was great as well. The campers loved them and said we did a good job. Tuesday was water balloon day. We filled somewhere between 2,000-2,500 balloons for the different games we had planned. It was awesome. There we two excellent sermons a day (morning and evening)the gospel was presented clearly and plainly (we had it translated to us). All in all I was very impressed by the maturity of the believers there and their strength.

I can give you more details about that week but this is just a brief summary...

After packing up on Saturday morning the 6 guys headed to the airport to travel to Moscow to begin the second week of our ministry. Soccer camp. The idea of a church doing a soccer camp was completely foreign to those in Moscow. It had never been done. Their idea was to have teen boys sign up and pay to go out of town on a retreat type thing where they would play soccer and hear the gospel. It became apparent that this was too expensive and there wasn't much interest in it. I commend them for the idea though. Because there was no interest in this type of camp, they almost canceled the camp completely. Yet God had a different plan. Saturday night we had a meeting over dinner to discuss our plan of attack. We found out that they didn't know if any kids would show up to the camp. There were a lot of what if's. The plan was to train each day from 10-12. At 12 they would do a gospel presentation. Then at 5 we would come back to the field to play games for a few hours. After games we would have a meal together and sing songs play other games and hear a sermon. This was the tentative plan.

We spent Sunday at Church and then some sightseeing and fellowship with the believers. It was a very fun day.

Monday morning 10 am. There are 9 of us at the field to run the camp. We have 1 camper and one Dad. Discouraging to say the least. We prayed for more campers and decided to train 1 kid like there was 30. As the training continued a few more kids showed up and we ended the day with about 8. That night we came back at 5 and played a few soccer games but didn't have the dinner afterward because the pastor was sick and we were unprepared. We got to play against some older men as well. We left the field at 9:30 after 4.5 hrs of soccer. Good times.

Tuesday morning 10 am. 15 kids show up. Fabrice shared his testimony afterword and the gospel was spoken. Most of the kids showed up again in the evening to play. We played till 6:30 and invited them to join us for a bbq. They all refused. We found it strange of them to turn down free food. We found out the next day that they thought we were just inviting them out of courtesy when in fact we were having the food for them. We told them we would do it again on Thursday and they should all come.

On Wednesday we had a solid 15 kids show up for training and I got to share my testimony and the gospel. We spent 5 hours at the field that night playing games. I was exhausted. Praise the Lord though we were beginning to see relationships built.

Thursday we had about 18 kids at training and 12 kids and 3 parents came to our bbq that night. Praise the Lord for He is good. They all heard the gospel presented and the parents were interested in coming to church.

Friday was even better we had 19 non-believers and 18 believers come to our bbq. There were so many gospel conversations being had. Praise the Lord for He is Good!

What started out as a discouraging week turned into amazing week of God's faithfulness. Because of the different kids who came I estimate that there was around 30 non-believers that heard the gospel. That's 30 seeds that have been planted. All this came from something that had never been done before. Some may think that oh 30 is not that many. But this is just the start to something that God can use mightily for His name. Relationships were started that will hopefully continue and produce fruit. Next year the camp will have a foundation to draw from and experience of the past to learn from. God was good to us in Moscow.

Well there you have it. A taste of my adventures. An incomplete portrait of my last two weeks.

Thanks for your prayers.

Ephesians 3:14-21

"14For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that(AS) you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen."

In Christ,
Ty

Ending in Russia

Sorrry for not updating. I've had limited internet access. Things are going well for the team. I'll write a full report when we get back.

A quick note from Moscow. We started our socceк camp on monday at 10 am we had one 8 year old boy and his dad. At the end oа our two hours we had about 9 kids. Over the week we've had over 20 different kids show up and most days there arу around 15. God has been good to us in answering our prayers. We've shared the gospel with them. There are many other that we've come in contact with and been able to share some. It has been great.

A few things to pray for

We'ev established a few relationships with non-believing kids, they've heard the gospel so pray for them.
Pray that we would have more opportunities to share the gospel in our last few days here in Moscow.
Pray that we would be an encouragement to the believers that are here.
Pray that we would continue in all boldness.
Pray for strength and endurance as some of our team is getting a little sick.
Pray that we would glorify God in all things.

Russia

Good morning!!! Happy Lord's day to you all.

We made it safely to Russia. Things here are good. It's hot. Tomorrow we start camp. Should be an awesome time. Russia is a much more immoral culture than I expected. Alchol is everywhere. Girls don't wear much. Very atheistic.

The gospel is needed. Praise the Lord we can shine the light. Praise the Lord we have HIs good news to share.

Pray for us as we start our church camp and ESL lessons tomorrow. Pray that we would be bold. Pray that awkwardness and language barriers will be bridged. Pray for relatioships to built. Pray for believers to be encouraged.


Ty

Back in America

First of all, thank you all so much for you prayers. They were definitely needed and felt. It was so encouraging to know that our team was being interceded for. I know the trip would have been a lot different if it wasn't for that.

Psalm 136:1 says "Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever."

Team Samoa gives all thanks and glory to God for what He accomplished in our hearts and the hearts of the people in Samoa. Without Him nothing is possible. Through Him all things are possible.

We left feeling more blessed than we could ever imagine. There is an open invite for any one of us, our friends, or family members to go back. Their hospitality is over the top and out of this world. Good thing its biblical to have that hospitality.

There are so many things that I am still thinking about and still processing that I hope I get a chance to write more on in the future. But for now I must look ahead.

I leave for Russia on Thursday. There are on 9 of us on this short term trip from Grace Community Church. We will be traveling to Samara Russia to do an ESL church camp for 5 days. Pray for us as we don't have much experience in this. The following week we will travel to Moscow to do a soccer camp for mostly non-believers. Pray that we would have the physical stamina to work hard for the Lord each and every moment.

Thanks for all your prayers. I most likely will not be able to update in Russia but if I get a chance I will send a quick note out.

Ty

Last Post from Samoa

It's our last night in Samoa. Tomorrow we board the plane to take us to Apia. We have about 10 hrs to kill while we are there and are working some things out to do and see. Then we'll board another plane and head to LA.

This last week was full of mixed emotions. It was a great experience and one I'll truly cherish for a long time. The people here blessed us beyond comparison and I learned a lot about generosity and servitude. At the same time I feel as if we just got into the swing of things. Ministry was just getting to the point where it was almost a normal part of life, and now we leave. But God's timing is perfect!

It's also hard because we see such a need for strong believers here on the Island. People who KNOW Christ and are KNOWN by Him. To many Sunday Christians, to many people who don't know Him. My heart aches for many of the people here. Yet, it was so good to spend time with and be blessed by a family who loves the Lord whole heartedly and seeks to serve Him daily. A family whose vision of a school started in the 50's and continues on. A family who out served us in every way.

"Let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven." The Laolagi family does this. All glory to God for their testimony!

Next post will be in America

Ty

God is good, ALL THE TIME!!

There is a Samoan saying that goes like this...
Leader says: God is good
Followers say: all the time
Leader says: All the time
Followers say: God is good
Leader says: God is great
Followers say: Everyday
Leader says: Everyday
Followers say: God is great!
Leaders says: God is real!
Followers say: This I know!!
Leader says: What do we know?
Followers say: God is real!

To add to that there is a right handed fist pump with each phrase. We hear it at least once a day. There is such rich theology in those simple phrases. Yet it goes by as just another routine. Thats a sample of one of the battles we have been facing. A "theologically" rich culture that in many ways is far from God. "They honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me".

Rev 3:1-2"'I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God"
Rev 3:15-16 "'I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth."

It is a great reminder to not be lukewarm. Yet in the midst of this we see weak churches with weak pastors. We see people not being fed in the word. We see a reliance on community rather than Christ. We see tradition surpassing knowledge of scripture. We see memorization but not action. We see superficial love, but the enjoyment of God.

Not everyone is like this. We have been blessed beyond measure by many of the people here. Especially the people and staff at SPICC and the church on the Rock (calvary chapel). Our time is getting shorter and shorter and with each moment we see the battle lines being drawn more clearly. We have less and less time to make more of an impact and must rely on the fact that we have done God's will.

Another battle we see is the war between tradition and westernization. Much of the Island is becoming more and more like America. Yet much of the older crowd is trying to hold to the values of the traditional Samoan culture. There are many good things about this culture that should not be lost. It has a high moral standard. It teaches one how to work for food (in preparing a traditional Samoan meal it takes at least 2-3 hrs of preparation). The younger generation does not have the patience to continue with this. They do not have the work ethic (much like American kids).

Last week was our third full week of school. We finally got into the routine. It was a much smoother week. Yet we still struggle with patience as we constantly have to fight the kids for their attention. They need so much love. I wish there was 100 of us here so we could each take one child and love them completely. Even in that they would still need more. We can't make up for years of abuse and lack of love. We can't make up for the neglect many of them face. I stopped counting the amount of hugs I give and receive each day. Some of us think that at times we need it more than the child. As I said earlier many of the kids have learning disabilities. There is no special education system for them. They are simply left behind and made to retake a year of school until they get it. A lot of them give up.

This weekend was one of many blessings. Friday we went to the other side of the Island to the village of Leone to the house of one of the members of Calvary Chapel. Carol and Paulo (not sure spelling). Carol is Samoan and Paulo is Tongan. There were about 4 houses there with all family members related. Many of the villages here are made up completely of relatives. All the land here is claimed by families. There is no extra land. There were many people there that night as it was a celebration of the the team from Hawaii's hard work and we were invited to tag along. There was of course a lot of good food. While we were eating we enjoyed some traditional Samoan dance by a children's dance group from one of the local schools. Then Paulo did a Tongan war dance. It was great. After that one of the younger ladies did a traditional Samoan dance. Paulo then dragged us young men out on to the dance floor to be background dancers. The girls were also taken out to mimic the young lady. One of the moves included us lying on the ground and the girls lightly placing their foot on us as they danced. It was great. After that we headed over to calvary chapel for the youth night. We talked and played some volleyball it is always fun.

Saturday was a very long but fulfilling day. We all got and left at 5:45. The girls headed to Calvary Chapel for a ladies pray breakfast. They prayed and shared for over two hrs. I heard it was very encouraging. Us men went with Pati (basically our host Dad, he is the choir director and head football coach at Leone High School.(They won the championship last year)) to an event at his school. June (Sp?) Jones form coach of the U. Hawaii football program and now coach at SMU and his foundation were on the island to speak to the different schools about being a college football player. They spoke about keeping a good GPA and taking the right classes, as well as making good choices. The gospel nor God was a part of football.
After that we headed back to Calvary Chapel for a few hrs and participated in the preparation of a traditional Samoan meal. Included pealing breadfruit, shaving the inside of the coconut's, pealing green banana's, preparing fish, and squeezing the coconut shavings to get the milk. It was all very interesting.
We were all very tired from such a long morning and headed back home. Us boys turned on the tv to find the USA vs Ghana score as it had been played earlier that morning. Lucky for us there was a replay of it being shown at that time. We all crowded around a ten inch tv and watched our boys play their hearts out but come up short. I think that will be one of the greatest memories (well that and watching us play Slovenia and Algeria at 3 am). All in all we watched 2.5 of the 4 games USA played. As well as glimpses of many others.
After taking a short nap we headed back to Calvary Chapel to partake of the Samoan meal we had helped prepare. On top of that the youth were doing a performance of singing and dancing. It was great. Part of the show was a fashion show. Tommy and I were asked to take part and model Moder Samoan clothing. It was fun. The night ended with a really funny fire dance done by the 3 college age guys and some dancing by all. We took so many pictures. Unfortunately I hadn't charged my battery so I didn't get any. But there were 7 other camera's on the team that captured it.

Today (Sunday) we went to Community Church. It is a mixture of Samoans, Figians, Tongan's, even a few Indian's (from India). We were told to prepare to share some testimonies and then speak the main message. I had brought a sermon that I had prepared for my youth group last summer that I was planning all week to use. After a restless night last night (both because of the HS and I am sick), I decided not to use it. I think God was pretty clear that even though it was good, He wanted something different. After some prayer I came to the conclusion that there is no better thing to speak than the Gospel. Tommy shared his testimony early in the service. Then I got up later and spoke for about 20 minutes on the gospel and how it has affected me. It was cool to see that even though I didn't prepare to much God spoke through me. I wasn't even nervous (Praise the LORD). After I told them of God, man, sin, Christ, faith, and my life, I asked Jesse to come up and share of how his life has been changed by the gospel. It was a great morning of encouragement. It always hard to tell how speaking engagements like that go, but we all had a peace about it. After church our friend Toni (one of the elders at the church) took us to Pizza hut for a big meal. Then it was back to school for nap time and a meeting. Sunday's you just eat one meal and then sorta have tea and bread or leftovers for the evening meal.

Like I said earlier I am sick. God in His power enabled me to make it through 20 minutes of preaching and a day of fellowship. I feel weak and feverish but God is good, ALL THE TIME! I know He has me sick for a reason. I only slept 3 hrs last night and yet I made it through on His strength. He will supply!!! Amen!!!

Pray for us as we try to finish strong.
Pray for the believers on the Island as they see their homes being torn into by these battles.
Pray for the strength of the Samoan Church.
Pray for real MEN to step into leadership. (Did I mention being a pastor is the highest paying job on the Island? over 100k a yr?)
Pray for the school and its finances.
Pray for the team and our unity.
Pray for wisdom for us as leaders.
Pray for health for myself and the team.
Pray that God's will is being done.
Pray that we will have a sense of urgency in proclaiming the good news. (Woe is me if I do not preach the GOSPEL!).
Pray that our lives would be a reflection of words.
Pray, PRAY, PRAY!!!

Thanks for your prayers!!!
Love you all, Ty

Happy Father's Day from Samoa!!!

Happy Father's Day to all you Father's out there!!! Some of my team members have taken to calling me Dad so I guess I sorta maybe know what it's like for you... Jk not really.

We finished up our 2nd week of school. We are half way done now. So far things have been great. Friday we again went to the youth night. There was a missions team from Hawaii at the church doing a VBS this week so we got to fellowship with them for awhile. That was great. Today we got up early and went for a hike. The Mountain was called Mt. Alava. It was a 7 mile hike there and back. We had a great time. It only rained a little so that was cool. After that we came back and cleaned up from the mud and then went for lunch at Pizza hut. I think I ate 7 or 8 pieces of pizza. It was soo GOOD!!! Our host Moni who had been taking us around all day then took us to a place on the coast where there were huge waves crashing against lava rock. It made for some great photo opportunities. After that we went to the grocery store to get some things for dinner. That was pretty hard since we were all so full of pizza. But we managed to get some things to make taco's for dinner. After that we went to take a cake to Koki (Moni's sister) and sing happy birthday. She was at a party for the seminary here. It was their end of the year party. After watching some dancing for about 5 minutes they roped us all out onto the dance floor to dance with the Samoans. Apparently the party had started at 10 am. It was 4 when we got there and they were still going strong. I ask Moni if someone had spiked the coconut juice (jokingly) and she replied that Samoans are just crazy normally. It was great to experience that part of their culture. After that we came back and were tired so we took a nap before making dinner. Now we are just hanging out.

Tomorrow we will go to Moni's church. In the afternoon we'll be going to a youth event at Fa'atui's church. Pray as two people will share their testimonies and the gospel. Pray that we will continue in faith. Looking to Him who is our author and perfector. He is our rock and our refuge.

To Him be the glory forever and ever!!! Amen