2 Corinthians 12:9
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

Wow, I never knew how much I valued adult fellowship! Darla has been in a training all week, so I have been working with the kids alone with some teenagers helping me. Today (Wednesday) I realized how little I have conversed with other adults throughout the week and how starved I was for some adult time!! Of course, I realized this at about 11:00 this morning and I had a full day of kids! My prayer was 2 Corinthians 12:9 throughout the day because of I was weak and my patience was thin!  “ We love because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19 was our memory verse at VBS last night. How appropriate it was for me today to reflect on it after recognizing how unloving I wanted to be to these children who would not listen!!! Isn’t it amazing that God loves us despite all the times that we don’t listen or miss what He is teaching us and that He continues to pursue us and doesn’t give up teaching us. The only reason I can love is because Jesus loved me first! 

      Tonight at VBS was the gospel presentation and two of my girls checked that they had already made a decision to follow Jesus and that they were ready to make a decision to follow Christ. I had the opportunity to talk to one of the girls tonight (I’ll talk to the other tomorrow.) to see where she stood. We discussed how once you become a Christian you cannot lose your salvation because God has you in His hand and no one can snatch you out of His hand. John 10:29 Then we talked about recognizing our sin and how it separates us from God, believing Jesus died for our sins so that we can have a relationship with God and Confessing Jesus as Lord. After presenting the gospel and the fact that if she had already made I decision to follow Christ, I asked her what decision she felt like God was leading her to make. She became a Christian tonight!! Praise the Lord.  

      A lot of Chuukese people have a Catholicism background, so some of the kids have the misconception that they have to become a Christian all over again every time they sin. Tuesday I talked with my girls that I am discipling about having assurance of their salvation. I am so thankful that our salvation is only based on Jesus and that He paid the price for my sins once and for all!

      Please continue to pray for the Chuukese teenage boys and young men and that their lives will be transformed. Pray that God will send a man to disciple and minister them. The more that I have conversations with them, the more that my heart is burdened for them.  I can see that God is working in their hearts, but there is little evidence of a life change (from my perspective). Chuukese male teenagers put little value in education and most of them that I have met have dropped out of school. This leaves them with nothing to do and little ambition. We all know that this leads to trouble. My prayer is that they will experience true life change that can only come through Jesus and that through them God will reach the Sunflower community.

Much love to all!!