Praise the Lord for the gospel trip in Medford, OR/Yakima, WA!

This morning we had a blending conference with some nearby saints. Around 50 people, including children, attended the conference. It was a very wonderful blending time between trainees and local saints. We got to know some precious local families in this area. It is such a testimony to see whole family members from little grandchildren to grandparents enjoy the church life. After the Lord’s Table meeting and prophesying meeting, we had a love feast with the saints and spent more time with them.

In the afternoon, we went for a hike at Upper Table Rock. During the two hour hike, we fellowshipped with some local saints and young people about our experience in the training. We became burdened for the young people to come to the training after they graduated. After the hike, we had the dinner with the saints and they shared their experience in the church life. Following that, we touched the Lord together by singing some hymns together in the end.

Starting from tomorrow we will have gospel activities by knocking on doors in the Medford area and distributing Bibles at a local community college.

Prayer Burdens:

• Please pray for the neighborhood gospel preaching in Medford area.
• Pray the young people could have more personal experiences with the Lord and consider the training after they graduate.

We arrived yesterday evening at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) for the college meeting. The college students at UIUC had a fellowship time with Brother Jim Miller concerning the matter of getting into the ministry; it was encouraging and helpful. This morning, the saints from Peoria, Normal, and Champaign gathered for a combined Lord’s Table meeting. It was a glorious time blending with all the saints.

For this week, the trainees are split into two sub-teams, one group to Normal and another in Champaign. The trainees in Normal will be laboring and setting up BfA tables at Illinois State University while the trainees in Champaign will be doing the same at UIUC. Then the following week, all the trainees will travel to Peoria to labor on the community and campus there.

Prayer Burdens:

• The BfA table this week at UIUC and ISU. We are not after a long list of names. We look to the Lord for remaining fruit.
• The on-campus Bible study, for college students, and the Book Reading club, for people in the community, this Thursday night
• The seeking ones in the community and on campus would be solidly connected to the local saints
• The Lord would gain His building, His kingdom would come, and that all the local saints and trainees would be one even as He is one!

We arrived to Morgan Hill, CA safely yesterday evening. After we arrived, we had a warm welcoming from the saints with an introductory meeting, singing with the local saints and their children. Here in Morgan Hill, we have a lot of young working families. The church life here is very community oriented.

Enjoyment:
During this morning’s prophesying meeting, we got into the message four of the Thanksgiving conference on the direction of the Lord’s move today. We particularly enjoyed Psalm 45:1, “My heart overflows with a good matter; I speak what I have composed concerning the King. My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.” We were really impressed with the local brother’s sharing of how much Psalm 45 could relate to our gospel trip. Our heart needs to be overflow with the love for the Lord. In this way, as we have an affectionate love for the Lord Jesus, our tongue will be a pen of the ready writer, ready to write our love for Him and our praise to Him. In other words, as the seeker in Song of Songs chapter 7, while she was working, she was loving. Therefore, our work should come from our first love. Lord, we love You and we love Your move!

Gospel Activities:
In the first week, we will be going to a community college called Gavilan College in Gilroy and a library in Morgan Hill for Bible distribution. We will also be doing neighborhood children’s meetings, door knocking, and warm door visitation.

Prayer Burdens:

• The Lord will bless our team and the local saints with one accord
• The Lord will grant each one of us a genuine heart for men
• The Lord will open the hearts of many seeking ones
• The Lord would strengthen the saints to live a normal church life
• The Lord will gain a building among local saints and trainees for His satisfaction

January 28, 2017

The FTTA trainees gathered with the local saints from South Bend, Kalamazoo and few nearby cities who will participate in the Lord’s move, at the meeting hall of the Church in Kalamazoo. The trainees had a wonderful blending time with the local saints, and we had a gospel trip orientation all together. The gospel team received hospitality in South Bend, IN after the orientation.

January 29, 2017

There were more than 40 saints from South Bend and surrounding localities who attended the Lord’s Table in Camp Ray Bird, a Christian retreat camp near South Bend. This is the second Lord’s Table in the history of South Bend since the church life started in 1995. May the Lord strengthen His testimony and His saints in South Bend. After dinner, we spent some time to get familiar with the tracts and BfA materials that we will be handing out this week.

Prayer Burdens:

• May the Lord have a way in Norte Dame University, a campus with strong Catholic background. We can’t have a BfA table on this campus, facing strong withholding from the school’s administration. May the Lord continue to open the way in this campus, bind the enemy, and free His people from the religious bondage.
• Pray that the trainees and the local saints have more blending with one another and become more familiar with the gospel materials.

Greetings from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada! Today was our first full day in Ottawa. By the Lord’s grace and covering, everyone was able to arrive safely and in a timely manner to Ottawa last night. After we arrived, we enjoyed a wonderful time of feasting and blending at different small group meetings.

Highlights:
During the Lord’s day meeting this morning, we heard two encouraging speakings:

• According to 2 Peter, we have all been allotted a portion of faith and we need to exercise this faith so that the virtues listed in 2 Peter may be developed. The ultimate consummation of these virtues is love and this love is the church.
• To participate in this gospel trip, we need much prayer. This prayer has two aspects: individual and corporate. In the individual aspect, we need to pray personally to confess our sins. Our confession will lead us to be filled in spirit. In the corporate aspect, we put on the whole armor of God, which is our uniform to exercise authority over Satan and the demons. Even though some may not be able to physically participate in the Bible distribution, all of us need to redeem the time to pray. Our prayer will pave the way to bear remaining fruit.

After the prophesying meeting, we had a love feast together with the saints visiting to participate in the Bible distribution and the local saints in Ottawa. Praise the Lord for the mutual blending and encouraging fellowship among the saints.

As the snow was falling in the afternoon, we toured downtown Ottawa. We visited the parliament building, and we drank coffee and ate Canadian pastries in a bakery. As we were waiting for our pastries, we handed out a gospel tract to a guitar player in the street. Hallelujah, even in our touring, we can have a gospel living!

Gospel Outreach:
Tomorrow will mark the first day of our Bible distribution. We will be targeting three universities and three transportation stations:

1. University of Ottawa
2. Carleton University

3. Algonquin College

4. Billings Bridge Station
5. South Key Station
6. Baseline Station

Prayer Burdens:

• The Lord would bless the Bible distribution at these locations and that we would gain seeking contacts open to further appointments
• The Lord would bring our team and our sub-teams into the one accord
• The Lord would strengthen and supply the local saints to participate in the gospel outreach and to pray individually and corporately