Hello readers!  Tony here again. This month for me is the month of travelling for me. On the first week of April, all ISEEDers and Apprentices visited the Creation museum in Petersburg, Kentucky. It was a nice day for the trip even in the morning we drove through the rain for two hours. At the museum, I was excited to see comparison displays between Evolution and God the creator, Eden garden, part of Noah’s ark, the flower garden, and the open air zoo outside. All of us had a lot of fun that day. Late afternoon, we all stopped at Jungle Jims international market to do international food grocery shopping. I was glad that I stopped there to buy produce for my reunion party.

Two days later after visited the creation museum, my host family and I hosted a reunion party for the group of OSU students that travelled to Washington, DC together in March. The highlight of the party is Thai food and games. Everyone was joyful and I feel that their friendships become closer. I’m glad that they all like the food I made for them.

On the last week of April, I attended the 10^th Annual IFI Banquet and I was the table host. I had a great time talking with guests at my table and shared my stories with them. I was also touched by the testimony given by one of the International Students who joined IFI. The food at the banquet was great. I’m glad the banquet went well and reached the goal.

EMI (Equipping Ministry International) training at Cincinnati, OH

          Xi and I had an opportunity to attend the EMI (Equipping Ministry International) training for eight days. The training helps me to build up my outreach skills by speak with people with love, being the same person inside and outside, and to confront with warmth, empathy and respect. The training also helped me to renewing my mind to overcome issues by using a heart chart: the chart that you can list what is the struggle or issues, what beliefs I have for that issue, what emotions I feel, and what action I will take if the problem happens again in the future.

There were about twelve people at the training. Most of them are working as a Pastor in their home country. We were getting to know each other and prayed for each other. I also learned from their experiences about Christianity in their home country.  

My Cincinnati host family, Eric and Rhoda Weston, were very kind to us. They show their hospitality by taking good care of us; making great Asian breakfast for us every day, took us to see downtown Cincinnati, and share their wonderful testimony with us.

I was so glad that I was in the EMI training and get to know groups of God’s awesome people there. Praise the Lord!

God’s fingerprints

As I have already told you, the meal with the staff is my favorite part in this ISEED Program ever. At the table, in fact, I have listened to people’s personal experiences, the story of their conversion, how they have met their spouse, the way God has led them close to Him in good and bad times. Gathering around the table, sharing food (amazing food!) seems the key to open life on life relationships, to build on friendships, to get to know one another, and, ultimately, to feel the Father’s heart.

That’s what happened to me last Monday at Phil and Ellen’s house. I have known them for several months, but that was the first time at their home, the first time that we were talking in a more personal way, touching important points. Between courses, I heard their honest and sincere stories, the family environments they grew up in, the difficulties and victories, their first meeting, the first date and all those things girls are so interested in. It was so good to see how God was guiding everything in such a perfect way! But more than the romance and the love I could clearly see in their eyes, I was touched by a phrase Ellen said: “Even if now I cannot yet see the happy ever after, I will not forget God’s finger prints on my path”. She was stating that no matter how dark a situation can seem, despite all the winds can blow against you, still God is in control and He works all the things for the good of those who love Him. In fact, even if the present does not show any proof of a brighter tomorrow, this does not mean that our Lord forsakes us. Looking back, we can see His faithfulness, His confirmations, His fingerprints and this gives us the strength to keep believing, to hold on and not to give up. Her words reminded me of the altar the prophet Samuel erected (1 Sam. 7:12) to leave a testimony of God’s goodness:

Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, "Thus far the LORD has helped us."

I think this stone was to help people remember that as God had been a shelter in the past, so He would have been in the future.

Look back. Can you see God’s fingerprints? What is your Ebenezer?

Thank God for all the times He has shown me His presence and support in ways so amazing and miraculous that I can affirm with confidence that it was Him!

My first two month with ISEED

Hello readers! I’m Tony from Thailand. I’m a part of IFI’s ISEED since February 2016 and this is my first post on the blog. The fifth day after working with IFI, I joined a Chinese Lunar New Year party held by IFI. I enjoyed meeting and talking with students who joined the party and I was touched by the message presented by Rich Mendola at the party. I was excited for many activities provided by IFI such as travelling to Washington, DC, and attended training.

During the month of February through March 2016, we had an opportunity to have lunch at three IFI staff’s house: The Sermons, The Chows, and The Mendolas. Each of them shows their hospitality and gave their time to make wonderful food for all of us. We all had a great conversation with them. They also shared their testimony and their stories. One thing we all of us ISEEDers wanted to hear is how they met each other and began a lifetime partnership under God’s direction so they can work faithfully to advance God’s kingdom.

During the OSU spring break we went to Washington, DC for five days. When we arrived in DC, it was a rainy day. We walked with the students in the rain to see the Washington Monument. We had a chance to see the whole DC from the top of Washington Monument. Besides seeing city life in DC, we also see the natural sites when we visited two beautiful waterfalls during the drive to/from Washington, DC. I also feeling thankful from my DC host family; Ralph and Helga Myers who opened their house for me and the international students for five days. They show us hospitality, the love of Christ. They shared with us their story about how God blessed their life. And of course, they made delicious meals for all of us!

After the trip to Washington DC, three ISEEDers (Samanta, Xi and I) were in a Leadership Training called Transformational Leadership. We studied about how to approach others, making apology, self-identity, personal growth, etc. The second day of the training we studied about how to applied these theories with the word of God. I feel this training is a good foundation for my future career.

In the last week of March, I had an opportunity to be a speaker at Xenos bible church. My topic was about “Building relationship with Buddhists and sharing the Gospel with them” Basically, I presented about basic knowledge of Buddhism, what Buddhists do and don’t’, what is their viewpoint of life to the American Christians.

Now I see how God has been working through many people I have met. I thank God that he answered my prayers that I will grow spiritually and be transformed to be more Christ-like. I feel that these two months are precious to me and those activities are shaping me to be a better person.

Am I right? Am I wrong?

These past two weeks, I kept questioning myself, “am I right, am I wrong”, especially when I faced with disappointments and difficulties in discipleship ministry.

Since my own life has been touched so mightily by God, I am often compelled by the Holy Spirit to share my experiences to others. However, to some degree, ministering people is also of a social skill. Many people are open to Jesus and the Holy Spirit, some are open to Jesus but not so familiar with the spiritual realm, and others have had bad experiences and may be suspicious. Therefore, when God reveals something to us in prayer for someone, we need to be careful. We always want to speak only to heal. 

But, what if we can’t? What if we say things wrong and damage our friendship? What if we fail to deliver God’s message to them?

When these questions were haunting in my mind, then the next step I naturally took was to judge or justify myself, according to other people’s reaction and respond. Most of the time, people are normally nice and polite, as long as we don’t go too deep. But the problem is that sometimes when we try to uncover a truth, it can be quite painful, like ripping off the bandage. Under this circumstance, people are easy to feel shameful and vulnerable, even feel offended at me.

After going through these challenges, I doubted that if I was sharing the gospel in a right way. I felt I could never make it right. I was completely disqualified and unworthy. Consequently, fear came in. I started to be afraid of sharing God’s words to others. I became greatly hesitated to open my mouth as a witness to the light, and gradually lost the motivation to make the light shine through all lives. I feared for people more than God.

Then I kept saying to God, “God, I’m sorry that I messed up your job again. Could you please help me clean it up?” Until one day, when I told God this sentence again, a voice came in, “who do you think you are? Do you think you can mess my plan up? Do you think you can stop my will? Are you more powerful than me?” This message blew my mind! I was focus on our self-righteousness more than God’s goodness!

When we ask the question, are we right or are we wrong? We are actually asking shall we choose fear or shall we choose love? If we choose to love others, we will not worry about how they will look at us, but solely concern that if they will miss their chances to encounter with God.

Our own right or wrong does not matter because His righteousness and His grace is the matter! Our own powerless or limitations are not important, because His powers and faithfulness are unlimited over my powers! And even our own incorrectly expressed love to others are not a disaster, because it’s not hard for God to turn our failures into blessings!

Dear fearful souls! Don’t be afraid to spread the good news that God put in our lives! Don’t be afraid to speak the light into other people’s hearts! He loves us to do it! Why does God have us pray for what He already wants to do? Why does He use Angels when he has unlimited power to do the same things they do?  Why does He use people to minister at all when the Holy Spirit is the perfect minister? 

The answer is that He chooses to work through us because His nature is Love.  His will is the greatest good in the Universe. His greatest expression of Love is to include the objects of His love in His perfect will. When God responds to our prayers for others, we have participated in the release of God's loving power to a needy world. He has chosen to let us work with Him so we two can be close partners in the salvation of the world He made and so dearly loves.

If God is not Lord of all, He is not God at all!

I feel so blessed this year! Being part of this family is way more than I expected. The book discussions, the meals with the staff members, the life on life experiences and the trips have been so encouraging for my personal and spiritual life! Yesterday, for example, ISEEDERs and Apprentices went together to the Creation Museum in Cincinnati. It was an amazing time to learn more about Creationism and Evolutionism, the social consequences of Darwin’s theories on our society, and see the story told by a different prospective. Even if interesting, that was not what stood out to me. On the way back, in fact, we watched a movie “Behind the gates of splendor”, a moving documentary of the martyr of five missionaries, Ed McCully, Roger Youderian, Nate Saint, Pete Fleming and Jim Elliot in Ecuador in 1956.

The day they decided to go meet the people of a tribe they were happy and confident that that was the plan of the Lord for their lives. Even if that tribe was known as one of the most cruel and merciless of the region, they were not scared. They were ready to share the good news. They said: “We will not use our guns even if they will attack us. We are ready to meet God, they are not”. Wow. This sentence has been echoing in my head since yesterday. This shows unconditional love, that kind of love that lays down one’s life for one’s friends (John 15:13).

You could argue for hours (as I have been arguing) about all the reasons why these guys should have not ventured out in the Amazon forest in such a dangerous situations. They had a wife and children. They were young. They had dreams, hopes and abilities. They had a life ahead. And yet, they decided to give God their utmost for His glory. Not a little, neither a good part, but all. They knew that they had no reason to be afraid of those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul. They instead submitted themselves to the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell (Matthew 10:28).

Their amazing example follows the steps of Christ and His unselfish love. Am I willing to give everything up to fulfill the great mission? Are you?

Field Trip to Creation Museum

Had a great time with the IFI ISEED interns and Apprentices at the Creation Museum near Cincinnati.  It was fun to challenge the students to consider how much they believed what the Bible said vs what scientists have said, and what do we do when science seems to contradict the Bible.  It was a great adventure.

The students really liked the presentation on race.  The displays actually recommend using the term one blood, since we are all part of the human race.  Most of what has been popularized over the last 150 years has more to do with skin pigment than any real differences.  Geneticists on the human genome project have now confirmed that there is only negligible difference 0.012% between ethnically different people.    

https://answersingenesis.org/racism/are-there-really-different-races/ has a better description.

See more photos at https://www.facebook.com/phil.foell/media_set?set=a.10153958616747254&type=3

What is My Comfort Zone

As we are preparing for the IFI Banquet, I am very excited that a couple from our table introduced another young couple to us that are interested in joining our table. This is their first time connecting with IFI, also the starting of the taste of international ministry! Even though I have been surrounded and working with international missionaries for four years, I am still very encouraged by their excitement of stepping out of their comfort zone and start serving international students.

I have never though too much how difficult and challenge it can be for people to minister to others from other cultures and backgrounds, but as I am having more conversations with our friendly volunteers, I understand more of their concerns and fears, language, culture, traditions, etc. So how many of us are brave enough to step out of our comfort zone for the gospel? I always feel more comfortable when I am talking and sharing the gospel with people from my culture, but when I see people from other nations, I do not have the sense of  "oh, this might be a lost soul, I need to share the gospel with him/her.", am I seeing people from the heavenly view or my narrow earthly view? As sometimes we as international students are asked to share testimonies with American volunteers to encourage them, I think I also need to pray and think more about myself's comfort zone, and start stepping out of it to see people as one nation and share the gospel as Paul did.