MICRONESIA 2013 - Planting and Harvesting Yams

Kitti, Pohnpei

Saturday, January 26, 2013

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Planting and Harvesting Yams

Today my dad and I had the opportunity to exerience an important part of life here on the island of Pohnpei: the planting and harvesting of yams. In order to be a man on the island, three things are required. You must: (1) raise pigs, (2) grow sakau, and (3) grow yams. So this morning and this afternoon our dear friends and Pohnpeian family, Welson and Myleen took us to their land in the municipality of Kitti.

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When we arrived at their land in the late morning we greeted the family, and then sang worship songs and had a small Bible study. Myleen's family are new believers, so we are going through the basics of salvation and repentance with them, beginning in the book of Mark.

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After this we got dirty as we planted and harvested yams. It was great and I even learned some about how to tell how old a yam plant is, how to make soil more fertile, and other good agricultural information. All of this to say this was a great cultural experience to be a part of today.

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Jonas Young

MICRONESIA 2013 - Salvation in Enipein

Kitti, Pohnpei

Friday, January 25, 2013

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Salvation in Enipein

Taught the last lesson on Holy Spirit at the mission school in Madolenihmw today, and will move on to teaching Old Testament and New Testament Survey in the following weeks. After class we held a Bible study in Kitti, where the people practice catholicism mixed with black magic and have been previously hostile toward the gospel. I shared about the need to be born again in order to enter heaven. Everyone present, about fifteen total stood up, repented of their sin, and invited Jesus Christ into their lives. Now I will go back weekly and continue to disciple these precious people. One of the women who prayed with us was super-naturally healed a few days ago after we prayed for her in the hospital. God is so good!

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Christian Young

MICRONESIA 2013 - Ankles Healed After Turning from Witchcraft to Jesus

Madolenihmw, Pohnpei

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

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Ankles Healed After Turning from Witchcraft to Jesus

Prayed for a Pohnpeian man last week who has had some kind of disease causing excrutiating pain in his ankles for eight years. The skin around the affected area looked horrible. He has been taking local medicine connected with witchcraft for all that time. We had him renounce the witchcraft and anointed his ankles with oil and prayed for him to be healed in Jesus' name. Three days later he came to me and said that he has been pain-free since we prayed for him. I could see that the skin had also healed. Jesus rules!

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Christian Young

MICRONESIA 2013 - Pics of Baptisms and Skating

Christian and Herman baptize Justine in the Pacific Ocean

Christian ollies over some zorries near our house in Kolonia

Christian busts a pressure flip near our house in Kolonia

Shermick and AJ horsing around as they ride Christian's skateboard nearour house in Kolonia

MICRONESIA 2013 - Receiving the Love of the Father through Hugs

Madolenihmw, Pohnpei

Sunday, January 20, 2013

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Receiving the Love of the Father through Hugs

This Sunday I spoke at the Every Home for Christ fellowship in Pohnlangas, Madolenihmw. The message was on the Father Heart of God. After the message, nearly the entire congregation came forward to receive the love of the Father through hugs from two respected men of God who I see as father figures. It was so beautiful. Tears filled the faces of those who have not been able to connect with Father God because of the relationship they had with their earthly fathers. So much love and healing took place. Here are the main points of the message:

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I believe that many, if not all of us have a distorted view of Father God because of our relationships with our earthly fathers.

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We read the story of the "Prodigal Son" from Luke 15:11-32

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We think that Father God will do this or that, or think this or that because that is what we would do or think as a father.

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Psalm 50:21, "These things you have done, and I have kept silence; you thought that I was like yourself, but I will rebuke you."

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Isaiah 55:9, "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts higher than your thoughts."

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TYPES OF EARTHLY FATHERS (acted out during the message):

(1) The absent father: Left when the child was young and wasn't ever involved in the child's life. The child experiences feelings of abandonment. After coming to Christ it is hard to even imagine the existence of a heavenly Father.

(2) The distant father: Too busy for the child. Not interested in what the child is interested in. Not affectionate with the child. After coming to Christ the view of Father God is that He is too busy for them, or not interested in them, and definitely not affectionate toward them.

(3) The strict father: Performance driven and harsh on the child when even the smallest mistakes are made. After coming to Christ they try to perform for Father God in order to receive His love. And if they screw up, they believe they will be severely punished by Him.

(4) The permissive father: Let's everything go without disciplining the child, giving the child whatever they want, causing them to be spoiled. After coming to Christ they believe they can do anything they want without being disciplined by Father God and they have a skewed sense of entitlement.

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1 John 3:1, "Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God."

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Is there anything that we can do that would cause God to stop being our Father, or us to stop being His children?

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Most Christians serve and obey our Father out of fear rather than out of love. We need a revelation of the Father's love for us.

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Romans 8:38-39, "For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature (incuding ourselves), shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

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We all need inner healing from the scars left by our earthly fathers, and we need to forgive them from our heart, so that we can truly understand the love of our heavenly Father, and run to Him, embrace Him, and place our lives in His hands.

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The greatest demonstration of the Father's love was sacrificing His only Son Jesus, so that we can live eternally and abundantly.

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Christian Young

 

MICRONESIA 2013 - Baptism of the Spirit in Pohnlangas

Madolenihmw, Pohnpei

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

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Baptism of the Spirit in Pohnlangas

Today I taught on the baptism of the Holy Spirit at the MDMI missions school in Pohnlangas. Everyone that came forward began to speak in new tongues! Woohoo!

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Christian Young

MICRONESIA 2013 - Creative Teaching at MDMI

Madolenihmw, Pohnpei

Thursday, January 10, 2013

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Creative Teaching at MDMI

I have jumped back into my teaching schedule at the Every Home for Christ MDMI Missions School on the other side of the island on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I continue to teach on the Holy Spirit from the curriculum I have been given by their leadership, interjecting my own thoughts and going with the flow, as I am still baffled that I am teaching on the Holy Spirit. That's sort of like predicting which way the wind will blow from day to day. A lot of guesswork involved. This is a subject that is more "caught" than "taught" in my opinion. Nonetheless, I am doing all I can to somehow take the Scriptural truths combined with my own personal experiences and give the students the training they need to go out as missionaries throughout the island of Pohnpei and beyond.

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Today the lesson seemed long and boring. I wrote out all the notes on the chalk board for the students to copy into their note books. Then the idea came to me to have the students break up into five groups and act out the lesson for the day which was, "The Holy Spirit in the Life of Christ and in the Church." The students hit the ball out of the park with funny skits from Scripture portraying the partnership between the Holy Spirit and Jesus during His earthly ministry. I find that in cross-cultural settings, stories and skits are far more effective teaching tools than a bunch of information and facts.

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Christian Young