This weekend has been great! I met some college students from the area who are involved in YoungLife, and was surprised when they immediately started inviting me to hang out with them this weekend! I have been praying for weeks that God would bring some people into my life who are passionate about serving him, and around my age group. had it not been such a busy weekend, I would have spent the majority of it with them.
This weekend has been great, but busy. On Saturday, I moved into a new host home a little further south in Topeka. I have been to the DR with two of the family members, and have loved getting to meet the rest of the family! So, as you can imagine, yesterday was full of packing, and unpacking and trying to get settled into a new living space. But, shortly after I got settled I went to church with Jon, the director of operations at TMP, and his wife Elaine. The worship Pastor of the church we went to is actually from Lakeland, and led worship for a long time at a big church where most of my friends attended. I had met him once before in the past, and we officially met and talked for roughly 20 minutes about ministry, music, and Topeka. I offered my services in the worship band, and he said I could definitely be used in the future! This was another goal of mine upon moving to Topeka, to get myself involved in the local church through worship.
Starting this week, Trash Mountain Project is beginning church visits every Sunday morning/evening, so over the course of the next 4-5 weeks I will be running a TMP table at 6-7 churches. This is a unique opportunity in ministry to help people get involved through volunteering, giving, or in prayer to aid the ministry in the work God has called us to do. After two services where we showed our documentary on TMP's work in the Philippines, I am exhausted and looking forward to resting before I head to another church this evening. On a side note, a lady in the first service today, during a time of prayer requests, asked that we be in prayer for a little boy named Grayson from Florida, who has just been diagnosed with Leukemia. This caught me off guard because Grayson and his family go to my home church in Tallahassee, FL! Crazy to think that she heard the request through several people on Facebook, and is now sharing this need for healing in his life with everyone she knows.
This weekend, God has shown his faithfulness to me. I have been disappointed lately because I have not had much luck finding friends my own age, or getting plugged into the church I was visiting. But this weekend, as some things started in motion for me to make some friends AND get involved in my church, I was reminded of the love God has for me. He as called me into something so much bigger than myself. Ministry is far bigger than the people who are called into it, but God calls people into ministry to do mighty things in and through them. I was also reminded of the work TMP is doing overseas this morning, as I watched the documentary.
It made me think of 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 which says, "So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light and momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal."
What a great reminder of the Gospel. My own heart will tell me that my suffering is not worth whatever it is God is doing that I cannot see. The Gospel is worth our suffering, because it is achieving a glory beyond anything we can imagine. My circumstances may not be ideal, but the Gospel is worth my discomfort. God is doing so many more things through TMP than I can dream of telling you. God is so faithful, and I am greatly reminded of his love, and his promises to comfort those who are crushed in spirit.
On another side note: Florida State football starts in less than a week, and I could not be more excited.
Thank you all for your continued prayers and support.
John3:30
-Daniel
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