Next Steps

I had a lovely meeting with World Reach yesterday. It was tremendously encouraging to see where we were, to get a better idea of the process, and to come away with a sheet full of “next steps” to take in the process! Praise the Lord for Mr. Prewitt, Mr. Whitmore, Ms. Carol, Ms. Diane, Sharon, and the rest of the World Reach staff! They’ve been such a joy and encouragement to me over the past several months…over the past couple of years, I suppose I should say!

Also, I recieved an extra-special bit of news while I was there; Miss Ruth is going to be visiting the States! Ms. Carol invited myself and Hayley Barker to dinner with them while she is here. I’m so excited about that…it seems like such a long time since I’ve seen her, and I miss her terribly!

Now. To prepare for my class (in Spanish!) on the book of John, my class with the toddlers this evening, and to start on my list of action steps for World Reach. Busyness! Yay!!

New Meetings

I have a meeting with World Reach next week. They will lay out the next steps for me, and give me the information I need in order to get started with my predeparture checklist (never mind that the process will be several months long; it still sounds so…imminent! to say “predeparture checklist”!).
On May 15 I will start my internship with Anniston Bible Church; that will last 3 months, from May to August, and I’m really excited about it. I still have no idea what I’ll be doing as part of the internship; that remains to be seen. But whatever it is, I’m sure it will be lots of work, lots of fun, and lots of blessing…especially on top of my classes and other ministries!

Not Just Overseas….

I had a chance yesterday to share the Gospel at the park. A young mother was there with her two kids, so I took advantage of the opportunity to talk with her. She was very sweet and pleasant to talk with, and I had a chance to share the Gospel with her before I left.

It reminded me of something that I think we forget too often…that a missionary isn’t someone who goes overseas, and that not just a chosen few are called to share the Gospel.

Do you think of yourself as a missionary? You are.

You, too, are called to share the Gospel.  That is part of obedience to Christ–that is part of being a Christian.  John 14:21; Whoever has My commandments, and keeps them, it is he who loves me. (Italics mine.)

What are your reasons for not sharing the Gospel?  I’m sure you have them…they may even sound like good reasons.  Mine did for twenty-two years.  I was too shy to talk to people.  I was afraid I would leave out something important if I tried to share the Gospel.  It made people uncomfortable.  I was living a Christian life, and actions speak louder than words, right?  (This last one seems to make REALLY good sense…until you realize that sharing the Gospel–in words–is part of living a Christian life!)

None of those reasons, however, stand up against Christ’s clear commands to share the Gospel or the numerous examples and exhortations to share the Gospel scattered throughout the New Testament.

If any of these reasons sound like you–or if you have reasons of your own–I urge you to look at them carefully, thoughtfully, prayerfully.  You’ll find, as I did, that none of your reasons are Biblically sound.

Lord willing, I will make another post soon about what the Gospel is and how to share it if you’ve never done so.

Learning by Faith ESL Center

I spent a couple of hours this morning at the Learning by Faith ESL (English Second Language) Center over by Faith Christian School.  It was such an encouragement to me to be around the Hispanics and to hear Spanish again–even though I can’t talk much in Spanish while I’m there, because of course I’m supposed to be helping them learn English!

I can’t wait to be back in Peru, where I’ll be able to use Spanish all the time, to hear it all the time, and to learn to use it better.

Lord willing, I will continue to volunteer at the ESL center on Monday mornings, to develop friendships with the women there and to be able to reach out to more people in the Hispanic community.

Studying today…

Today I am studying.  I’ve almost finished my class on the book of John; all that remains is to finish the paper, which rather than a research paper or anything like that, is an actual Bible lesson taken from a passage on the book of John.  In some ways, it’s much harder than a research paper would have been; I have to study the passage thoroughly first, then format it into a Bible lesson, not too short, not too long (most of my research papers in the past have had a minimum page limit, but never a maximum…you have less room to work with in a lesson) and then prepare handouts or extra resources, depending on what sort of lesson you are planning to teach.

I was allowed to choose both the age and the passage for my lesson; it might perhaps have made more sense to write a lesson for a younger age group, since the idea is that I will one day use this lesson and actually teach it, but at the same time, the age groups that I usually teach wouldn’t have allowed me to use the full range of study that I’ve done in this class…in other words, part of the goal of this class has been to equip me to teach the book of John to any age, and some of the things I’ve learned, I wouldn’t be able to use in a lesson for younger kids.

Therefore, in order to show that I have learned them, I’m writing the lesson for older kids, so that I can use them.  I’m working with John 21:15-22/23, and my plan, at least at this point, is to write a lesson for kids in their last couple of years of high school or perhaps just starting college.  I’ve never taught that age before, and I’m wondering if maybe I haven’t bitten off more than I can chew…but I’m excited about the lesson, nonetheless, because I’m writing a lesson for kids just slightly younger than I am, who are facing all the things I was facing just a couple of years ago, things like what should I do with my life and what is the will of God for my life, and perhaps, like me, they aren’t wondering at all; perhaps they’re absolutely certain of what they plan to do for the rest of their life.  And perhaps–also like me–God has something completely different in mind for them.

Anyway, that’s what I’m doing today.  My goal is to finish my personal study in the passage today, and perhaps even start formatting the lesson.  We shall see how well that works.

Welcome

Welcome to my weblog.  My name is Keesa DuPre; I am a missionary appointee with World Reach, Inc.  The purpose of this blog is to share the work that the Lord is doing in and through me with my friends in other parts of the world, to share more about the process of becoming a missionary, and to challenge my readers to consider missions service for themselves.

So what is a missionary appointee?  It means, basically, that I have been accepted by World Reach as a missionary under their authority, but I’m not yet on the field.  I personally have 23 credit hours of Bible classes left before I can return to the field as a career missionary, plus some other pre-departure requirements such as an internship with my home church, an internship with the office at World Reach, and, oh, yes, raising prayer and financial support.

My field is Peru.  Specifically, working with church planting through children’s ministry in Peru.  I spent a year working with a church in Peru in 2008, as I was trying to decide whether God had, in fact, called me to be a missionary.  My testimony of how I became a missionary is quite fascinating, but it will have to wait for another day.

The past few months, from January until yesterday, have been spent in preparing my application to World Reach, including my written testimony, my formal application, my medical examination, and my references.  Then I waited.  Yesterday I had my interview with the Board of Directors at World Reach, and they officially accepted me as a World Reach missionary.  I’ve never been so excited in my life–I could have flown home!  I still feel the urge to clap my hands, giggle, and bounce around the room when I think about it.

My prayer for the future is that God will use me to glorify His Name through serving Him; that unbelievers would come to Christ and that believers would be grown and strengthened as a result of the Lord’s powerful work through my life.

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.  Amen.

Ephesians 3:20-21