Dearly Appreciated Family and Friends,
THANK YOU SO MUCH for all your support, prayers, financial assistance, encouragement, and for reading my updates and responding via emails when I was on V-SET and even over the past couple weeks since I’ve been back! Sorry this final update took me so long to write and send out; I’ve been pretty busy the past few weeks being back. But I’m super thankful for this chance to give praise to God for all that He’s done this summer and so happy to share with you!
What are some highlights I want to remember forever? What am I thankful for?
1) God sovereignly hand-picked my K1 team of 8. Ed, Becky, Jeremy, Frances, Caleb, Samara, Joel, Eva. We’re all quite different and have interesting personalities ^.^ but God chose us to be a team and go to Bishkek, Almaty, and Beijing this summer to worship Him and to seek and save the lost
2) No major conflicts within the team. Everyone got along and had good attitudes for the most part, team unity, no complaining spirits even though there were many situations that could have “warranted” complaints
3) Seeing Aidai and Salta again!! – two of my faithful students who accepted Jesus one year ago on VSET! Catching up with them 1-on-1, worshipping with them at Vera Church and house church as SISTERS (one year ago they came to church for the first time as nonbelievers), seeing how they are enjoying their New Life in Christ and how much they desire to grow in their faith, despite opposition from family and friends – big praise to God!
4) Cholpon putting her faith in Jesus Christ! Cholpon is a dear student from Bishkek who invited me to sleepover and shared deeply with me about her family. I found out one morning in Almaty that she had made the decision to believe in Jesus, despite all the chaos and deep brokenness in her home. I literally jumped for joy because I had been praying for her salvation! And the cool thing was that God used me, my teaching partner Joel, K1 and K2 to bring her to Him! Please continue to remember Cholpon in your prayers as she recently told her mother about her decision to become a Christian and is now facing persecution and threats from her family (very reminiscent of Aidai and Salta’s situation this past year). Please pray for peace, healing, assurance of God’s love for her, and that she stands strong in her faith and not be shaken!
5) Meeting Wang Yu Han and leading her to Christ! I shared the Bridge with Yu Han in the cafeteria of LinDa in Beijing and she believed in Jesus and prayed the sinner’s prayer! She’s one of the F.A.T. (faithful, available, teachable) new believers that God’s blessed me with. I got to meet up with her many times afterwards to go through the 5 Assurances, Bible stories/passages, who Jesus is, the attributes of God, and pray together. We still keep in touch via email and she told me she prays every day and went to the Beijing ICA church last Sunday – PTL!
6) All the crazy stuff that happened but how GOD rescued us and provided a way out in each and every situation i.e. no plane tickets to Bishkek due to plane crash; 20hr crowded train ride from Lanzhou to Beijing + frantically stuffing heavy suitcases into the overhead compartment while tippy-toeing on top of the seats like an acrobat; losing our classrooms in Bishkek; landlord + wife yelling at us in Russian and almost needing to leave a day early from our apartment in Almaty; 54hr train ride from Urumqi to Beijing; walking in the pouring rain with our luggage for 3 hours the night we arrived in Beijing because no taxi (that would charge a legit price) would stop for us…
7) God is Sovereign and He answers prayers. In His wisdom and love, God sovereignly orchestrated every situation that happened or not happened on VSET. He saw us through every circumstance and was still in total control of everything. All of our VSET prayer items/faith goals and daily prayer requests were always answered as we called out to Him in total dependence each day, relying on His Spirit and not on our own flesh and understanding. What an awesome God we have!
8) All the souls that were saved this summer (172 total!) in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, China, and Turkey and how God still uses broken, messed-up, prideful, inadequate sinners like me and my teammates to lead people to Him (everyone on my team led at least one person to Christ this summer, and for three of them it was their first time!)
9) 1st Annual Outdoor Rally at Arbot in KZ. We sang VSET songs, did skits, and praised God openly in front of many students (as well as bystanders) who joined us on our last night in Almaty. I was really blessed that we were able to worship God at this public plaza in such a way. I remember walking off to the side by myself with my hands held up high to the Father under the stars in the big sky, praying over Almaty as Ed was playing “God of This City”
10) My precious students. I taught Red Class (most advanced) with Joel in Bishkek and Green Class (intermediate) with Caleb in Almaty. I’m so thankful for the relationships with my students, their hospitality, love, kindness, and the opportunity to share the Gospel with them. Also thankful for my teaching partners and our experiences teaching together. I love my students very much, pray for them, and email/facebook them often. I miss them a lot and look forward to seeing them again!
11) Tears. This summer I cried a lot because of various breakthroughs: God bringing me to a point of total surrender about everything in my life (specifically Nursing school), and how He wants to heal me to the uttermost from sins, hurts, fears that have been making me “invalid” for a long time (like the crippled man of 38 years from John 5 -Healing at the Pool). I cried when the Spirit gave me renewed conviction of my lifetime calling as a disciple of Jesus Christ. I cried when people rejected the Gospel and chose to continue chasing after false gods that do not give life and salvation (I physically felt sick to my stomach and wanted to vomit when one of my contacts who was a #3 told me a few days later that she no longer wanted to be a Christian; I literally felt my heart break for what breaks God’s heart). I cried tears of joy when I saw Aidai and Salta again, when I witnessed the faith of other young believers and the persecution they faced because of it, but how they still keep on believing – there’s no way they could deny Jesus. I was also moved to tears by how God was working in my teammates – bringing them out on VSET even though they were unsure how God would use them, how He was growing them in alacrity, humility, love, heart for the lost, acknowledgment of His presence in their lives. I felt like this summer I cried for the reasons that would make God cry, too.
12) Being able to go poo almost every day w/o huge problems! - many of my teammates had Big C (constipation) or Big D (diarrhea) so I truly am thankful to the Lord that I didn’t experience any major problems going #2.
How did God reveal Himself to me this summer? What else did I learn about myself and how I need to grow more?
God revealed Himself to me in powerful, heart-sinking ways this summer. I learned so much about myself, God’s heart for me and His people, and His character. I’ve known these lessons ever since I was a child, but this summer many of these Sunday school facts transferred from head knowledge to heart knowledge.
God is LOVE. My love relationship with God is the BEST and MOST IMPORTANT thing in my life. God’s love for me is so vast, so unconditional, so everlasting, constant, unfailing, unfathomable…that it doesn’t matter what man says or thinks about me. I don’t need the love or approval of man because I already have the love of God and His love is better than life (Psalm 63:3). Over the years, many idols have come and gone, but God’s love for me has remained and is inseparable (Romans 8:38-39). God thinks I am precious and honored in His sight (Isaiah 43:4) and I am His beautiful and delightful daughter. Nothing I do or don’t do can make Him love me any more or less than He already does. God loves Frances and I believe this in my heart!
Because of God’s great love for me, one of my faith goals this summer was to truly love my team and students deeply. I know from past experiences that if I loved out of my own effort or flesh, I’d inevitably fail and my love would soon run out. So I prayed daily that God would give me His supernatural love to love people, that I would rely on His Spirit to love, that I would die to myself and my desires, that my heart would not grow cold even if my love was not reciprocated. God totally answered my prayer. He helped me to love without expecting in return, to love regardless of how I felt about someone, to be quick to forgive and not hold any offenses, to keep loving even though I felt frustrated or annoyed or hurt, to give generously and not hold back, to love my sisters by supporting them and to love my brothers by submitting and encouraging them… all because God first loved me (1John4:10). Constantly pouring out was not easy, and there were definitely times when I failed in loving and fell into self-centered thinking, listing out the ways in which I was not being ministered unto, feeling like I was receiving the short end of the stick (I had to repent in my heart a lot of this selfish thinking). But whenever I thought about Jesus and all that He suffered for me because He loved me, it really compelled me to keep going. Jesus is totally WORTHY. Loving Him was my motivation to keep on loving others.
God is SOVEREIGN. God is in control of everything, He knows what He is doing and He is wise. He makes no mistakes. He even allowed “bad things” to happen (more like difficult, unexpected, sometimes even painful situations) because He loves me (Romans 8:28) and wants me to trust Him fully, to look to Him alone for peace, comfort, love, approval, to make me stronger, to grow me to be more like Jesus. In everything I endured (the good, bad, fun, hard), I was never alone – God was right by my side.
God is HUMBLE. Jesus was very humble and never took pride in anything. He was so focused on God and doing His will that he didn’t care to be understood by man, nor did he think about his own comfort or reputation. He did not defend himself or retaliate when people hurt, insulted, accused, even betrayed or disowned him. He came into this evil corrupt world to serve, even though He Himself was the Great King… I really want to be just like Jesus!
This summer God put me in hard situations where I had to humble myself to respond lovingly, patiently, graciously in tough situations, to teammates, leaders, students and not respond pridefully out of the flesh. Of course there were times when I failed and allowed pride to get the better of me, but God reminded me again and again to not minister to myself, to not speak out of impulse, anger, or flesh; to die to my sense of justice/vindication; to not be quick to judge or point out sin/pride in others because I too am sinful (see the plank in own eye before speck in others’); to be quick to forgive as well as quick to confess my own sins and ask God for forgiveness; to clothe myself with kindness, humility, and patience (Colossians 3:12).
I know God is continually breaking down any form of PRIDE in me. Over the past 2 years I’ve come to learn that I have a lot of deep-seeded pride, that pride is a very destructive sin and God HATES it. Because He loves me He wants to remove all the impurities, wrong motives, selfish desires, need of approval so that I could be filled by His Spirit and so He could use me in fruitful ways for His kingdom. Though the process of pride-killing is painful, it is good and God gives MUCH grace. I’ve often clung onto 1 Peter 5:5 – God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
By His grace, one way that I really tried to love my team this year was by responding well. In many situations, God told me to humble myself by remaining silent and not saying anything in return (i.e. when I was corrected, slighted, disrespected, teased, annoyed, etc). In the past, I would be quick to open my mouth to defend myself, judge others, try to make people understand me, want to have the last word... but God reminded me that He sees my heart, my intentions, that He alone is the fair Judge. I don’t need to explain myself to people and be understood by them. By keeping quiet and not expressing frustration, I also practiced letting things go, to not be calculative, and not keep record of wrongs.
God is POWERFUL. He alone is the One who is capable and almighty. He’s the One doing all the work of saving souls. He used my teammates and me for big things and in big ways this summer. Even though I was sick with fever and bedridden in Bishkek, God allowed my students to come to me so I could share the Gospel Bridge with them. Even though I was ill and quite distraught one day in Almaty, God gave still granted me the strength and focus to teach my huge Green Class at Panfilov Park. Even though many of my teammates were also sick, fatigued, and at times discouraged, that did not thwart God’s work. He still operated in and through all of us and used us to bring souls to Him.
God is so loving and awesome. I really thank Him for changing my heart, stretching me, and growing me in the areas of faith, humility, grace, love, and responding well. But I am convicted that these are the very areas that I also need to grow more in and am thankful for opportunities in the coming year where I can do that. This summer God also helped me fight against a need to be loved/liked/approved by others (old tendencies from childhood) but to just seek the approval of my Father, to live before an audience of One and be secure in my identity as His beloved child. I'm thankful for the victories I've experienced but I know I’m constantly in need of His grace and guidance!
What did you learn about being a missionary and how God is calling you to missions?
It’s not about what or how much we can do. God looks at the heart. It’s ALL God doing the work of saving anyway – were are merely the tools through which He works and reveals Himself. God doesn’t need us but He wants us. No one is “worthy” to be a missionary but He still chooses the weak, inadequate, simple to do His work of proclaiming the Gospel to the lost – just like how He used me and my teammates this summer.
We are ALL God’s missionaries. The first and foremost calling/mission of every missionary is to be a lifetime follower of Jesus Christ – to love Him with all our hearts and to make Him known. I know I have been called. The whole world is a mission field – not just KG, KZ, MG, China, and Turkey. People need the Lord everywhere (heck yes in America too!!). The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.
Life of a missionary means: Steadfast in WORD and PRAYER. Total reliance on the Lord 24/7 (not on self, own effort, experience, ability, training…) Constant heart of surrender. Utter self-abandonment. Letting go of all idols. Be content and satisfied in whatever God calls you to do, wherever He calls you to go, at any time. Be joyful and find hope in Christ alone. Obey and choose God’s way – the way of the cross. Truly broken heart for the lost. Sacrificial love for God, people and their souls.
** Even though it is my heart’s desire to be back in Kyrgyzstan or China right now to disciple my girls and to share the Gospel with the lost there, God is calling me to be surrendered about this desire to be overseas right now. For whatever reason, He is calling me to stay here in America and go to Nursing school at UCLA for the next 2 years. At the moment, this is not really what I “want” and it’s challenging, as I would much rather be with my girls overseas and physically be there for them as they grow in their faith and relationship with Jesus. Or even stay in Norcal and help out in ministry with my Berkeley ICA family (I’m so sad to leave, I’ll miss them so much). I have my own fears about moving down to LA for nursing school, to be in a new environment with new people. Also fearful that Nursing might become too demanding of my time or a possible idol and rob me of my devotion to God and to ministry. But God is telling me to cast all these fears and anxieties onto Him, to be strong and courageous and not be afraid because He is with me (Joshua 1:9). Though it’s hard for me, I want to listen to Him – to obey and to go forth in faith. LA is also God's mission field, people there need the Gospel too, and God's calling me to be salt and light to the lost down there.
What are some things God is saying loud and clear to you? What things do you want to do to obey Him?
1) Keep doing the work of BELIEVING in Jesus Christ: falling at His feet and casting all my fears and anxieties onto Him, taking Jesus at His word, claiming the Truth and His promises, trusting God with all my heart and leaning not on my own understanding (Proverbs 3:5-6), placing no confidence in my own weak sinful flesh (Phil 3) but constantly relying on the Spirit. Allowing Jesus to sit on the throne of my heart and have full reign, rule, and authority.
2) Having a constant heart of surrender over all areas of my life and obeying God immediately and at all costs. Choosing to listen to God’s voice and do everything His way, in His timing, for His glory. Only at the point of total surrender can I experience absolute freedom and peace in Christ.
3) Growing in intimacy with my Heavenly Father. Loving God first and making Him my #1 (Deut 6:5), being devoted and committed to Jesus alone and becoming more like Him. Spending daily quality time with God in the Word (Jesus lived by the Word, even when he was tempted He used Scripture to combat the evil one) and in prayer (Jesus often retreated by himself to pray to God and always referred to Him as “Father” because they had that close intimate relationship)
4) Pursuing holiness because God is holy. (Leviticus 19:2) This means being ruthless with sin issues, especially pride, idolatry, fear of man, unbelief, and legalism. I’ve always liked the 6th Beattitude: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” Growing especially in the areas of love and humility – Jesus is the epitome of these two things (Phil 2).
5) Keep on loving others wholeheartedly out of the Holy Spirit, with no expectation of being ministered unto. Look to the interests of others (Phil 2:4). Be faithful in prayer for my VSET students and contacts, churches and workers overseas, teammates, roommates, family and friends in SF, Berkeley ICA, Bruin ICA, Lutheran Church of the Holy Spirit/LWF, nursing colleagues at UCLA, people God puts on my heart.
6) Make Jesus known. The Great Commission – Matthew 28:19-20. Evangelize on campus, make disciples, share my testimony and life journey with Jesus, proclaim Christ’s love and the Good News to friends, classmates, students on campus, anyone and everyone. Jesus is too awesome to be kept a secret – the world needs Jesus NOW!
Thank you so much again for reading this and for all your prayers. I sincerely appreciate you and would love to hear how you’re doing, how I can be supporting you and praying for you as well. I will be moving down to LA on September 14 so please email/call me if you would like to get together to catch up and share about the great things God’s been doing in our lives! To Him be all the glory!
With Love and Gratitude,
Frances :)
