Connecting

My wife often jokes with me that I have the spiritual gift of networking (which is often followed by her telling me I also have spiritual gift of hanging-out).  And while there isn't necessarily anything spiritual about networking, God definitely uses connecting with others as a way to do ministry. Over the past couple years as we've set out to try something new and use coffee as a way to sustainably reach villagers, there have been countless connections with people that have made it possible.  Literally, I tried to count up the connections last night, many of which came completely out of the blue, and lost track somewhere around 83.  From knowledgeable and passionate guys on our board, to coffee roasters, to missionaries, to pastors and church leaders. . .  And when we had to make a move to a new country a few months ago, I wasn't sure if it would work because we had so many unique connections in the place where we were.  After we made the move, God has once again reminded me that He is in control of this by setting up more relationships in this new country.  I saw an example of this just a couple weeks ago:

A missionary in the country that we're now in is currently in my hometown on stateside.  He is a friend of a friend (a friend of several friends actually) that has gotten mixed up with us.  We go out every few weeks for lunch or coffee and talk about ways that we might be able to work together when he gets back overseas and how we can minister to the people there in better ways.  And even though the country that he serves in is small, they have a fairly large population in my neighborhood with several restaurants.  The past couple times we've gone out, we pick one of these restaurants for lunch.  About a week ago we went to a new place, and because my friend speaks the language, we quickly met all the waitresses and the owner.  As we were talking to the owner, she tells me that she is from the town that Luv-Luv is currently living in, and she has some things she would love for me to get to her parents who live there.  We talk for a while and eventually ask her about her faith, and she lights up and tells us that she is a Christian.  She then begins to ask us if we can take a Bible to her parents, because she has shared with them over the phone and they are new believers, but they don't have a full Bible to read.  I told her that my friends who live there would love to take them one, and she gives me their address in a village outside of the town.  As it turns out, the missionary who helps Luv-Luv has been wanting to start ministry in this village.

Half a world away, in a town with a population of about 80,000 and a Christian population of less than 2%, and their daughter owns a business about a mile from my house and needs someone to give them a Bible and share the Gospel.  What are the odds?  The only explanation I have is that God connects people together.

A New Direction

So after much prayer, phone calls, emails and talking to friends of friends, we have a new direction.  When Luv-Luv was denied his visa we have been searching for a new location.  Honestly, we saw some signs that his visa might become a problem a few months ago and began making some preparations for a new location (just incase this happened).  During most of the month of August, Luv was back home in the Philippines trying to track down some of his friends that are doing missionary work in a much smaller country to the south of where we previously were, and I was here trying to talk to friends of friends that are also in that country.  Several years ago, Luv-Luv worked in that country and still had a lot of friends there that were willing to help us. So by the middle of August, we had everything lined up, and what we think is a game plan put into place.  Luv-Luv is now living in a much smaller country to the south.  It is still a communist country (which means I won't post online where he is, but since there are only 5 of them left in the world, that will narrow it down some), there are still many unreached peoples there, and in many ways it is more impoverished than where we previously were.

Luv-Luv is back in a town where he used to live several years ago and ministering alongside a coffee farm that he once helped get started.  Over the next several months he'll help missionaries there and share with local farmers, work on his language, and improve his coffee growing knowledge.  The plan is that at the beginning of next year he'll move further north to a location where coffee isn't being grown and use that as a new product to go out and help villagers and share the gospel with them.

As I've very clearly learned over the past few months, plans can always fall through and directions change, but we feel this is a direction where God is opening a lot of doors for us.  Even over the past couple of weeks, Luv has told me about many opportunities that he's had to encourage local believers, both in the villages and in town.  He is currently living in a house with seven local young men and they have morning Bible studies, and up on the mountain he already knows a lot of the farmers have come to know Christ just in the past year.

Please be in prayer for Underground Coffee International's ministry in this new country.  There are still many details that we are working out, but there is also a lot of excitement about what God is going to do there.  Also, please be in prayer for us as we seek open doors in the north over the next few months.  We believe that God is going to do something amazing in that part of the world, and hopefully coffee will provide some avenues to reach people for Christ and create both spiritual and economic life change.

A Change in Plans

“And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.  And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.  So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas.  And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”  And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.”                                -Acts 16:6-10  

I don't know why I get frustrated when plans change or when God seems to close a door.  It isn’t anything new.  I love the passage above because it make that pretty clear.  And it makes me thankful that I’m not Paul, who apparently had several doors close on him while he was out on the road.  I also love this passage because it seems to embrace the unknown and being okay with living in the tension of not really knowing where God is leading quite yet.

This past week we sent Luv-Luv back to the field.  Because of tensions between his home country and the country he’s ministering in, he was only given a 10-day visa.  We talked to some people we’re working with and were assured that’d be enough time to get him switched over to the business visa once he arrived.  We found out last Wednesday that he was denied his business visa and yesterday we had to fly him back home to the Philippines.

The plan is for him to only be in the Philippines for a short time while we, as an organization, seek the Lord on next steps and a new location.  We’d also like to invite you to pray with us for that new location.  We’ve had some issues with Luv’s visa over the past couple months, so we’ve been talking to people in a smaller country further south about possibilities there.  Things aren’t quite ready there yet, and there are several towns that we’re still trying to sift through, but we feel like God is opening a door there and there are some exciting possibilities.

So please pray with us as we start to step out on faith and make the move.  We’re not 100% sure where we’re going quite yet, but neither was Paul.  When God closed a door, Paul sought Him and tried somewhere else.  Then tried somewhere else again.  Then tried somewhere else again…  Let’s just hope, for my sake, that we don’t have quite as many closed doors as Paul.  We’ll update you more once we get it figured out.