The final day of the first conference was a huge success and most of the women returned with some new women who weren't able to make it yesterday! We arrived at the church to find the power was out so there was a bit of a pivot in the 104 heat with no fans or projection abilities but by God's grace a generator arrived mid morning and Mary did an amazing job as well, leaning on the Holy Spirit and being flexible. Today we walked the women through the Apply (Do & Share) portion of the ROADS method.
For the first portion of the morning the women were in the same groups as yesterday. We used a team building cup game where the women had to communicate and work together to build a cup tower using only strings attached to rubber bands to move the cups instead of their hands. We made the application that sometimes when we study scripture together we all have to do work on our own but we also have to communicate and work together to make sure we see correctly and then apply it to our lives. It was really cool to see three women in my group "get it" when while sharing they built upon each other in what they were seeing and another woman made the comment that she wouldn't have seen what she did if the other woman hadn't shared first.
When asked to share as a large group before lunch what the women would takeaway from the conference, one woman in my group had the courage to stand up and share that she used to only just go to church and listen to the Pastor teach her the Word, but that now with this new way of studying she felt confident to look at God's word for herself and be able to understand it and apply it to her own life and teach others alongside what the Pastor was teaching her. What an incredible moment of witnessing a woman realizing she'd been equipped to be a self-feeder who can equip other women to do the same!
After lunch, the women switched groups so instead of being randomly assigned they were with women from their local villages. When assigned their original groups randomly they were then given a colored bracelet but when they came together as their local villages groups, they braided all the different colors together to show how we all create a beautiful rainbow when we work together to study scripture. They then were able to make a plan in preparation for being able to lead and teach other women how to study Gods Word for themselves as they were sent off with a Bible study for the rest of James that Margaret wrote and the local Pastor translated to use in their villages. The group I was in decided on a leader, a day to meet, a location and even made a plan to meet starting this Thursday!
I've only shared a a few stories from women in my own group (and trust me there were so many more) but I'm sure each of the leaders have other beautiful stories that they'd love to share if asked once we all return! Please pray as we debrief what went well and modify what needs to be altered based on having learned from this conference in preparation for the second 2-day conference in less than a week.
Please pray that the women from this conference return to their villages and bear fruit for the kingdom as they engage with God's word together using the new tools they've learned over the past two days. Please continue praying for the translators as they will be with us at the next conference, for the women who will be attending this next conference and for our own hearts and minds as we prepare. Please also pray for local Pastor Pisal and his wife Sophorn's son Joshua that he remains healthy so both parents can be at the conference (he tends to get very sick and ends up in the hospital when these events occur). Please continue to pray against the schemes of the enemy and that the Lord would be glorified in this work. Thank you all for continuing to pray and walking with us on this journey of kingdom work!
For the first portion of the morning the women were in the same groups as yesterday. We used a team building cup game where the women had to communicate and work together to build a cup tower using only strings attached to rubber bands to move the cups instead of their hands. We made the application that sometimes when we study scripture together we all have to do work on our own but we also have to communicate and work together to make sure we see correctly and then apply it to our lives. It was really cool to see three women in my group "get it" when while sharing they built upon each other in what they were seeing and another woman made the comment that she wouldn't have seen what she did if the other woman hadn't shared first.
When asked to share as a large group before lunch what the women would takeaway from the conference, one woman in my group had the courage to stand up and share that she used to only just go to church and listen to the Pastor teach her the Word, but that now with this new way of studying she felt confident to look at God's word for herself and be able to understand it and apply it to her own life and teach others alongside what the Pastor was teaching her. What an incredible moment of witnessing a woman realizing she'd been equipped to be a self-feeder who can equip other women to do the same!
After lunch, the women switched groups so instead of being randomly assigned they were with women from their local villages. When assigned their original groups randomly they were then given a colored bracelet but when they came together as their local villages groups, they braided all the different colors together to show how we all create a beautiful rainbow when we work together to study scripture. They then were able to make a plan in preparation for being able to lead and teach other women how to study Gods Word for themselves as they were sent off with a Bible study for the rest of James that Margaret wrote and the local Pastor translated to use in their villages. The group I was in decided on a leader, a day to meet, a location and even made a plan to meet starting this Thursday!
I've only shared a a few stories from women in my own group (and trust me there were so many more) but I'm sure each of the leaders have other beautiful stories that they'd love to share if asked once we all return! Please pray as we debrief what went well and modify what needs to be altered based on having learned from this conference in preparation for the second 2-day conference in less than a week.
Please pray that the women from this conference return to their villages and bear fruit for the kingdom as they engage with God's word together using the new tools they've learned over the past two days. Please continue praying for the translators as they will be with us at the next conference, for the women who will be attending this next conference and for our own hearts and minds as we prepare. Please also pray for local Pastor Pisal and his wife Sophorn's son Joshua that he remains healthy so both parents can be at the conference (he tends to get very sick and ends up in the hospital when these events occur). Please continue to pray against the schemes of the enemy and that the Lord would be glorified in this work. Thank you all for continuing to pray and walking with us on this journey of kingdom work!