repentance & forgiveness

Hi everyone, I've missed all of you! Before I start getting into the second update, I want to encourage all of you in deepening your relationships with God. He is so amazingly worthy of all of our praise! Please feel free to continue emailing me prayer requests so I can be praying for all of you.

This week we have been covering repentance and forgiveness. I’d just like to highlight a few points that stuck out to me during our lectures.

• Jesus’ main purpose on Earth was to get us to repent from our sins.
• It is a privilege to repent from our sins!
• Be thorough in repenting of your sins .
  
• We become a victim of someone we haven't forgiven.

This past Friday our application on repentance and forgiveness was to confess and repent from our sins and to give forgiveness to anyone we held something against. The difficult part was that we did it one at a time before God and the rest of the class. We got started in the morning and broke into two groups in the afternoon to speed things up because it took around 15 hours for a class of 43 people. The air in the classroom was so heavy. So many sins were confessed that day from the darkest corners of our hearts. Someone was living in fear for 20 years because of something they were holding onto. Bonds from sin were broken and people were released to start walking in holiness. It was an amazing time. Never once did we judge someone, we always shared in their pain and lifted them up no matter the sin. After half the day my heart really just wanted to stop hearing all the sin that people have gone through. Seeing all the hurt and pain really gave me a new hate for sin. But of course we pressed on and it was an amazing time of newfound freedom and cleanliness.

Not everyone was feeling that way afterward. Many of us who are clean and walking in righteousness now still don't feel that way. There can be so much sin from the past and habits still rooted in us that we don't feel forgiven. At this time I think that spiritual warfare becomes very real. Now that we are empty of our sins Satan is very eager to fill us again with evil. Our struggle is to pursue God and fill ourselves with His word before anything.

For me personally I've been feeling hopeless and discouraged. I know that I am forgiven of my sins but there are so many things that I need to change and I'm not sure how to do it. I want to walk in holiness because I am so convicted of the sin in my life but I'm fearful of failing again. I guess that part is the 'asian' built in me. I know God will continue to forgive me but I want to mature and run as far away from sin as I can.

Last weekend we went to a river/beach to go sandboarding! We had to walk a mile or two to get to the slopes but it was heaps of fun. Since every post needs some pictures, here they are!

A view of where the river meets the beach

Another one of the river/beach just for fun

Me lost in the desert somewhere along the 1 hour hike!

The sand dune that leads into the river

And me going down!

As for an update on the last prayer requests, almost all of them have improved thank God! The messages/lectures have still been difficult to focus and stay awake, but now I've been gradually doing better and better. We're encouraged to stand up if we get tired and I'm usually the first one to stand up. No shame! I'm getting more and more used to the schedule but I'm still working out times during the day when I can sneak in some journaling or reading. The situation with my roommate has improved! He was having a hard time here but lately he's really coming around and opening up to people. Some students are still sick but at least it's different students, the other ones are all better now! Praise God for all the things we have been praying about! He really is that good to us, even in the little things. I feel so supported knowing that I have all of you praying for me.

Here are some more prayer items so that everyone can continue praying for me (I'm not bashful about asking for prayer!):

• For peace in my heart to know that I am forgiven and righteous.
• Wisdom on how to battle pride. God is convicting me of some serious pride, but I'm really struggling with this because pride is so deceitful and has many different faces.
• Pray against evil attacks! There are a few students here who are really struggling and barely hanging on each day. There are so many mixed emotions and confusion that is either from Satan or could really be used by Satan. There are also a few girls who have been sick for a few days now.
  
• That my ears and heart will be open to hearing God's voice. I desperately want to hear from Him!

Thanks again everyone so much. God really is working in everyone's lives here. Sometimes it's frustrating because I feel that others are getting more blessed than I am or that they hear the voice of God and I don't, but even if I come home the same I will continue to praise Him for He is worthy. Some days are really hard, but thank you for all your continued support and encouragement, I eat that stuff up! I'm eagerly awaiting my package! Sometimes during the day while I'm doing something I wish that you all could be here with me. Miss you all heaps upon heaps (Aussie's like the word heaps for some reason). Don't forget to let me know of any prayer requests you might have, I'd love to be praying for all of you.

Fight on CCCSB! Be Bold and live for our King in everything you do because he is worthy.

Blessings,
Andrew

the beginning

G'day from down under mates! Here is a picture of our base from the street! Sorry it took me so long to contact all of you, but I've arrived safely in Perth and classes are underway! First off, a big thank you to everyone who has been supporting me and praying for me. I wouldn't have been able to follow God's call for me if it wasn't for all of you! So thank you from the bottom of my heart, and I've been praying for all of you that God has been blessing you in partnering with me.

There have been so much happening since I came here. My schedule is packed full with morning exercises, lectures, cleaning duties, worship times, work duties, evangelism, and more lectures! Having such a busy schedule and waking up at 5:30am everyday for morning exercises is really tiring me out. I've been doing my best to get to bed early but with all of the reading and homework that is assigned its a battle against time everyday.

The city (from what I've seen so far) is beautiful and in some ways reminds me of home. I live in a room with 10 other guys and the space is pretty tight. It's been a struggle not to have any personal space like I'm used to but I'm beginning to find God in all places and at all times during the day. Another thing to mention is that the food here is scarce! I'm usually not one to complain about food seeing how I'd forget to eat meals often back at home, but it is a little challenge here. We always eat as a family with around 200-300 people and I usually end up sitting around a table with 6-8 hungry guys scrambling for food. There are 5 bakeries that donate bread to us every morning, so needless to say I eat bread everyday for breakfast. Not only do I eat bread for breakfast, but I also eat bread in between breakfast and lunch, lunch and dinner, and after dinner! Now I know it sounds sad that I eat half a loaf of bread a day, but it's really alright. His word is my daily bread that that will continue to sustain me. I've heard that compared to most YWAM bases we should count our blessings so I'm grateful for the food that I have.

The people I've met here come from all around the world. It is quite the diverse environment here. There are people from Canada, Holland, Indonesia, Wales, New Zealand, South Africa, Germany, England, Switzerland, China, S. Korea, France, and still many more. I've already begun to befriend people from all around the world and it has been exciting. At first it was very difficult for me since I have been so sheltered living in California all my life. I had to really learn about a whole different side of the map!

So that's roughly how things are around the base. Here are some pictures to show you what I see everyday here in Perth.

dining area

auditorium (right next to the dining room)

laundry room

the bread!

the student lounge

the room I'm staying in! The top left bunk is mine. Living with 11 guys and no fresh air can get pretty foul so I bought an air freshener :)

This is a view of downtown Perth. We used to have to walk into the city to buy things quite often until we got our train cards. What a blessing those were!

This is just another shot of the city. Our base is located in an industrial zone so it looks quite different around our base.

On a more personal note, things have been difficult and challenging here. Meeting so many different people and not having any other asian americans has really stretched me and forced me to reach out of my comfort zone. The first week was difficult to adjust to everything and I missed home more than I ever have. For a few days I lost focus why I was here and let my heart open to attacks from the satan. I had a lot of thoughts put in my head and I really wanted to come home. Thankfully I continued to pray and find my strength in God which reminded me of the calling I have to be here. Thanks to all of you who have been praying for me as well.

Since then things have been getting more comfortable and I'm more focused on seeking God and hearing His voice. The best part is how amazing it is to be surrounded by christians who are putting their trust in God and literally living out their faith. I've met so many people here who are completely surrendered to God, confident in hearing His voice and obediently listening to him. Hearing people's testimonies and watching them live out their lives now reminds me that my fear of complete surrender is unfounded. It really comes down to my trust in God that He has plans to give me hope and a future. To fully trust Him is to surrender to Him and that's when your relationship can really deepen with Him.

I havn't suddenly turned into a super christian of any sort, but I have been earnestly seeking out God. If anything, I'm starting to see more and more of my weaknesses and especially the pride that I've carried for so long. So I just want to encourage everyone who reads this to seek the Lord with all your heart. Our God is a loving God who wants to speak to us and have an intimate relationship with us. He said that when we seek Him with all our heart we will find Him. So keep praying and waiting on the Lord for Him to speak in your lives!

prayer items:

• I'm having a difficult time focusing during our message/lectures. Please pray that I will stay attentive and receptive, expecting to have new revelations about God's word during the lectures.
• Strength to get me through the day. The schedule is very grueling.
• My relationship with another roommate. We have a difficult time communicating which leads to much misunderstanding. Pray for patience for both of us.
• Spiritual warfare is becoming more real to me. There has been frustration with certain things and many, many, many people getting sick. Pray for God's protection and that the devil get behind us!

I miss everyone at home so much. I've been praying for many of you and for God to work at CCCSB. Stay strong and press on, God has so much in store for us if we stay surrendered and obedient.

Your brother down under,
Andrew

my mailing address is:
Andrew Liu
PO Box 8501
Perth Business Centre, WA 6849