"So what does a typical day look like for you?"
I had finally plucked up the courage to ask the question that would dictate the rest of our conversation,
"So do you believe in the existence of God?" I asked curiously.
Twenty-four teenage faces from across the world looked back at me. Some grunted, others rolled their eyes and some sniggered ignorantly. I came to find out that only one of them actually believed that God existed, she was Jewish. The rest believed that there is no God, that He is a man-made creation, designed to cope with life and feel better about ourselves. About seven of them believed that their life has no meaning or purpose.
" I just don't know what to believe, I don't know!!"
One of the Spanish girls cried out in the middle of a heated debate with the rest of the class. One of them believed that aliens are the higher power and quite a few of them just don't care. Many of the facts they stated are wrong, showing that they'd become delusional, blind, hardened and confused by what the truth actually is. " So what's the point in life? What is your purpose here on earth and who gave you that purpose?" I asked, wondering what the answers would be.
"There is no purpose", one boy sighed as he responded, "There's no purpose to our life at all". "That's pretty sad!", I blurted out. "It's sad, but it's the truth" he said...
This reality absolutely broke my heart in the best way possible. God reminded me in the moment about why we're here in Ireland. He also strongly reminded me that every single one of those lost teens are His individually, intricately, beautifully, purposefully made children, in which He not only loves, but loves so much, that He died for every single one of them- even though they continue to turn their back on Him.
It's not just about numbers, it's about souls. Individual souls, lives. Even if I got to the end of my time here in Ireland and one person got to spend the rest of their life with Christ, I'd see it as an accomplishment. Our goal is to influence as many people as possible towards Christ by the way we speak, act, react and love. Many times I've already seen, in my small 25 years of existence, that Gods love working in and through me, which touches the lives of others, combined with speaking and acting boldly and speaking up for Christ whenever possible, is how people see The Light. My personal goal is to never quench the Holy Spirit by the way I live. I believe that we can all do this in our sphere of influence in which God has given us. Will you do the same? I feel like we all have people that we know who continually deny God. Don't give up on them, God never will, why should we?
That's the beautiful and intriguing thing about Ireland, especially Waterford. We have people from all over the world, visit and live in this little city. By us being here, we're not just reaching the Irish, we're actually teaching all sorts of people from all over the world. Our church even reflects that- currently we have families from Brazil, Lithuania, Italy, USA, Ireland, UK, Malaysia and South Africa attending regularly. Weekly, I personally come into contact with Irish, Spanish, French, German, Russian, Ukrainian, Italian, Austrian, Japanese, Estonian, Malaysian and African people of all ages.
So, yes. I am just one person, but what God is doing in and through me alone is no small thing... what He does, has been doing and will do through a united people in His name, (the church) is definitely not something to be undermined!! What He is doing, and what we are able to do, because of your financial contributions, prayer, and messages of encouragement, is no small thing! It's because of You that I get to be here, in Ireland. We get to influence people towards Jesus, and not only that, we get to do it with a whole family of amazing people at LifeHouse Church.
So my prayer is this:
Lord don't let us lose sight of what our life is about. Don't let us get so focused on ourselves and our stuff, our families, our lives, our money, that we forget about you. Lord don't let us get frustrated or angry, help us to have compassion, help us to love those who turn their back on you. Don't let us dismiss those who choose to not know you. They are your children. You know each one of them by name. You designed them for a purpose. Their lives aren't worthless, you didn't die for worthless lives. Don't let us be overcome by selfish desire or even think about feeling ashamed of you. Forgive us Lord, help us to stand for Your name, help us to live it out.. every knee will bow at Your great name. Hep us to live that out and never be ashamed. Use us, here we are, save them Father.
So that's what a typical day can look like for us. The more our church grows, the more people we get to meet, the more busy and beautifully chaotic our days become. I feel like I have the BEST job in the world, I wouldn't change one part of it for anything, and to be quite honest- NONE of it could be done without your prayer and financial support. Because of YOU, Jonathan and I get to be in relationship with and influence over 70 teens and children, and over 100 adults every single week. WOW! Not only that, but other leaders and missionaries at our church get to do the same and MORE!!!
If you haven't already considered financially supporting us and LifeHouse church, please prayerfully consider doing so and if you'd like to contact us, please feel free to do so at any time!!
On a side note - I'm so excited to share that we have been married for one year!! What an amazing year!! (That's a story for another newsletter though haha).
For His Kingdom, Cherith Loper
Below is a real cutie called 'Manu', she is from Brazil and her family just joined us a few months ago.
Below are some of the kids from our Kids Class. At the moment we're learning about the Fruit of the Holy Spirit and how we can grow in God. Our mini community grows every week, currently we have 20 kids between 6-12 years old.
