What did we do for our anniversary??THE COMPLETED BIBLE WALL!!Before I explain the fun of Anzac day, I have to share with you the completed Bible wall at our church (Grace Bible in Tempe, AZ). Daniel, Taliah, and anyone who comes to our church can now walk down the hall of our church and see the entire Bible!! Click here to see a REALLY awesome time lapse of it going up: Grace Bible Bible Wall Time Lapse: www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OB28q9nFyQ&t=1s You can see Daniel at 55sec. in!! The ending is enough to make you cry! I can't tell you how excited this is, and how fun it is to hear of kids at our church running up and down the hall doing "sword drills" (finding passages of Scripture on the wall based on the reference). I want to join in!! What translation is it in? Our church had the idea of creating a Bible translation with "slave" instead of "servant" for the Greek word transliterated "doulos", and with the word "Yahweh" used as a name for Lord, specifically in the Old Testament. Most modern English Bibles use "LORD" and "Lord" for two Hebrew words for Lord. Using "Yahweh" for "LORD" is really helpful in distinguishing between the two words. Both can refer to God, but the lowercase Lord doesn't necessarily mean God, Creator of the Universe and Savior in the Hebrew. Hopefully that was understandable and not too deep... ...this translation has some textual variants differences too that are too complex to explain here...but if you're interested feel free to contact us!! As I mentioned before, the guys at Master's Seminary had the SAME idea for a Bible translation, when our church had already started the process! If you're interested in what it's like to read the text, the Master's version has a free app where you can see the New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs. It's called the Legacy Standard Bible. Look it up!! AROUND THE WORLD...It's so cool to think of the message of the Gospel going out into all the world! Eventually, at the church, the plan is to get a missions wall also, so that you see the Scripture in YOUR language through-out your time there, and then you see the missionary wall as a reminder that the Gospel needs to go to all the world, and Scripture needs to be translated into the languages of the unreached. For now, I just have a picture of this globe to show visually the need for the Gospel to go to the unreached. Daniel found this globe in downtown Tempe. He noted that Australia is disproportionately smaller than it's actual size (it's about the same size of America, with the population being a lot less then California). Papua New Guinea rests directly above Australia. 49 people groups are yet to hear the Gospel, yet to have Scripture in their language, and yet to have any hope of an eternity with Christ in Heaven. Thousands of people groups cry around the world, having no access to the Word of God, no access to solid churches, and no hope of anything short of what their ungodliness and idolatry (and OUR ungodliness and idolatry - yours and mine) deserves...eternity in Hell. So what are we doing to share that message to those whom we can right now, striving towards the goal of going to the unreached, before it's too late? PARK EVANGELISM!!See the Reagan tracts? Daniel took this picture of Taliah and I at the park, going to share the Gospel with whoever we could before it got too hot outside (it's nearing the 100 degrees F already...) or a diaper needed to be changed. Pray for Paula and Jill. Taliah and I witnessed to two ladies sitting by a little water park with two dogs...both in clothes. Paula was more vocal. She was happy that I wasn’t a Mormon, and she said she’s non-denominational. We walked through some Scriptural truth and talked about the Ten Commandments, then the Gospel. They seemed to understand that their lying and disobedience was against the Lord, but I'm not sure if they totally understood the seriousness of it or the preciousness of Jesus Christ dying in their place. So thankful for the conversation, though! What else have we been doing? MORE GREEK...Our Greek has been going really well! I love specifically the class I'm taking through an awesome professor in Ohio. Daniel and I also started to read this book - and it's SO helpful. I would highly recommend it for any Greek student who wants to know the best way to retain information they have learned, or just to review what they have learned so far and continue on. This book really provides everything one needs for healthy review. But what about Taliah? What about evangelism?? MALL TRACT EVANGELISM!!Taliah and I have been having a great time at the mall!! We have been going to try to get people in conversations, and to leave tracts in places where people will most likely not throw them out. Because of school still being in, we have had less conversations, but we are praying that those pick up after school is out! But as for tract placement, that has been so much fun, especially when you're trying to find creative ways to put them places and praying that God will use each of the tracts for His purposes. For example... FIND THE TRACT...I promise I won't do the same thing I did last time and make it so you can't see the tract in the picture, in ONE of these pictures you can ACTUALLY see a million dollar bill Gospel tract. It's a Trump tract... Need one more hint? It's in the left picture. Doing evangelism with Taliah is so much fun! What other excuse would I have for looking at these bows? Okay...I can give away where the tract is completely. It's under the second brown bow in the left picture. You can see Trump's tie, part of his shirt, and part of the American flag. So...what else happened at the mall? BEWARE OF THE AUSSIE CROC!! RUN TALIAH RUN!!!WE WENT TO AUSTRALIA AND ALMOST GOT EATEN BY AN AUSTRALIAN CROCODILE!! Just kidding... We found this outside a Rainforest Cafe in the mall. It reminded me how thankful I am for Daniel, and how exciting it is that he could go to Mill Ave., though I don't go to that evangelism opportunity anymore because we agreed it's not safe enough for Taliah. BUT - Taliah and I can do evangelism at the mall!! More adventures to tell each other about! REALLY?We have adventures...and we have to deal with stuff like this... This was in a store called "HippiesRUs". The heresy is ironically obvious, and I can't believe some Christians (or at least professed Christians) fall for it. Paul, in talking about false teachers in 2 Cor. 11, says in verse 14, "No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light." Remember this when you see things that look like they're Christian, and they use some biblical language, but they're universalist in their understanding. DANIEL AND TALIAH TIME!We want to teach Taliah the truth of the Gospel and guard her from heresies like this, making her aware of them and explaining to her the truth in the midst of the lies. Also...ISN'T SHE CUTE? I love seeing her and Daniel together. So thankful for an awesome husband and daughter! What else have we been doing? A REALLY COOL IDEA...We have been exploring some really cool looking churches! This church had the great idea of creating what they call "Bibleville" for the kids of their congregation. We didn't even know the church had this set up, Taliah and I were just curious about their MOPS group. And this is what we discovered! I thought it was REALLY creative...see if you can catch all the puns... :) TALIAH BEING TALIAH!!You've seen the cute little girl - but how is she doing? She's pretty funny... Taliah is doing so well! She's growing healthy, getting more expressive, and she's developing her own personality! We are still praying for her to one day understand her sin and need for a Savior, and to understand the need for the Gospel to go into all the world. Speaking of that... WHAT'S UP IN PNG?We have some really exciting news coming up! I mentioned in the last blog that some people from our church who are currently in Papua New Guinea will be heading to the states soon...well...Lord willing, they will be coming in a few months for quite a long time, longer than we thought! We are very excited to give you more details as things get closer. Because of the team going on furlough (missionary breaks), and the nature of our mission (we strive to help the PNG church become self-sufficient), a significant update is that the tribal people are getting ready to take over! They still need the Bible finished in their language, and some more training so that they can lead themselves, but they are getting close! One story told to me recently was one of a husband and wife having a fight, and the wife then realizing her sin against God. She went and asked for forgiveness from God and from her husband. This is so encouraging to hear!! Alright...unless you have had enough excitement for now...here's the reason this blog is titled the way it is: ANZAC DAY!!What in the world is this? See all these people? Most of them are either Australians or New Zealanders. We even met a British couple! Daniel had joined a group on FaceBook called "Aussies in Arizona", to try to evangelize and connect with other Aussies in the area! Through that, we found this event - ANZAC day! ANZAC day is like our American Memorial Day. It started to remember the Australian and New Zealand forces who served in World War I, and it became a day to remember service men in general through-out both countries! We couldn't think of a better opportunity to share the Gospel! What was the first question of every Aussie and New Zealander we met? "How did you guys meet?" Well...let's talk about missionary work... ;) AN ANZAC DAY BISCUIT...I'm so glad that Daniel was able to connect with some Aussies, and to have some at least semi authentic Australian food! These are called "ANZAC biscuits". Daniel (and other Aussie's) call them "bicky's" for short. :) People were purposely using their Aussie lingo with each other in conversation. We had a great conversation with a couple who, like us, were an American and an Aussie who married. It was easy to talk with the woman because we already had that in common. Other conversation highlights included a British couple who had lived around the world, including in Australia. They loved Taliah, and that opened the door for a Gospel conversation! What did Taliah think of all that...? TALIAH'S BICKY'S...READY FOR AN AUSSIE TRIP?Taliah got some bicky's too! She did awesome the whole event!! Then she prepared for a road trip. Do you like her hat? She's preparing for a long trip to somewhere she's only been in when she was in the womb! SOME THOUGHTS ON CURRENT EVENTS AND LOCATIONS...Before I disclose the trip (I'm sure you've already figured it out based on the title and on previous blogs), I have some quick thoughts. I thought this billboard was ridiculous, something you would see in somewhere like California, but this was in Phoenix. Hate is a virus? I mean...hate is sin, it's murder in God's eyes, it's incredibly serious, but that's not what this billboard was saying. How do you define hate? Not wearing a mask? Being anti-feminist? No, biblically, this is NOT how you define hate. Hate defined biblically is more serious than a virus. And a virus won't stop us from going on a road trip... BEHOLD...THE ATHEISTS' NIGHTMARE!!!If you haven't seen enough Ray Comfort, you might not understand this. Ray has an analogy with a banana. He told the analogy in front of crowds frequently, and people laughed at it, because it was meant to be funny. BUT...some atheists took him too seriously and made fun of him for his analogy because they took it as if he were saying that the way a banana is shaped is proof of the existence of God. I can't explain it better than Ray can. Please look at this link for the whole story: The Fool: www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlCc_TA7gw8 And, if you don't have time for a long video, see this shorter one: Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron Banana Analogy: www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXLqDGL1FSg What does this have to do with anything? CALIFORNIA!! Sharing the Gospel on Huntington Beach!!I could go on and on sharing how amazing our anniversary trip was! It was such a blessing to spend time with my husband, Daniel! We have been officially married for one year!! On Huntington Beach in California, we ran into Ray Comfort, who was sharing the Gospel with various people one-on-one. He gave us two In-N-Out gift cards (that's a burger place founded in California that has Bible verses on their burger wrappers and drinks), and one of the new Living Waters Four Gospels! You should see it... Living Waters Four Gospels: store.livingwaters.com/the-bibles-four-gospels.html Also, this is one of the witnessing encounters Ray had while we were there (we’re not in the video): Living Waters Witnessing Encounter: youtu.be/BdHogVWU9p0 Daniel was able to share the Gospel to a guy who was KJV-only...which was interesting... ...and Taliah and I were able to talk with a false prophet who was blowing a shofar (Jewish horn) and claiming he knew the time Jesus was coming back, and we talked with a few women. There was also a Trump rally, and we were able to give away more Trump trillion tracts there. People were in love with them! But how did Taliah do? Taliah's first time in California!!Taliah did so well! We were so blessed by the Lord that He allowed us to do so much evangelism with our little girl! She honestly made it easier to evangelize, not harder, because of everyone wanting to see her and interact with her! We praise God that she was so well-behaved, and that she stayed healthy and safe with us during our time. It's all of God, not of our parenting, and not of Taliah's own understanding that she did so well. This pictures show her with some of the tracts we used! Maybe it was just us...but she seemed to like the beach! The weather might have felt good to her, because she's used to the Phoenix heat, and the day we went to the beach was pretty overcast. So...what else did we do in LA...? We went to Downtown Disney!And we probably never will again! Haha... The mask police and security was SO tight that it was hard to even pass tracts at all. BUT - we still had a good time, and it was nice to go somewhere none of us have been before. We thought that "masked" millions would be fitting for that occasion, so try to find them in four of the pictures above. So what happened Sunday? We went to John MacArthur's church!!It was SO encouraging to be around soo many believers yet again. It never gets old for me! We got to sit in on Phil Johnson's Sunday school class, GraceLife. You can see how Taliah was intently listening. She's used to listening to teachers like Phil Johnson, because we love listening to Wretched Radio with Todd Friel. Phil Johnson joins Todd Friel once a week on his show. Please see the link here: Wretched Radio: wretched.org/category/radio/ We also saw Daniel's friend from Australia, Matt! He is studying to be a pastor at the Master's Seminary on campus, and we can thank him for telling us which class was Phil Johnson's. :) But what about Ray...? Ray, Daniel, Taliah and I!!Here's the picture! We were so blessed to do evangelism with Ray! Praising God for the opportunity and for our amazing time in California! We love being able to preach the Gospel daily, because we don't know if there will be a tomorrow. So go out and share your faith while there is still time, and pray for the efforts of missions around the world to be fruitful and be able to continue to give the Gospel to places where they have NEVER heard the Good News. Interested in helping us out?
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AuthorsDaniel and Sarah Bruce are missionaries in training to Papua New Guinea. Daniel is from Australia and Sarah is from Detroit, MI. They reside in Phoenix, AZ, where they are members at Grace Bible Church in Tempe, AZ. Archives
February 2024
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