An exciting missionary adventure and my first book!!A book and a missions conference!Welcome to our blog! We have had plenty of exciting adventures this month, including carnival evangelism, an encouraging missions conference, publishing my first short story, and some fun Australian-themed campus ministry! If this is your first blog, our names are Daniel and Sarah Bruce. Daniel, my husband came to America from Australia a few short years ago to pursue missionary training to Papua New Guinea! Ever since high school, I had a manuscript of a short story I wanted to write, based off an amazing sermon by the late Charles Spurgeon that includes a very convicting, memorable quote. Recently, I rewrote and edited the same story I wrote in high school, and I released it as an e-book for 2.99 (or free if you have Kindle Unlimited). One day (probably years down the track) I would love to publish a larger novel in print, so I released this little e-book story as a “test-run” to see how the process works. Reviews and five-star ratings are deeply appreciated!! My prayer is that it is encouraging, helpful, and convicting for the body and that (Lord willing) it draws people to Jesus Christ. Link to buy/review book: www.amazon.com/Quest-Cliff-Allegorical-Narrative-ebook/dp/B0BMNJKH1M/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=1ANPUZI3C22T6&keywords=the+quest+of+the+cliff&qid=1668806485&sprefix=the+quest+of+the+cl%2Caps%2C286&sr=8-1 The missions conference we went to was amazing! We had some great encouragement from a guy who works for Ethno360, which is the organization I graduated from in Michigan! We have also been blessed with some great evangelism opportunities at Arizona State University, an outreach our church has started to share the Gospel with university students! That has by far been the highlight of my week and probably one of the biggest highlights of being in Phoenix! It’s also Daniel’s birthday month! Happy birthday to my amazing Aussie husband! ASU has a billboard for an Australian study-abroad program…and our daughter Taliah had fun “feeding” the koala! She also loves her koala outfit!! Can’t wait to go there one day! (Taliah and I have never been there!) Thank you to who…?While some might think the above picture is “cute”, thanking “Mother Earth” for anything is not funny. It’s idolatry. It takes glory away from the One who created the earth - God Himself, whether the person saying it realizes it or not. Look at all those books. Some of them might have true information in them, but the majority of them probably either include false information or worthlessness. The only book we can absolutely trust is the Bible, so that’s why I want to reference it in this blog, more than anything else I could talk about. For example, let’s talk about the book of Ephesians, chapter 5… “making the most of your time, because the days are evil…”Ephesians 5:16 tells us this precious truth. Why play games? Why spend time making up strategies to win at something that’s not going to matter tomorrow? I’m not trying to ruin anyone’s fun, but I am challenging the reader to think more seriously about how they spend their time. I know this is convicting for me all the time. If you’re going to play a game, why not listen to Scripture at the same time? If you’re going to watch something on TV, consider if you’d be okay with Jesus being in the same room and watching it with you. If you’re looking to eat a snack, think about whether you thought to pray before, during, and after you eat it…because eating can be pretty mindless anyway… Consider… Sharing the Gospel at play places!It’s easier than you think! Who is going to refuse something that looks like a million dollar bill inside a play structure? Not many people! My husband has showed me the art of using million dollar bill Gospel tracts. I didn’t use them much before because I didn’t have the right groups of people around and I wasn’t using them right! You could use this or shorten it for your play place visit, park trip, or grocery store run: “Hey! Did you get one of these?” ”No, what is it?” ”A Gospel tract! It has the million dollar question on it! Have you heard that before?” ”No, what’s the question?” ”What do you think happens after someone dies?” From there you can go on to explain how lies, stealing things, etc. keep us from going to a perfect Heaven because God is perfect and His Heaven can’t be corrupted. Then you can explain the Gospel, how the Jesus, being God, IS perfect and He paid the price on the cross for those who repent and trust in Him! You can do this in less than 3 minutes…and remember that, though it’s serious, it’s a joyous thing to share the Gospel. Jesus has already won the battle! That means you can rejoice in what He has done and do everything with thankfulness to His glory! For more information, please visit: livingwaters.com/ Bible translation!At the beginning of this blog I mentioned missionary work. Lord willing, we plan to share the Gospel to an unreached people group in Papua New Guinea. Why? Because they are unreached. Please note that more languages in the world DON’T have the completed Bible than those that do. The work is not even half done in terms of language groups. I’m thankful for the few organizations that do Bible translation, but it’s not enough…and who knows how accurate those translations are, if people are actually getting saved from them, and if church planting is actually taking place there? The need is great. We can’t think of a greater need. That’s why we want to go. Back in America…America is very lost as well. The main difference is that Americans have heard the Gospel and rejected it. The people we’re wanting to reach have not had that privilege. If they trample on it like Americans have, then we’ll have to face that, but it’s still worth it, because Jesus Christ must be proclaimed in every people group. Please don’t read that, clap in your head, say something like “oh…good job, I’m glad someone like you is out there to do something about it”. There is no guarantee of tomorrow for us…or for anyone. Every Christian should be either a goer or a sender, as John Piper says. The need is very great… Starting small…So that’s why we’re starting small, because we have to, and it’s better than nothing! Right now, Daniel is busy working and in seminary full time, and I’m starting to train Taliah as much as I can, through our time at home and our time out in public! I’m also taking five college classes at the moment, and I love it so much! Homeschooling is on my mind often, and I can’t wait for that! Our lives are a balance of lots of things, but it’s good to have a variety! Can you read the nearest poster?It’s so bad… “Original Sin Jewelry…Be Satisfied” The truth is that no one will be satisfied in the end with their sin. I’m sure it may be fun in the moment, but it’s not worth it. On the contrary, seminary may not be fun in the moment, but we do think it will be worth it in the end! Just like the summers in Phoenix…it pays off to have a little extreme heat for the rest of the year! Beautiful days and events all year…The main reason I love Phoenix is because you can basically be outside all year! Being from Detroit, I’m used to snow and extreme cold half the year. That’s not fun. But in Phoenix, they have events almost all year where we can go to share the Gospel due to the nice weather! So thankful for that! Also…indoor fun!There are also some places we can go that are indoor…and free at certain times! We definitely try to take advantage of going places and spending time together when we can…even if Daniel has to spend most of the time studying. I’m so thankful that Daniel can still come with us and have time with us, even if it’s only for a few minutes at a time during the week! Sharing the Gospel is easier to do outside, but we can always leave behind tracts! Sermon highlight… A sermon from some missionaries to Papua New Guinea from our church!This is from a sermon by Zach Cann, one of the missionaries our church supports to Papua New Guinea! His message was preached awhile ago, but I thought it was really good and would be helpful to share here. He spoke about the languages of Papua New Guinea, and how difficult they can be to learn, but how worth it everything is! So thankful for his message! Thankful for sound doctrine! …unlike this…This is not sound doctrine. Please be aware of books like this, and remember that God only speaks through His Word: the Bible. One cannot trust that He has spoken through someone like Sarah Young…or anyone for that matter. I would put great caution on something when someone claims that “God told them” something. That’s a dangerous thing to say… Almost as dangerous as evolution…I think this display is cool…but I often think about how crazy evolution is every time I see monkeys. Here, on the biggest picture on the top, I think it kind of looks like Taliah is explaining to the monkeys that they’re not people…haha… That’s just what I think about… I would like to share a link that could be helpful if you want more information on an amazing ministry that specifically refutes evolution: answersingenesis.org/ Back to talking about the Bible! So many English versions…I just want to point out that it’s incredible how much access we have to God’s Word. It’s amazing how many versions of the Bible we have (over 100), especially when so many don’t have the Scriptures in their own language. Have you considered what you can do about this need? It’s something every Christian should think about frequently. Especially when we have so many distractions around us… What book did your eyes see first?There’s a lot of children’s books here. Did you notice the Bible? Many children’s Bibles aren’t very good, because they’re very Westernized and not very accurate to the real Bible, but at least we have access to things like children’s Bibles here. They can definitely be used as a teaching opportunity. Speaking of teaching…I love teaching this one… Taliah!I love teaching her and watching her grow! She gets so excited so fast! It’s been amazing to disciple her in the things of God. Though of course things aren’t always perfect, I’m so thankful for this girl! Being a mother is definitely more amazing than I thought it would be. God having other plans…See the Jewish writing on this bus? Just like I thought being a mother would be different, I also thought I was going to be a missionary to Israel. I had an organization all planned out, and I visited there, but God had other plans! Like America, Israel has sadly already rejected the Gospel. That’s more motivation to go to the unreached! My issue with hammocks…I included this picture because I have had a problem with hammocks for as long as I can remember. Though it sounds kind of bizarre, I have had an issue with them due to the general idea of wasting time. I just picture people running towards a cliff, heading for Hell, and then you see the passive, stereotypical Christian nonchalantly hanging out on a hammock. It might sound weird to you, but I would encourage you to think about this when you see hammocks. Let it drive you to urgency… …without forgetting your family!Include your family through your evangelism! It’s bonding and helpful for everyone involved spiritually! I’m so thankful for a husband who works hard, studies hard, shares the Gospel, and still has time for us. Time goes by SO quickly! Go do something for Christ while you still have breath. Interested in going or sending?
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AuthorsDaniel and Sarah Bruce desire to be missionaries to the unreached peoples of the world. Daniel is from Australia and Sarah is from Detroit, MI. They reside in Phoenix, AZ, where they are members at Shepherd's House Bible Church in Chandler, AZ. Archives
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