The day of Introductions - Tuesday, July 21, 2008

Wow. Wow, what a day. Sometimes I feel I need two posts per day...so much stuff happens. hehehe. Well, I woke up bright and early for a big breakfast at 7 am. We then broke up into our "discovery" groups. We each went around and gave our testimony. So, for people reading this, and to fully experience my day, I will tell my testimony in this post!
Family and Friends,

Isn’t God great? I give my Lord all the Glory!

In the past couple of months, the Lord has been working on my heart. As many of you know, I was involved in a few life-threatening accidents. Through these, God has set some new things on my heart. But first, allow me to take you all back to the beginning.

As most of you know, I was born and raised in a great Christian home. I went to church and read the bible. As any young boy dreams, I wanted to join the military. My father had been in the Air Force, my mother in the Army, and my Grandfather in the Navy. Therefore, I saw it my duty, to also join. Soon, the Navy was all I thought about – the military life, the glory, the action, and the education. How could it get better?

At the age of 10, as I sat doing my devotions one midsummer day, I asked the Lord to help me join the military some day, because that’s what I wanted to do. But, unlike the other times I had prayed, I received a response. God told me, as clear as day, not to join the military. I begin to bawl. “Why not? Was this really God?” I was confused. Years passed by and I soon disregarded that message. I kept telling myself, “It must have been the devil – I was just hearing things – it was nothing.”

At the age of 17, I was still on track to join the military. I had just sent in an application to the United States Naval Academy. I aspired to be a mechanical engineer. Nothing could stop me. Because I was saving up to buy a car, I got a job as a janitor. Every night, I would mop floors for hours on end. In doing so, I would pray. What could be better to do while I stood staring at the dirty floor for hours? One quiet night, I just asked the Lord,” Lord, I am in the process of joining the military, is this what you want me to do? I remember what you said 7 years ago, but was that really you? I just need to know.” And I fell to my knees as God said, “You will not join the military. You will pursue a degree in mechanical engineering, and then go and live in Russia. In Russia, I want you to give a Church-building to a pastor who needs one.” I was horrified. My dreams were crushed. However, I knew this was God, and if God wanted me to do this, I would. But, wait. It gets better.

I wanted confirmation. I wanted to be sure. At the time, my dad was in Iraq, and had given me a number to call him. I immediately called him, and left a message stating, “ Dad, God just spoke to me, and I want you to tell me what He just said.” He called back the next day, saying he would pray. Later that day, he called me and told me that God told him that I was to go to Russia. I was amazed. Wow, God went along with that! I tested Him, and it worked. Wow. But, it still wasn’t enough for me.

My family and I had recently been attending a new church, and I saw this as another opportunity to test God. I told God, “God, if this is really you telling me to do this, then I want this pastor, who does not even know me, to tell me what you said.” That Sunday, as I sat there in the pew, the pastor walked up to me. My heart was racing at a thousand miles an hour when he said that he wanted to talk to me. I followed him back to his office. As we walked back, he said, “I don’t think I have met you yet, I’m Mike Walker, what is your name?” I thought to myself, “He doesn’t even know my name, this can’t be happening.” In his office, he asked me if I needed to tell him something. I said, “No, do you?” “Yep, the Lord told me this morning that you are going to start a ministry in Russia.” I almost fell out of my chair. How was this happening? God had just told me 4 days earlier. Wow, God spreads the word fast! At that moment, I knew. I knew that I had to go.

Finally, I was willing to go along with what I was told, and began pursuing a degree in mechanical engineering at University of Idaho. At the end of my sophomore year, I signed up for a one-month mission’s trip to Russia with New Tribes Missions. Soon after signing up, the trip was canceled. Russian President Putin had signed a bill ordering all non-profit organizations originating outside the country, to leave the country. So instead, I took a trip down to the Amazon River in Brazil.

In Brazil, I had a phenomenal time. I had the opportunity to assist missionaries with an awesome group of people. We built a school building for this very primitive tribe in the jungle and painted a boarding house for young missionaries. On the trip, I learned so much. I quickly realized that I could never live in the United States while doing nothing about overseas missions. I would look at the tribal children and it would break my heart, just to know that there are so many others that need to know the Lord. In America, we are blessed with a Church on every corner, but in other countries, there might not be a Church for a thousand miles. God gave us a purpose to go out and minister. What use are we, as Christians, if we are always huddled up in the safety of our Church? We should always be ministering to others, or sending others in our stead. Did you know that South Korea sends out more missionaries to the United States, than the United States sends out to other countries?

At the end of my junior year in college, I decided to turn down various summer jobs so that I could study the Russian language. I felt God wanted to tell me something through the language I was studying, or just in my daily devotions. After about one week, everything changed.

It had been a long day, May 19, and I had been studying Russian all day. I had just finished dinner, and I sat down to watch a good movie. Around 11 pm, I heard a ring of gunshots break the quiet night air. I knew by the sound that it was a high-powered rifle just down a few blocks, possibly near the high school. I knew someone was hurt, or someone had to be taken out. I grabbed my .45 pistol and jumped on my bike. When I arrived at the scene, I didn’t see or hear anyone. After about 2 minutes, I turned my back, and began to leave. An automatic rifle rang off into the night, and I began running.

Immediately, a bullet struck my back tearing through my rib, lung, liver, diaphragm, and taking out another rib. I collapsed there on road. My lung had collapsed and I had a hard time breathing. I looked side to side, and saw no one. Looking up and back, I could see the muzzle flash of the deranged man firing more shots at me from a church window. I looked down and saw myself covered in blood, and thought, I just might be able to get out of this alive. It was still unreal to me that I had just been shot by an Ak-47. Just then, another round tore through my upper right leg (quad). A few seconds later, a bullet tore through the front of my neck, skimming my collarbone. Another bullet hit my right shoulder tearing a huge hole through the front. I looked at myself bleeding all over the road, as bullets hit the concrete and cars near by, and wondered. “Lord, I thought you had wanted me to go to Russia.”

A lot of thoughts went through my head, as I lay there. Seeing that I was hit in many critical areas, I thought I was going to die. I was confused. I laid there alone, bleeding my life away, confused. Did I do something wrong? I appreciated life enough that I was scared to die, but at the same time ready to die. I cried out at the top of my lungs, “Lord help me, Lord help me.” The police officers one hundred yards away could hear me screaming. I just closed my eyes and prayed, “Lord I don’t know why the change of plans, maybe to get my attention, maybe not. But, whatever it may be, I love you Lord, and you will always be my Savior. Lord I can feel myself getting really weak – I’m coming home. Lord, I did my best, here I come.” I then closed my eyes, and everything went silent. I just lay there, repeating my prayer.

Suddenly my eyes popped open, and I felt a new strength. I looked over at my shoulder, and it looked like hamburger. My chest was drowned in blood, and my leg had a muscle hanging out. However, I felt like I could run. I looked down through the parking lot, and saw cover, behind the cars. I quickly stood up, and ran as fast as I could weaving through the cars, for about sixty yards, until I got behind a large command trailer. Upon arriving there, I lay down, and soon sought help from nearby civilians. Thirty minutes later I was at the hospital.

The entire shooting ordeal taught me many things. First off, I am bullet proof, until God is done with me. Second, I give God all the glory. For everything that I have, and will do, God is my sole provider, and I give him all the glory, honor, and praise. As I approach my last year of college many things have come to mind. How am I going to get to Russia? Who will I go with? How will I get the funds? And constantly I have to remind myself, that God is my provider, and I have no need to worry.

Haha, I see this is going to be a long post. Well, just bare with me, it'll be worth it. I pray that today you will see God's vision for me, and who I'll be working with.
The other people in my group had awesome testimonies, and it was just so cool to see so many other people having these "callings" to Russia like me. Wow, I am lucky to be with such a great group. We then all got together and learned the history of Teach Overseas/ESI. Real quick - They have been around for I think like 37 years teaching english and various other subjects in many asian countries that I mentioned before. This four week course here in Pasadena, CA is here to equip us and disciple us in preparation for our training. Over the next four weeks we will have a crash course on the Russian language, Russian Culture, how to adjust to Russian living, how to teach effectivly, English grammar knowledge, and devloping close relationships with our teammates. I will be teaching at St. Petersburg University, to about 20 college age students. I can't wait! The philosophy here is that in teaching English we develop close relationships with our students, and invite them to church, bible studies, and/or just let God shine through us in our servant-like actions. After this, we discussed some Russian culture then ate dinner. We then had a chance to meet our FIRST students! Over the next four weeks we will be partnering with local churches in teaching English as a second language to anyone that wants it. Around 7 pm we arrived at the church. I believe there were about 35 Chinese immigrants there. We then spent the next hour interviewing them individually and rating their English level. Tomorrow we begin classes from 7-9 pm. I can't wait. We had a chance to talk to "Bob", the Chinese pastor, of this church, and the one who started this group. He told us of times when he lived back in China. The Chinese government had employed him to oversee and spie on English teachers from America and report them of any wrong doing or witnessing of Christ. (this was before he was a Christian). Now he is a pastor here in Pasadena, and is working with English teachers. WOW, isn't God amazing? Reminds me of Paul! Kinda neat. We just had a late night discussion with my group on how the day went. And now I am back in my room...hungry...yet again. I am so excited for what God is doing here, and that I have this chance to serve him in helping others. Please pray for me for the strength every morning to do my devotions, and have a cheerful heart. Sorry if this is really long, but its alot of info that you probably want to know! So there! Well, thanks for reading. God bless.