My team and I have had some sweet opportunities to build friendships with a few locals in the city we are living in.  They have taught us so much about how they live and how they view life.

There is no substitute for the lessons God teaches us through walking with Him. But you cannot grow into what you do not submit yourself to. 

You cannot become what you do not behold.

We have been going through a study called "Experiencing God" that has been teaching me what it looks like abide and seek intimacy with Him instead of only focusing on knowing His will for my life. It has also taught me that He is already at work - we have to believe that since the task is so overwhelming and we cannot fulfill it on our own. This study has been very convicting since most of the time I want to jump ahead to the conclusion instead of letting Him lead me in His timing!

This past week, my team and I traveled to the North and then backpacked through the beautiful mountains for a week. We were able to hike to remote villages and had the privilege of meeting some of the minority groups in our country.

Have you ever considered that God might have an end goal? Sometimes in life it helps to start with the end in mind. When you know the end goal, or the desired outcome, it is often easier to develop a plan that leads you down the right path. If your goal is “financial freedom”, the best way to start toward that goal is to clearly define the end result. 

Meet Abigale – A Grad From South Asia

Q: What was your biggest obstacle that you had to overcome in missions before going through Cafe 1040's program? 

A: I was lost because there were so many choices. Every agency has their different systems. I was really looking for the focus of the organization. I was careful to look at the mission’s values and what they believe about the Bible. I knew where I was in my faith and I knew what the Bible said and how the Holy Spirit would guide me to right organization. I looked a countless websites, blog posts, went to the Lord in prayer, along with my parents being involved in the process. 

My heart will forever be gripped for the people in the 10/40 window. For me they are no longer numbers of unreached statistics on a page. They are names with faces—friends I know and love deeply. They are visibly broken and lost hearts professing in false idols or nothing at all. They are beautiful people that our Father desires to be his own again.

Written by a Cafe 1040 student.

I wasn’t expecting vulnerability here, but this culture is searching for something harder than anything I’ve ever seen. They have generations and generations of being deceived.

Q: Why did you choose Cafe 1040?

A: “After looking at Cafe 1040, I also explored some other organizations. It was really eye opening for me to see a mentorship is something people actually do.  Honestly, the reason I picked Cafe 1040 is I felt heard, and understood and identified with by Cafe, more than other organizations that have similar program.” 

From the beginning of the trip, we have been told repeatedly:

Life is not about doing things for God--even good things. It's about seeking and knowing Him.

So I've asked God to strip away my agenda, my life, my plans...I've essentially asked to die to self (we always underestimate prayers of this kind!). And He is answering. 

Sometimes the most empowering lesson we can learn in missions is just how small we are in His story.

Over one short month with days that seem as long as weeks, I have spent living my life in a foreign country with foreign people while learning a foreign language and culture.

Setting down my chopsticks after yet another dinner of chicken and rice, I looked up to see three rough, wrinkled fingers waving in my face. “Three… three”, she says in her best English. Although we couldn’t communicate verbally, I knew what she meant. She was planning for me and my team to wake up at 3:00 a.m. to go fishing with her family, a daily routine for most people in this remote fishing village. She seemed overwhelmed with excitement to be hosting three American girls in her home for the weekend to experience their culture first hand. 

One night our team was praying in our apartment. We took a minute of silence to listen to whatever God was trying to tell us. I started feeling really convicted that I needed to share the gospel with my friend Samir. I had kind of written him off as uninterested. All he ever seemed to want to do is goof off.

Six years ago, the Lord moved me and my husband to North Africa to join Cafe 1040's work mobilizing  this next generation to go and tell the story of Jesus where it’s never been told before.  In those six years, we have been honored to be a part of the lives of 85 students.  

"I have been thinking about this boy. I think about him so often. I don't want to see him anymore though because I don't want to miss him again...it hurts too much. I don't think he's real. I have never met him. I don't know his name. I saw him in my dream. I just saw his eyes. When I saw his eyes I could see everything.

I left an empty seat this month at my dear friend's wedding. She called me over Skype at 5:30 a.m., the musical traffic of Southeast Asia already singing in the background. At that early hour, I exchanged excited words with a glowing bride a few minutes before she walked down the aisle.

‘Just shut your eyes. He can’t actually see you. Turn around. You don't have to keep wasting your time. Walk away. There’s no one stopping you. What difference does it really make if I choose not to follow Him?’

As much as we try to provide answers and stories of what Cafe 1040 does, it is the students who have been through the program who provide the best insights.

Every student that goes through our overseas mentorship has a unique story of how God led him or her to Cafe 1040.

Find out how God moved in Bryan to be a part of our South Asia summer program.

In the year before I left for Southeast Asia, I researched everything I should expect during my first months as a missionary. I studied culture shock charts, looked at line graphs of stress levels overseas, asked for advice about how to endure the life of a single missionary, stockpiled my anti-diarrhea medicine, and braced my supporters for a life-altering transition.