One Year Later

Wow, it has been one year since Brandon's been gone. It seems like yesterday while at the same time it seems like its been forever. We miss Brandon so much. On this year anniversary we want to remember Brandon and share those memories with each other.
It's interesting to see how selfish I have been during these past months. All I've wanted was to have Brandon back. It has only been recently that I started realizing my selfishness. Brandon doesn't want to come back. He is rejoicing and waiting on us to come reunite with him. God has spared him the pain of this world, He has spared him the heartache, the violence, the anger, the affects of the fall of this world. I should be grateful, not selfish. So how do you do that? It's sure not done in our on Strength. Colossians 3:2 says set your mind on the things above not on the things that are on the earth. Oh how I have focused on things of this earth over the past year. It's time to refocus. It's time to focus on King Jesus, and his kesid lovingkindness. As I do that, will the pain be less? I don't think so but my focus will be on Christ instead of the pain. There is nothing the nearness of Christ can't overcome. I must surrender my understanding and my strength to God and realize that in my weakness He is strong. 2 Corinthians 12:9 "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness."
You know it's not til we die that we truly begin to live. Brandon is having his first real birthday, he is fully alive rejoicing in the presence of Jesus our Lord. How awesome is that?
And for those of us still here we must rest in Jesus knowing His yoke is easy and His burden is light.
Psalm 46- God is our refuge and strength.
A very present help in times of trouble.
Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth should change
And the mountains slip into the heart of the sea;
Though it's water roar and foam.
Though the mountains quake at its swelling pride. Selah

God is our refuge and our strength
trust in Him.

Money sent to South Asia

Praise God for His faithfulness. The first check from JSL has been sent to the missionaries that Brandon spent time with in South Asia. This has taken longer than expected due to the logistics of getting money directly to the missionaries for their use. We went to great measures to follow the methods given to us by the missionaries themselves. I have been in contact with them since April but due to the great demand on these missionaries their responses took quite awhile. Each time I received an email from them it began with an apology for being so delinquent in responding. We needed no apologies because we knew that things are happening according to God's timing and not ours. This is an excerpt from the last email we received from our missionaries:

Greeting from South Asia!

Every time that I write you I have to begin by apologizing for being so delinquent. I have to ask for forgiveness once again. I am trying to get you all the details. The problem is that our agency has undergone a major reorganization where everything has changed. There was some confusion about what new office handles these issues. Is it personal support, office of finance, or somewhere else? However, I believe in the providence of God. We have a major training coming up at the end of August. It would be awesome to be able to use the money specifically for this training. We are going to have around 60 nationals (yes nationals!) that are going to be trained to become national missionaries. Where Brandon served ( the area where we currently live), currently has 41 people groups that are unengaged ( less than 2% Christian and NO ONE engaging them). It is our hope that these nationals will help us gather the harvest.

Again, thank you so much for your patience, concern, and support.

Praise God. Please pray for this national training. Always remember that God's ways are not our ways. As William Cowper wrote in his insightful and magnificent hymn.

God Moves In A Mysterious Way

God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never-failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs,
And works His sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take,
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan his work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain. 

- William Cowper - 

 

Testimony of group that used JSL journals.

This is an email we got from a group that used Brandon's journal and the Mission Experience journal for their mission experience. Praise the Lord!

The youth mission trip to the Dominican Republic was the most spiritually successful trip that this group of youth have taken. They are certainly indebted to Brandon for keeping such a great journal. We hope to hear more from our youth concerning the trip at a later date.

Speaking Life -- in India, America, and now Brazil

This past Saturday night we were on The Hanger Radio Z in Spartanburg with Britt Dillard. What an awesome experience we had. For three hours we took turns sharing the message of Christ through JSL. Every 12-15 minutes we got a 3-6 minute slot to share. Britt shared with us after we were done that 5 people gave their lives to the Lord through the show. Praise God. Thanks to Momma, Mimi, Gigi, Logan, Scott, Jared, Thump, Ub, "Six-Nine", Petey, Blaine, Becky, Erwin, and Kaleb for calling in from Florida. Special thanks to Britt Dillard and Hanger Radio Z for having us on the show.

We got the following letter yesterday. Read and enjoy then praise God.

Speaking Life -- in India, America, and now Brazil 

God is so good to me! God Answers Prayers! I feel like i should start everything off with this, my letters, my day, and my night before sleep because i seem to forget this truth so easily!

God moved in many ways in Brazil...some of the times are only understood through presence, some can be understood in letters like this and some seen in pictures. Its amazing how when we feel like God is only spiritual and not physical with us...Bam...there He presents Himself in mighty and felt ways!

After spending a week in Curitiba, two days and a night in Morretes, we made our way to Itapoa! Throughout the whole trip we were going to local churches that our leader, Pedro was affiliated with. His father is the Bishop of theMethodist churches in the State of Parana, Brazil. His mother organized and started the ministry project we were working with for the two weeks. We arrived in Itapoa around 830pm and went straight to the church we would be working with and attending while there. They had prepared a wonderful meal for us and would be taking care of us for the next 4 days.

We presented the churches we attended with different forms of worship, such as singing, testimony, and message. This church we would be doing much of the service the first night. Pedro wanted us to learn a song as a group to be able to present, so me and a few others taught the group God of this City and How Great is Our God! How appropriate! God of this City has always meant a lot to me and especially here in Brazil! To know the Hope it gave me for the work that was being done.


This particular night we would sing God of this City, Present Cardboard testimonies, and then Sean was going to present a message! (okay so this part is going to sound corny and unimportant but it meant something for me) I didnt bring many nice clothes for church. Churches were contemporary and casual like ours but i still wanted to look decent. I brought my Just Speak Life shirt as one of my nicer shirts. I was going to wear it a few days before when we went shopping at the mall in Curitiba but last minute decided not to. I decided to wear it this night traveling to Itapoa. (having no idea of the message or song to be presented)

As we began the service we got up and sang God of the City. Brandon was in the back of my mind, because he was the person to introduce me to that song, so with every time i hear it im reminded of him. As we all sat down after doing our cardboard testimonies, Sean McGrath got up to preach and Pedro translated for the church. As Sean began to preach, the Spirit of God became evident and physical. The message Sean brought was the one about the blind man and being healed. The same message Sean brought at the college night following Brandon's passing, when Just Speak Life was presented.

I cant explain to you how evident God became to me that night. Sean was speaking what God laid on Brandon's heart in India, to GO. To make disciples. I got real emotional during the message bc i realized that God is ALWAYS working in every situation. Brandon's message not only touched the land of India and America, but is now thriving in Brazil.Three countries have been touched with his presence and his love for God. One in which he would have probably never stepped foot in.

I know without a shadow of doubt that through death there is life, because through Brandons death soo many lives are being touched. Lives of different cultures and backgrounds, lives 1000s of miles apart from each other. I was able to share with my leader a little about Brandon and how i felt God moving that night. I told him that i knew Brandon was there worshiping with us and that he is so proud that through his death his friends and family are rejoicing in Christ and sharing Gods love through it. Thats what he would have wanted.

"It's quiet simple...Go. Make. Baptize. There is no excuse. We have been given all of the ways to do so...what determines what we do with it is our heart."-Brandon Mcdaniel

After Sean gave this message the preacher stood up and spoke that God had laid this on his heart. That we are to be Going but for some reason we Stop. ... He emphasized the importance of being a follower of Christ!

The same God who commanded us to GO and reach the lost is the God of this City and every other city. he promises greater things and rebuilding for the lost! What an amazing God we serve!

God is SO GOOD!!

Jeremiah 33:5b-9
I have hidden My face from this city because of all their evil. 6 Yet I will certainly bring health and healing to it and will indeed heal them. I will let them experience the abundance of peace and truth. 7 I will restore the fortunes of Judah and of Isreal ((wherever we GO)) and will rebuild them as in former times. 8 I will purify them from all the wrongs they have committed against Me, and I will forgive all the wrongs they have committed against Me, rebelling against Me. 9 This city will bear on My behalf a name of joy, praise, and glory before all the nations of the earth, who will hear of all the good I will do for them. They will tremble with awe because of all the good and all the peace I will bring about for them.
--------------------

More from Brandon's South Asia Trip part 2

We arrived in Calcutta this morning around 8. We got our things and got off of the train. The cars were already there waiting for us so we hopped in and began heading to the guest house. It felt good being back in Calcutta. You could certainly tell that we were by the way that everyone was driving. It was nuts. Every now and then you would see a few people that had the remains of paint on their faces from Holi. We made it back to the guest house in about 30 minutes and everyone went inside quickly to get some rest. Some took showers... but I just dropped my things and laid down for a bit. I opened my computer and the wireless connection from one of the previous nights was back. So, I am taking advantage of that right now. Im talking to Kelly and a few other people. Im also going to send out a few emails. I'll have to get in the shower soon because we are going to the new market to shop and to see Mother Theresa's grave. It should be a very interesting day. Today was alot of fun. We went to eat lunch at the Mani Square mall before going to The new market. We ate at the McDonald's and it was actually pretty good. After eating we walked around the mall for just a little while before meeting back up with everyone and heading back to the cars. Once we got in the cars we stopped at an atm so that we could withdraw some rupees to shop with. I took out 3000 rupees which is about 60 dollars. Then, we went to the market. We met up with P, Antu, and Poonam at a KFC near the market and we split up into groups to go shopping. Myself, Jared, Trey, and a few others were with P. The streets were so crowded. There were people everywhere selling things and apparently we were not even in the new market yet. There were cars lined up on the side of the road with things on the hood that people were trying to sell. It reminded me alot of China town in NYC. We entered into the New Market and it was basically what I expected. Halls and halls of little stores with all kinds of stuff in them. There were people everywhere trying to get you to come into their store because they wanted your money... especially since we were American. To India, America equals money. There were also people that were not affiliated with any store, but they would take you to certain stores according to what you were looking for and then the owner of that store would pay them for bringing them a customer. So, there was a guy that followed us around from the time we entered new market to the time we walked out. When we mentioned what we were looking for he would take us to the place to find it. It was a really good time. I bought all of the things I needed for everyone. The best part was being able to bargain with the owners of the shops. i got pretty good at it by the end. I would name a really low price and they would automatically say no... then i would start to walk off and that is when they come after you. They can't stand to lose business.

So when I would start to walk off they would grab me and say "what is the most you will pay?" I would tell them and if they still said no... walk off. Then they would grab again and most of the time it was an ok. A few times the workers would whisper in my ear and tell me not to tell anyone. it was alot of fun. We got everything we needed and left the market. We were now on our way to the tomb of Mother Theresa. This was a really cool thing. Her tomb is in a room at a nuns convent in Calcutta. They have made it accessible so that you can walk through and see the tomb. You have to take your shoes off when entering the convent to show respect. It was a very cool thing. I don't know too much about her, but it was cool being there beside her real tomb... in this amazing city... with so much culture... and so much history. I was seriously falling in love. It was all such a mystery. There was a man in the room with us while we were there that was praying beside her tomb. It was a very interesting sight. Oh, and by the way... before we entered the convent we were standing out on the street and a fight nearly broke out between a very rough looking man and another guy. It was very very funny. We left the convent and there wasn't really anything else to do. So, we headed back to the guest house. When we arrived P emphasized how important it was to finish getting the photos that they specifically wanted before tomorrow. So Trey and I sat down and looked at what all we had gotten and what we still needed to get. I was getting tired very very quickly. Dinner was being talked about and we left shortly after to go to Pizza Hut. We walked there and it was a cool but warm night. I loved the walk but wish it had been a bit shorter. We got there and had already decided that we weren't walking back... but it was time to try out the Rickshaws! We ordered our pizzas. Alex and I split some kind of chip appetizer that had cheese and other things on it. It kind of quenched my mexican cravings. I was getting so tired. The pizzas came and I only ate 3 out of my 6 pieces. I was falling asleep and just wanted to get back to the room so that I could go to sleep. Once everyone was ready to leave we paid the guy what our bill was plus 100 rupees just for him to keep. He didn't quite understand and he kept trying to give it back... but we left instead. We went in a drug store and then through the mall for a few minutes before heading back to the guest house. We finally rode in a rickshaw and it was so awesome.

We told the driver what our address was and he didn't quite understand. So, we had to kind of point him to where the house was... which worked. It was so much fun. We made it back to the house in like 2 minutes and it was totally time for bed. I checked the internet connection and there was none. So, now I'm in bed. And it is 8:30. I'm exhausted. I can't believe tomorrow is my last day here.

More from Brandon's South Asia trip

Today I slept in until around 9:30 because we had no specific plans for the day.  The only plan that I really knew of was to hang around the hotel because of the celebration of Holi.  I woke up, jumped in the shower, and got dressed so that I could go down and get some breakfast.  I ate 3 tiny pancakes and had some amazing watermelon juice.  It was straight up freshly squeezed from a watermelon and it tasted so pure.  After eating we went up on the roof to check out what was going on in the streets for the Holi celebration.  There wasn't much happening.  Maybe a few people here and there painting each other but that was about it.  Myself and a few others decided we wanted to go out and see if we could get painted up by the people.  So, we walked out on the streets and started walking to see what exactly we had to do in order to get someone to put paint on us.  We found a group of guys with paint and we asked them what you had to do... and they just said that you tell someone "Happy Holi" and they put paint on you.  So, we did that to them.  And they wiped it all over our faces and hair.  We continued walking up and down the street and more and more people came up wiping it on us.  Eventually we were taking pictures with some of them.  They all seemed really excited to have us there for the celebration.  It's crazy, but it really makes them happy.  After we spent some time out on the streets we went back into the hotel to get showered up.  The hotel was going to shut off the water for a few hours and we needed to get all of the junk off of us before they did that.  So, I took another shower and just kind of hung out around the room.  Spent time on the internet and just hanging around the hotel.  From the hotel room every now and then we would hear people yelling in the alley and they would be getting paint on each other.  So we would try and talk to them from the window.  After a little while it was time for lunch.  So we went down to eat.  By the way, Holi is a government holiday so everything is supposed to close down.  The restaurant in the hotel was not supposed to be open.  But they stayed open for us.  The food was amazing.  For lunch they served us more alfredo!  It was just as amazing as the night before.  They also had mashed potatoes which freaking rocked my face off and really really good vegetables.  It was an amazing lunch.  And it was definitely refreshing to have some food that I am comfortable with eating.  After lunch we spent about another hour at the hotel and then the plan was to try and get out of the hotel and see a few sights.  So, we left the hotel in the bus and started going down the road around 3.  As we started driving we took a turn down a road and there was a mob of guys with paint all over them and they were dancing in the street.  They had obviously been participating in Holi and seemed very excited.  They started walking towards the bus and were yelling "Happy Holi" to us.  There were probably close to 20 of them.  I got very excited.  They eventually surrounded the bus and were all yelling, waving, blowing kisses, hitting the windows, etc.  A group of them were trying to barge their way into the door to get on the bus.  I was beginning to get slightly concerned but I was still loving it.  Some of them were getting a little violent.  One person came up to one of the girls windows and punched it as hard as he could.  He looked really angry.  One person leaned in the drivers window and took out the keys so that we couldn't go anywhere.  It was nuts.  Apparently they were upset because by the looks of it none of us had participated in Holi.  So they wanted us to get out of the bus and do so.  Every time the bus driver would begin to drive forwards, the guys in front of the bus would kick it.  Finally one of the guys got everyone to stop and they got off and out of the way just enough for us to move out.  While driving off a brick hit the back window.  It was pretty much the most intense moment ever.  But I recorded it which is exciting.  So, we talked about that insane event for a little while.  We picked up one of the ladies from the church fellowship named Poonam and went to the zoo.  I figured this would be pretty awesome.  We arrived at the zoo and it was closed for the celebration of Holi.  But Poonam knew somebody and was able to get us in for free.  So, we went in and waited on a guide to show us around.  While waiting we took a group picture.  Finally we were about to tour the zoo.  We saw a few cool things but not too much.  Most of the good animals were either gone somewhere or sleeping.  So, it really wasn't as cool as we thought it would be.  We left the zoo after about 2 hours and headed back to the hotel.  It was getting dark and there were still a good bit of people out on the street for the Holi celebration.  But luckily we didn't have any crazy encounters like we did on the way.  Once we got back to the hotel we went up to the rooms and started packing out things to leave.  I spent some time on the internet talking to Kelly and sending out some emails.  We went to dinner around 7 oclock and they had cooked grilled chicken, mashed potatoes, vegetables, and apple pie.  It was so good.  Again, this place is technically supposed to be closed on the day of Holi, but they were doing us a huge favor so that we would have meals to eat.  The food was phenomenal.  Once I was done I went back up to the room to finish getting things together and run out my internet time.  We all met downstairs around 8:30 to walk over to the train station.  Dr. Hagin and Philip squared away the money that we owed with the hotel and then we were off.  We got a rickshaw to carry our things to the train station.  The streets were pretty packed still but it was a cool night.  It was kind of sad to leave Ranchi.  It had been such a great time... and I knew that the sooner we left Ranchi, the sooner we would have to leave India.  We arrived at the train station and waited around for the train to arrive.  We bought some drinks and things for the ride.  The train showed up around 9:30.  It was a sleeper train so there were beds instead of seats.  I had only been on a train once before this and it was on the way to Ranchi, so I had definitely never been on a train like this.  We boarded the train and found our bunks.  I was actually bunking with Philip which was pretty exciting.  I really like him.  He is very passionate about what he is doing and it is evident.  I'm not exactly sure what it is about him.  I just feel connected to him for some reason.  We are now on the train and chilling in our bunks.  It's been a very fun day... but this is going to be a long ride.  Hopefully I can get some sleep.

Just Speak Life at Southside Baptist

Just Speak Life had an amazing night at Southside Baptist Church last night. Matthew Blanton spoke and shared the message of  the Life of Christ. What a wonderful job he did. He challenged everyone there by asking them "what's the point?" That was a saying Brandon asked all the time. 

What kind of legacy will we leave? What is the point of our life? The point of Just Speak Life is just that. People want mission statements and vision statements etc...but the bottom line is that the point is to just speak life to people, the life that is Christ. Matthew shared the Great Commission out of Matthew 28 and challenged all to go, make, baptize.

Kaleb Smith and Mitch Roberts led worship in song. They did a wonderful job and sang Oh, How He Loves, It Is Well, Sweetly Broken and others. 

Thank you so much to all that participated in a wonderful time of worship. 

God willing we will have many more opportunities to share the message of Just Speak Life in the future.