Sorry it’s been pretty much forever since I last posted. This is the basic summary of the developments for Utah in the last couple months:
1) I had an interview with the C&MA for licensing for ministry. This is separate from Utah and I didn’t need to do it for this ministry. However, the board decided to not recommend me for licensing because they felt I was too spiritually vulnerable. This was difficult and brought a great deal of doubt and fear about Utah, but in the days and weeks following the interview God made it clear he is still sending me to Utah. What that means is that I need to ask for more prayer. I need to be more open and honest with people about where I am at and need to get prayer. Please ask for protection for me.
2) ADI currently has no students for the winter session. I won’t be teaching but I will still be working with the Filers doing a lot of evangelism and hopefully discipleship. The goal is the same: to plant three new ministries with the goal of planting a church in Ogden. This involves building relationships with lost people. Pray for opportunities to get to know people. From the conversations I have had recently with some Mormon students in Ogden, the culture is very different. Whereas in Southern California it is typical to spend a lot of time throughout the week with friends, it seems that in Utah most of the “hang-out” time is done at regularly scheduled events at the Institute, which is basically the local LDS church building. I plan on going to those sorts of events, but I am not really sure how to bridge the gap and build into people’s lives outside of that context. Meeting at coffee shops isn’t an option, since the LDS Church forbids drinking coffee. My fear of the cold might also be an obstacle J What I would like to be able to do is invite people over to the Blue House where I will be living. There is a lot of room and it’s a good environment to hang out. It is a big step for Mormons to go into a building with a cross on it, so I’ll have to figure out other opportunities. Pray for ways to navigate the culture well without being offensive or inconspicuous. I want to be salt, not sand or pepper J
3) Life at the Blue House is going to be a bit different than what I expected. There won’t be a team that lives there for the first three months (besides week-long teams that may be there with the ministry that owns the house). Andrew Pringle also will not be there, at least for the first few months. The Filers also moved out. God is good and provided a house for the family! I am excited for them. As far as I know, I will be living alone in the Blue House. I can’t say for sure what God’s plan is, but I foresee that being a fairly good thing for me. When I am lonely I am much more disciplined and in general less sinful. I think having alone time will motivate me to read the hundred or so works I just downloaded onto a Kindle and my Bible. I think it’ll also give me more time to keep in contact with the people that encourage me most and that I will miss a great deal. Facebook is great but I spend a ton of time on there and I want to make sure I don’t end up wasting time. If given the opportunity to have a good conversation I want to take it, but I don’t want to waste time. When I am unhappy I’m generally more loving and will put more effort into building new relationships, so I hope that makes me more proactive about meeting and loving lost people. This is not to say I won’t be busy. I have looked at the schedule and I will definitely be putting tons of time into ministry. I just know that laziness is a temptation I almost always submit to. So pray for that.
4) This isn’t totally a Utah thing, but since I talked about one of the defining sins in my life, I should mention that God has been working on the second. I am a very prideful person. Specifically I’m arrogant (there is a more narrow connotation to that, right?). It’s something I’ve always been and always known it and always thought it was just who I was. However, I am being reminded that sin is the invader to the human nature and is not human nature itself. Human nature is the image of God. So we shouldn’t be okay with sin or accept it as our flaws. God has been humbling me in terrific and awful ways. I’m not a fan of what things he has done to humble me, but I am so thankful he is doing it. I won’t really go into all of that, but I am excited that God is doing such a great work in my life. He’s broken me down, cleaned me out, and I finally feel that he is building me back up. I was never dreading going to Utah but I was not looking forward to it, because I knew there was so much ickiness in me that I did not want to destroy me. But God is really preparing me to do his work, and now I am excited for what is next. I hope that as I put what I’ve been stuffing into my head into service, he does not continue to break me down, but if so, he is good!
5) Last things that I can think of at 1:30am: I finally wrote my support letters! I included it underneath here. I have been really lazy so I am glad to get that out. The amount I need to raise changed a bit so I only need to raise $500/month. A couple people have already told me they plan on donating monthly, so with that, I am down to only about $250/month. God is good! He is providing. Money is not something that concerns me too much in general, but God has given me a lot of peace with raising this specifically. I really desire to have a lot of support in the form of prayer and encouragement, so thank you and please continue! This isn’t something I can do on my own. I put together my primary prayer team, but I would appreciate it if you would remember to lift me up when you think about it. And offer any encouragement/advice God gives you! Oh, also today I came up with a theme verse. The LDS Church is very oppressive and restrictive. It runs very contrary to the gospel. So I want this to be my goal. Jesus picked up a scroll and read this from Isaiah and claimed that he fulfilled it. I’m not claiming to fulfill it. But it shows what Jesus’ message is and what message we are to share. Luke 4:18: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed.”
