Let us set our affections on Jesus and be fountains of worship and justice.

            My heart breaks for my Long Beach Alliance family. I love you all so much and miss you. I’m praying for healing and wisdom for the body. I know that God has been sanctifying our church and doing wonders in this congregation. Where God’s kingdom advances, there is opposition. Unity is God’s perfect plan for his Church so I pray that we are all able to draw together with this.

            God has been moving out here in Utah and I hope good news of the kingdom is an encouragement to you.

            Missionaries: I have begun to have really good conversations with sister missionaries at Temple Square. It has been really cool to talk without arguing and in every possible conversation share the gospel (without ignoring differences). I have had awesome opportunities to pray with different girls and have really enjoyed my time with them. There are a few on-going relationships that I am thankful God is giving me. There are two that I have encountered twice at Temple Square who are not incredibly fond of me. They called me to do home teaching and were dishonest with their teaching. I asked them a question about something I knew they had lied about (the origins of God and of humanity, I did not accuse them of lying) and they ended the conversation, but asked me to pray first, so that was good. It has been a week and they have not called back. I’ll probably call them in the next few days. There is another pair that I met with when the Scottsdale team was here. I think I mentioned them-we had a really great conversation that began pretty casual, then turned to them paging security, and then got back around to sharing the gospel in love and praying for them. It was incredible. I ran into them this week! It was SUCH a blessing, one of those times where God gift-wraps the perfect present. They remembered me and thanked me for praying for them the time before; they said they still talk about that. Praise God! We all prayed together (Colleen was here) and then they had an appointment to get to. SUPER amazing. I am going to figure out a way to spend more time with them and just catch up and pray together. Seeds were planted, ask that God waters them please.

            There are also two sister missionaries coming to the Blue House. This is like the coolest thing in the world. They have both been here as long as I have, so we are all greenhorns at this whole missionary thing. The first time they stopped by and we met and had a really fun and light conversation. They came the next night and it was AWESOME! They gave their presentation on the restoration of the gospel which was really full and helpful. Then we ate dinner together and I told them what God was doing in my life. It was super cool! They had to rush to the next meeting but the hour and a half FLEW by. It was super cool. They came again this week and it was even better! They gave the plan of salvation and were super pumped about it. It was cool that they are genuinely interested in this because there isn’t anything robotic about them. When you are real and excited, you are open to hearing more and considering things. We asked a few clarifying questions and they were really happy to answer it. What was interesting is that they did not bear their testimonies at all, which is what they do to turn their minds off and let the “burning in the bosom” speak for them. After that, THEY ASKED US HOW WE BELIEVE WE ARE SAVED! What an awesome opportunity to share the gospel! We did! I think they were a little bit crest-fallen to find that while we were interested in what they had to say and did listen, we were much more excited when it came to our passion for our gospel. However, they asked awesome questions, like what we do with sins we haven’t repented of, and the age-old “what then, should we continue in sin that grace may abound?” with genuine interest. They were really seeking to understand what we believe. It was ridiculously awesome! At the end of two hours we were hugging and laughing and getting excited for our next visit! It was absolutely wonderful to talk about the gospel. If the thought of the gospel doesn’t get you giddy, you are in need of one of those conversations. Find someone and start talkin’, friends!

            Intervarsity: Oh man, I love intervarsity. It has been such an encouraging thing. That’s where I’m primarily finding a family of believers with whom I can fellowship and worship. It’s wonderful. We’re going through Romans and man, it is incredible to get together and study the gospel message in the middle of the week. I love it and am so appreciative of the whole community and especially Cindy who leads my small group. She is a fountain of grace and it is awesome learning from her experience of God weekly. We had some intervarsity people over for pancakes on Friday which was a lot of fun. It was snowing which detained some people (including our missionary friends who were going to come if something didn’t come up), but it was a good step towards making the Blue House a place of fellowship for Weber State students. Pray for more opportunities. I am also going to work with them to lead half-day mission trips down to Temple Square. Pray for that, I would love to start a ministry within that awesome group and get people excited and equipped to share Christ with their LDS neighbors. Please also pray for Shannon who would like to start the group for people exiting the LDS Church. She needs guidance in what steps to take to move forward with the vision God has given her.

            Ward: I love the ward I go to, if the term ward encompasses the people. I think when I hear it used it usually means the district that it covers, but I love the people at my ward. I have started going late so I miss the sacrament meeting which is pretty dull (but only if something comes up and I am using the time in something valuable). I go for a Sunday school class on the New Testament which is great because I can participate and without being disagreeable, give insight into what the passage is actually about. It has been really fruitful and I have been able to turn dry self-help conversations into Christ-centered ones. Pray that I can keep planting seeds in that and in Relief Society, which is the all-girls meeting. I do the same there. It’s really cool. I am making friends there and am pretty well-established.

            The Peak: Chaplain ministry is going very well. We are more than halfway complete in our Community Chaplain training and it’s going to be a really cool way to minister. Please pray for opportunities to find places to chaplain and for hearts to be prepared. I inquired about a chaplain position at a hospital Joe sent me but I have not heard back. I also applied to be part of the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team of chaplains but won’t hear back from that for about a month. The Peak’s church plant has a potential building to move into, if the funds come in. that is very exciting! Joe’s health is very much improved on vitamins and an organic diet. He is able to do a lot of good with the Corporate Chaplains ministry he is in and has now seen two people come to Christ for the first time! He and his family are going back to New Jersey to raise support and visit loved ones for the larger part of April. Please pray that God will give them a wonderful time and that people will be excited to get involved with this ministry! ADI will begin night classes for Christians of all ages in the area in the next couple months. We are looking to have classes at Washington Heights Church. There is also a generated interest for the Summer Session which will be awesome. There are also a lot of teams coming out with UPFC and several people interested in internships, including Colleen! The Peak is going to put on a financial help seminar to reach out to the community and wants to start a ministry to Spanish-speaking people in the summer.

            Personal life: God is good! I think I had people praying about some unnamed personal stuff that I wanted resolved. It was hurting and because I did not have closure or resolution, I was really vulnerable to attack especially when I get to wards on Sunday. I don’t really feel oppression on Temple Square but it’s at the wards that I get attacked. I think that’s because I have the most opportunity to show love there. But praise God! At Intervarsity this week God really spoke to me and showed me that I was misunderstanding that situation. I wasn’t making mountains of molehills; rather I was making giants of windmills. He healed me very deeply and I am so grateful for that. I am also growing closer in friendships here. Because all I do is ministry stuff (and Netflix, I admit), I don’t really know how to talk to people about things other than God, but despite my awkwardness it’s been really cool to get to know people more. I am really enjoying a different type of love for people than God has given me in other situations. It is quite swell. I was pushing a lot but once I got sick I had to start slowing down and resting more, but unfortunately that brought back a lot of laziness. Pray that I’ll be motivated to be actively pursuing whatever God wants to do with me. Also, there are some messy political situations with the Bible Institute that I don’t want to be involved in but am being pulled into. Please pray that I will have wisdom to be supportive but will not be asked to join into too much. It’s not a battle God has motivated me to join.

            Other things: I am officially going to be here for a year. Joe would like me to consider coming back next year to work with the Peak’s college ministry but I don’t know if that is what God is calling me to. I still feel very invested in LBAC and it is my desire to go back to serve there while paying off college debts but I could be trying to make God’s will fit with mine. Including pledged support, I am pretty much financially set for the year! God has provided abundantly and I am so blessed with my church family and other loved ones. Even when I am alone I am being surrounded by the support of the body because each day I wouldn’t be here without it. I appreciate you all so much. I pray that this is encouraging to you and that you are meeting God with any hurts and getting his answer. I love him dearly and love you all.

Reflections on Glory

I promise this will be a spiritual discussion. J

            On Friday Russ took the Scottsdale team on a “fun adventure.” We ended up at a cemetery and he encouraged the kids to wander around and think about the brevity of life and the urgency of our mission. He reminded us that most of the names represent people in hell, which is absolutely true though horrifying. I thought that was an interesting way to end their trip but it ended up being really meaningful for a lot of them. It was helpful for me to put together a few of the things God has been telling me lately.

            Firstly, there’s the urgency of the gospel. Really. People are going to hell. Atheist Penn Jillete, in a famous video blog, called out Christians who don’t proselytize. He said that if someone was going to be hit by a bus, he would tell them and if they wouldn’t listen, he would shout or even push them out of the way. If we believe in hell, it is evil for us to not warn people! I do not believe that every person is a mouth. We make up a body and those of you that are praying for me are fulfilling your mission to some extent by doing that. Those that are serving, giving, teaching, encouraging, whatever, you are doing what God gifted you to do. The people that missionaries talk to will have you to thank in heaven. However, we all have people that we love. Sharing with them the gospel is the only consistent thing we can do if we claim to believe God and love them. Please consider that seriously. If you do not tell these people, they will find out some other way. If someone in this life tells them, they will feel betrayed that you didn’t love them enough to be honest and if they find out in the next life, they will be in hell. Please consider the gravity of that. Do you love people? Do you believe God?

            Secondly, when I was missing home and LBAC the most, I was reminded by a good friend that this life is but a vapor, and it is much better to fellowship with you all in eternity to come. How great is that?! All things I feel that I am sacrificing on this earth will be fully reclaimed in the next, provided that they are God’s things. I get to worship with you all forever! I look forward to that with desperation and delight. I am so excited! I read Tortured for Christ by Richard Wurmbrand recently (if you haven’t read it, request it online free, please) and fell in love with God’s church all over again. Our brothers and sisters have been giving up everything for eternity and still are. It’s estimated that Stalin killed about 10 million Christians. Weep for these people but rejoice that we get to celebrate with them when they are healed of their wounds in heaven. I want to join their ranks and give something up in this life for the precious name of Jesus. Just a couple weeks ago four missionaries were murdered by pirates. They gave up everything they had a few years back to sail around the world distributing Bibles to those that cherish the Word in a way we never have. Wow! So cool!

            Thirdly, I read the Narnia series a few weeks ago and that was a joy. The last one was a cool reminder of what’s to come. Like, whoa! This life is but a shadow of the New Earth. We have been redeemed and been made New Creations (oh man I love regeneration) so that we can see a bit of God’s design in the world and can occasionally get a taste of what is next. Standing in a graveyard, this girl and I discussed what that’s going to be like. We are finite beings. We have eternity to learn more and more about the infinite God we worship. We get to grow relationally and intellectually and musically and in every way forever! We get to practice dominion over this world and get to continue to create and we get to rule with Christ! This life is a vapor. That is what I am excited for!

            Now here’s the reason for the picture. I’m not a big animal person but they are growing on me. I have always loved sharks though, especially great whites. I think in junior high I watched a show on great whites leaping out of the water to hunt and it captured my imagination. How can those huge things do that? They are mechanically so different from porpoises that do the same thing but in very different ways. I started to love these giant monsters that God designed to show something about himself. God loves sharks, too, and much more than I ever will. They glorify him! It’s man that sinned, not beast. They do what God made them to do and keep on doing it. I love that! Trees continue to do just as God told them; they grow and produce fruit and release oxygen and host other creatures. But I digress. There’s a special from Shark Week a few years ago called “Sharkman” that I believe gives a taste for the new earth. This guy basically found out that sharks like to be touched on the nose and even like to be pet like cats. There’s this thing called “tonic immobility” which basically involves them getting calm and almost catatonic when they are turned upside down or touched gently on the nose. This guy likes to free dive with great whites so he applied this to them and it worked! It’s the coolest thing I have ever seen. But what’s amazing is that God promised that predators and prey will lie down alongside each other peacefully. They’ll eat grass and not harm each other. That’s how he designed the world and that’s how he’s going to redeem it. I think the new earth will look like this one, just radically transformed because sin has torn everything up. This tonic immobility thing is a little hint of the peace and enjoyment we’ll know with even the most frightening of creatures in the future.

            So basically I’m looking forward to glory.

Quick update: the Scottsdale team left. I had strep throat so I took a step back towards the end of their stay. My mom came out and visited and we had a wonderful weekend together. There’s a team coming from the Master’s College in California this Saturday. I’m all better from the strep save for a headache I have now which has more to do with Fat Tuesday than anything. J I miss you and love you all!

Scottsdale Christian Academy Rocks My Socks

            Hello my Beloved! I love you all and as God has been giving me genuine affective love for more people I find myself loving those I loved before more. That’s a cool way God has designed us. Our capacity to love him and others grows with use and does not get used up. How cool is that!

            I am a great lover of hymns. Not all hymns, but the great ones. I love that we can commune with past believers in singing their songs. They have meditated on the truths we love and have poured out their hearts and minds in worship. The team that is out here now has been doing a lot of hymns and I love that I get to sing with them morning and night. The songs that have been speaking most loudly to me lately are Rock of Ages, Doxology and In Christ Alone. Love them lots. However, there is a modern song that I also love. Here are a few lines followed by an explanation.

A thousand times I’ve failed

Still your mercy remains

And should I stumble again

Still I’m caught in your grace

My heart and my soul, I give you control

Consume me from the inside out, Lord

Let justice and praise become my embrace

To love you from the inside out

Everlasting your light will shine when all else fades

Never ending your glory goes beyond all fame

            So that’s not the whole song and it’s not in the right order I don’t think but I’m sharing it with you because you and I are so blessed to have a religion that can honestly say that to our God.

            Backtrack a bit: this has been an incredible week. These kids are amazing. I love them so much and they give me a greater love for the church at large. I am so glad that God is raising up such as these in the faith to do his work in the kingdom. Saturday they witnessed at Temple Square. Sunday they witnessed at local wards in Ogden. Monday they tried to go to seminary classes but were instantly booted out for trespassing. They snuck into Institute classes and when they got kicked out, many of them went right back in. Some of them met with the Director of the Institute and were commended for being respectful young adults. Others went to the Student Union at Weber and passed out a hundred papers refuting the claims of Mormonism with the Bible and sharing Christ with people there. Other groups went to a local mall and spoke with every single person there, sharing Christ and praying with all that would let them. Others went to the Ogden Temple and spoke with missionaries. These kids are on FIRE. When they weren’t allowed to do something, they didn’t give up. They tried and tried and tried again. I am so proud of them.

            That night my friend Shannon came over and shared with them about how she was saved out of Mormonism. She had been questioning but you’re not allowed so she covered up her questions with works. She visited a Christian church where she heard a message about living from the inside out (explanation for song) and she decided she was done with the LDS Church. She had never heard that before because Mormons teach that if you do good you will become good. Because this is impossible (it’s Pharisaical), it leaves them feeling empty, depleted and unworthy often times. Celebrate that God wants our hearts! He makes them his and then changes them from the inside out! Yay! She also told us that she had never had anyone witness to her before and most LDS people don’t know people outside their religion. These kids are witnessing all over Ogden to people who have never had that happen. Every person that has ever said “I love you” to them has been Mormon and no one has ever loved them enough to share with them the good news of our blessed Savior. These kids are planting seeds like you wouldn’t believe. Following her testimony was what I can only describe as a clash of the titans. Shawn McCraney of the Heart of the Matter Christian TV broadcast and Dave, a Mormon apologist battled it out before us. It was almost three hours of them yelling back and forth. It was…intense. It was filmed so hopefully it’ll find its way to the internet.

            Tuesday the kids went to the places they witnessed at the day before and prayed there for the Spirit to move in the hearts of those they talked to. After that we went down to Salt Lake and witnessed at Temple Square. It was awesome. I had some of the best times witnessing yesterday than ever before. I honestly believe I will meet a couple of those sister missionaries in heaven one day. I look forward to that day. I didn’t see people coming to Christ but I saw eyes and hearts opened. What a joy! I had some good times speaking with the team that day and then we went to the Heart of the Matter show. We got on TV for a moment and Shawn shared about the previous night’s adventure. Two of the callers were making decisions to give their lives to Christ. One was LDS and he didn’t know how to lead his family out of LDS and into the light. The other actually prayed with Shawn for Christ to take over his life and he was a different man from the start of the conversation to the end. He believed it and we could tell. Welcome to the family, Jason! What a joy to witness!! Or hear, I guess. But anyway, God is good.

            Today the team tried to go to seminaries but was ousted again. They returned to the mall, temple and student union building and some went to some apartments or door-to-door in this neighborhood. It wasn’t as good of a day of witnessing, but at least one woman wanted follow-up and will probably come to Christ in coming months. The kids had a fun afternoon of snowball fights and relaxing. Joe came and spoke about ADI with the team and then we had dinner. One of my LDS friends was planning on coming and she even ran into our kids today and said she would be here, but she didn’t show. That was a bummer but I’m sure also from God. I invited Tia Lynn over, who is an LDS woman I meet with regularly. The kids showed her a lot of love and grace. She was elated to be treated so well. I was glad to see it. Two other LDS young men showed up. One is a newly returned missionary and the other is a future missionary. They had met one of our kids at ward and Sunday and came for dinner. We fed them, fellowshipped with them, worshipped with them and some of the kids witnessed to them. They were here for about four hours which was awesome! God is moving!

            Sorry this is long. But there is a lot to share and this is the first time in a few days I will be going to bed without a migraine. As you can tell, God’s people are taking ground from the enemy. As you might expect, he’s fighting back. Hard. And his attacks have been on me personally. I think it’s because I’m in charge of just about everything and the spiritual forces in this area have had access to me the longest. But it’s been really hard. Russ warned me this would probably happen so I’m not completely surprised. Saturday I started to get sick for the first time since I have been here. I also got a ticket that night which I will admit is my fault. I didn’t notice my speed but it was still a big frustration and definitely distracting since I was rushing around making a second trip to the airport to pick up some lost luggage. Sunday my ward was split. Monday I got way more sick and ended up with a migraine. Tuesday a lot of things went wrong and I ended up getting a lot sicker. Wednesday I went to urgent care after sending off the team and got some medicine so I've been doing a bit better. It's been a lot of little things and some bigger things that have served to impede me from serving at my best, but God is not impeded nor is the advancement of his kingdom.

            This has been an amazing week and I have no doubt that God is moving. It’s just something to expect-when Satan starts losing, he starts fighting. These are his people and his goal is for them to live and die without hearing that God loves them and wants to be with them. Please pray that the last couple days of this team will be fruitful. It has been SO cool to be in charge of them. I get to come up with a vision and know that whatever I send them to do, they will do above and beyond what I ever would have thought. I love being in charge of these teams and I love these kids to death. I am so excited about what is next. God is moving.