First Month!

Greetings! I have now been here for over a month and it has been incredible. I know that this is what God has designed me to do and I am excited to be doing it. I get to do ministry stuff all the time!

I have been doing the Bible Institute thing for a few weeks now and it is going well. It isn’t the type of ministry God has specifically built me for, but that makes me thankful for the ones God has me in that are better suited for me. I like getting to know the kids better. The woman in charge is not in good health so it’s good to be able to relieve her for some of the day.

Joe’s blood work came back clean this week which led the doctors to believe the problem was more serious than they originally thought. He was really concerned about that, but he had an appointment yesterday and they think that the problem is just the migraines. They will do a spinal tap to rule out other options, but he probably just needs to find a medication that will relieve the symptoms. Thank you for praying for him and his family.

Joe’s main goal out here is to plant a church in the North Ogden area. There have been a number of struggles barring his way to doing that. For now, the main thing the ministry is doing is starting a community chaplains group. Basically that empowers the members of the group (me and four others) to go into the community and show love, letting them invite us to share Christ with them. The training started last week and will continue for a couple months.

Other things I’m involved with include Intervarsity which is going really well. I feel a strong sense of community there and am SO thankful that God put me in that place. I’m being fed through the Bible study and I get to worship God mid-week with other believers (and that is a unique opportunity out here-be thankful that you have that so available). A girl moved up to Ogden from Salt Lake a few weeks ago. She is not a believer (nor is she LDS, she has some background in Eastern religions) but she has attended a Christian church. She’s going to church with me on Sundays and Intervarsity on Wednesday and Thursday nights. The small group Bible study is going through the book of Romans so she and I met beforehand to get caught up on the first five chapters. It was cool to go through the gospel so systematically. She was amazed by the grace she found. Pray that she will turn that amazement into worship.

I am meeting regularly with an LDS woman who is depressed and has some mental illness. Please pray that she will let the light in.

Things with ADI are slow but okay. Two weeks ago, Joe, Ross Anderson (an ex-LDS Christian pastor) and I appeared on a Christian TV broadcast called Heart of the Matter to promote the problem and encourage churches to host classes. We hope to launch the classes at churches in April and hope to have students come for the full three-month live-in experience this summer. Pray that it will move forward.

There is a girl coming tomorrow from Denver Seminary for a few days. Her name is Colleen and we’ll have a whirlwind week. Tomorrow I am picking her up at the airport and we will spend the day in Provo. We will check out BYU where we will meet up with a couple LDS friends I made last summer and learn more about the school. We will also check out the Provo Temple and the Mission Training Center. We hope to also meet up with a girl who is ex-LDS and was saved through the Blue House. That night will be Intervarsity. Thursday she’ll attend a class at the Institute, we’ll have lunch there, we’re meeting with a really tough LDS guy (who loves to debate Christians), we’re inviting LDS people over for dinner and then going to Intervarsity again. Friday we’ll meet with the LDS woman I’ve been meeting with, going to a prayer room, meeting with Ross Anderson, spending time with the Filers and going to a coffee house church plant. Saturday we’ll spend all day in Salt Lake, going to Temple Square, Lighthouse Christian Ministries, doing research for a street evangelist, and going to an ex-Mormon meet-up. This will be super busy but also super exciting! Pray for awesome opportunities to magnify Christ and build the connections God wants.