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.
No comments:
Post a Comment