Posts

In the past few months a lot has happened. However, in this newsletter I want to focus on 2 main things. Time to Retreat These past few months have been packed with ministry, preaching class and all sorts of events still to come. In the midst of it all, I must admit I got used to just doing. My walk with the Lord was looking more like a checklist rather than a relationship. One day I saw a text on the Trinity Church Young Adults group chat (the church I was formerly attending on Thursdays). In this text was an invitation to sign up for their Young Adults retreat up at Oak Glen. After some time thinking about it I signed up and the weekend finally came. I got to catch up with some good friends over dinner the first night and we opened up with the word and worship. Admittedly, it was so nice just to sit and receive and not have to worry about who would tear down the chairs or finding people to help serve the food. I could just bask in the glory of God’s word and fellowship with some brothers and sisters I greatly admire and love. I was extremely encouraged in the small groups where I found I wasn’t the only one feeling like I was. The theme of the retreat was being strong in the grace of God and the second day Pastor Jerrod was preaching on the parable of the prodigal Son. It was nothing new to me but it was such a good reminder of the character of the Father. The retreat eventually ended to my dismay, I walked away physically tired but spiritually refreshed being reminded of the grace of God and the goodness of God ...

Though I’ve never been to Kansas, I did go to India and Thailand recently. Many of you may have heard some funny stories or perhaps know a little bit about the trip. In this newsletter, I would love to share a full breakdown. However, to protect workers from sensitive countries it will have to be vague in regards to names and places. If you’d like more detail, please feel free to reach out to me—I’d be glad to share everything with you. Before I even begin I would love to thank all of you for your financial support and most importantly your partnership in prayer. Only heaven will reveal all the rewards and all the results of your earnest intercession. ...

School has started up again for the students of Cal State Fullerton and for Fullerton college and so me and Pastor Nick are back on campus for some evangelism. If you’ve been reading my newsletters for some time now you know that we have been working hard sharing the gospel on both campuses and maybe you’ve even heard some stories from my encounters there. However recently God has been putting on Nick and my heart to do more than just evangelism on both campuses. God has given both of us vision of starting a club on campus in which we have more ability to minister to the students and make disciples out of students who hear the gospel. If we were to become a club it would allow for a number of opportunities. The biggest opportunity would be to host events not only that but this would allow us access to the facilities where we could teach and disciple the students. In order to become a club on both campuses we need 2 students and a professor. However we really are praying for someone we can trust and someone who is a solid believer because on both campuses there are plenty of false disciples and even people from various cults. So while we want to start the club as soon as possible we don’t want to compromise in who is to partner with us ...

Exciting news! Last time I wrote you all I was planning on going to India and Thailand and now it’s official! I leave for Thailand on September 13 with a brother from Calvary School of Missions and arrive Thailand. Once the group gets there we will be attending a conference and having a little SGWM Conference with our missionaries from all over the world. Then after the conference I will be flying to India for a short trip to visit some brothers and sisters in Christ out there. During that time I will be praying about what the Lord has for me out there. Some might wonder why go to these places? Well, India alone has over 1 billion people who have not heard the Gospel or have a Christian they can ask or a church they could go to. Thailand certainly isn’t much better having 60 million people who also desperately need the gospel. The reason I want to go on these trips is not just some vacation but to seriously prayerfully consider going and being apart of the work going on to reach these hard to reach people. Part of that requires going and seeing and hearing of what God is doing through our brothers and sisters in those parts of the world. Please be praying for the trip that the Lord would speak to me and show me His will. If you would like to support this trip financially there will be a link below labeled partner financially where you can make a donation. All the money will go directly towards funding the airfare and on the ground costs. ...

One of the exciting things of the past month was VBS. I absolutely love VBS. You may not know this about me but I love kids ministry and VBS. This year I was privileged this year to be apart of the skit team. While it was a lot of work it also was a blessing when it was all said and done to have been an influence in the kids lives. Apart of why I love VBS is because you get to spend time with the kids you normally wouldn’t get to unless you were their parents. This opens up the door for conversations and teaching moments. The kids and I got to talk during snack, crafts and games and I got to help reinforce the lessons and love on the kids. Best of all the whole church came together to minister to the kids. It was so encouraging to see the body of believers come together all doing their parts to minister to the kids. However, the most important part of it all was that the gospel was preached. ...

It’s crazy to believe it’s been about a month since I last wrote. A lot has happened since I wrote last time. There have been ups and downs, events, and fun things to share. I’m excited to share some things God has done in the past month. Divine Appointments During my time at the Missions Training School (MTS), I have talked to a lot of people during work and classes and outreaches. One of the most notable ones happened recently at a college campus outreach. At the beginning of our time at Cal State Fullerton, I noticed a girl was standing by some table materials. She was one of the only people in sight who wasn’t looking preoccupied with school or her phone so I walked up to her. I began as usual asking her what she thought about the afterlife. At first, she was a little stunned but responded and we talked about heaven and hell which she believed in. Like most people I meet she was quick to say the way you get to heaven is through good works. During our time talking, I noticed she had a strangely familiar accent. At one point it all clicked when she told me she was Jewish. For those who know me well enough, I’m not a very animated person most of the time but I was thrilled. It was such an open door because I have lived in Israel. I started to share about how Jesus is the promised Messiah. Then she brought up the question skeptically. What does the church think about Israel? This was another awesome opportunity to share that God is faithful to keeping His promises to the nation Israel and not only that but since He’s faithful to His people Israel, He’s faithful to save all those who call out to Him. It was an amazing moment. Yet also looking back at it, it was a sad moment. Here is a Jew who is one of God’s chosen people and all she knows about Jesus is how His followers have been abandoning Israel. Despite all that she heard the full gospel and hopefully, we can stay in contact as she plans on teaching a class on Hebrew which I want to attend. Please keep her in your prayers and pray for more opportunities to share with her. ...

Hello friends and family! It’s been a little over a month since I last wrote and a lot has happened. When I last wrote I had just arrived in Yorba Linda California for a missions training program. (We’ll call it MTS from now on.) Without further adieu let’s get into it. An Inner Burning In my last newsletter, I talked about how I spent 3 months in Israel. During that time in Israel, I had an urge to reach the Israeli people, yet I had such a hard time when it came to sharing the gospel because of the cultural and language barriers. Though Israel is very Westernized compared to the rest of the Middle East, it still is very culturally different. Not only that but though many Israelis speak English, it isn’t their first language often. Understandably, since I don’t speak Hebrew, and am not an Israeli it was difficult to share the gospel effectively. All this to say that when I got back to the U.S. I was eager to share the gospel in my native language and a culture I understand. During the first month of the MTS program, I decided one Thursday that I would join Pastor Nick (one of the pastors at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace) in his Cal State Fullerton outreach. When we arrived I spent hours sharing the gospel with college students. It was very exciting meeting people of all different backgrounds. Through a long set of divine appointments and stories for another time I met a girl we’ll call Jessica and a guy named we’ll call Kyle. Kyle had been a believer when I met him he was a believer for 2 years and was hungry to grow in the Lord and evangelism as well. Since meeting him he has joined me 2 times to go evangelizing! Jessica is not a believer but is seeking after the Lord. A couple of MTS students and I spent a few hours with her and at the end of our conversation she told us she wanted to learn more about God and has been faithfully attending to Young adults and Sundays and best of all 2 of our MTS ladies are pouring into her. All this is to say that the Lord is working amongst the young people. ...

It’s been quite some time since I last wrote and I have plenty of exciting news. In the past 4 months, much has happened and I will briefly sum it all up so you don’t have to read pages upon pages of information. Let’s get right into the reports. What Happened after Mexico? In the last newsletter, I wrote I was in Mexico. About a week later I was on my way to Israel. I would spend the next 3 months in Israel with Study Tour Israel or Calvary Bible Institute Israel (CBI). I was able to connect with a small Jewish Russian congregation in the Golan Heights. During the first half of the trip, we were able to tour lots of the Southern parts of Israel and got to explore all the various biblical sites and experience Jewish culture, as well as daily life in Israel. About a month and a half into my stay in Israel, on October 7th, tragedy struck. Around 1,500 people were butchered in their homes and over 200 men, women were taken captive by Hamas terrorists. Our hearts were broken when we heard the news. Soon after, war broke out and the Lord shifted the direction of our time in Israel. Sadly, the majority of the group was either called home or chose to leave due to safety concerns. I along with the director of CBI Israel and his wife (Spencer and Kylie) and the pastors of the Jewish Russian congregation (Steve and Misha) began to aid another local congregation prepare meals for Israeli soldiers. This group soon began to cook home-cooked curry for the soldiers stationed all over the Golan Heights. It was through this experience that the Lord taught me so many things, I wish I could tell you it all, but for time’s sake, I will keep it brief. One of the most important lessons I learned was truly how great the need there is for people to lay down their lives so that others may come to know Jesus. During my time in Israel, I met a girl on a bus to Jerusalem (and no this isn’t some Hallmark love story) we talked for about 2 hours and I got to share with her about Jesus. We had a long conversation about Jesus and why I believe he is the Messiah. Not only that, but I got to share with her how God has personally transformed me. During this time she told me she lived on a Kibbutz or a farm town of about 100 people. The next day, it dawned on me that I am most likely the only Christian she will ever meet in her whole life. Israel is not like America where there are churches on every corner where she can hear the gospel or be discipled. The point of that story is that the need is so great for people to go to these places where the Gospel isn’t so people can come to know Jesus. ...

I know you’re probably wondering why am I getting another newsletter in the same week. What could possibly be so pressing that this guy is writing me twice? We have been to a lot of classes this week that have taught me a lot. This week I’ve learned a lot about culture and how it affects how we as a people group act. We often don’t think about our cultural values until we find ourselves in a different cultural context. One of the things that greatly affects the culture is the beliefs of that culture. The beliefs of culture greatly affect the actions of a culture, for example, in India they believe that cows are gods, and because of this belief they treat cows better than humans. Our teacher was telling us that one time he saw this family come out of their house to offer a cow bowls of rice and because of this belief they passed by children on the brink of death due to starvation. Our teacher told us many other stories to demonstrate how beliefs affect action. Not only do these beliefs affect action, but affect how we share the gospel. For example, when you share the gospel with a Hindu you have to stress the importance of Jesus being the only God. Otherwise, the Hindus will just add Jesus to the list of their millions of “gods”. These cultural differences radically affect how we minister and share the gospel, especially the further away from America we get. This allowed me to appreciate raising up locals even more since they know the culture so well. ...

Every week has been busy but especially this week. Not only did we have classes and outreaches but this week I got to teach twice and play piano for worship. Let’s just say I was pretty busy. During the first few days of the week, I wasn’t too stressed about making time but as the week went on and the responsibilities and opportunities piled on, I began to stress out. I remember praying and just telling the Lord how stressed I was about having enough time to practice for the worship set and study Daniel chapter 3 for the kids. I must admit I was overwhelmed but I remember reading in Strategies of Satan (our assigned book this week) how the enemy attacks your mind in this way. The enemy loves to get you to doubt the goodness of God. I simply trusted that the Lord would provide enough time for me to be a good steward of my responsibilities. As the week went on the Lord was faithful to give me time to practice the set list, study for the kid’s message, finish my books, and even call my friend and my parents. This small victory was a good reminder that God is faithful to provide in the small things as well as the big things. Just like the Lord can protect Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the fiery furnace how much more can He provide for the little things? ...